Winning design, Tribute to Liberty monument

Dec 19, 2014 Estonian Life No. 51 2014

On December 11th, the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and I were delighted to announce the winning design for the National Memorial to Victims of Communism.

The legacy of communism casts a long shadow over the lives it destroyed with its inhumanity. It is important for those fortunate enough never to have experienced communism's cruelty to remember what the absence of freedom looks like, and the horrors it leaves in its wake.

ABSTRAKT Studio Architecture was selected to design the memorial for their innovative portrayal of the death-toll communism marks as its legacy. The more than 100 million victims of communist ruthlessness will be forever memorialized in our nation's capital in the “memory squares” that will cover the face of the monument.

With the announcement of the National Memorial to Victims of Communism, Canada will honour the sacrifice, sorrow, and suffering experienced by not only its 100 million victims, but also their families and loved ones whose pain and loss continues to this very day.

Canada has long been a place of peace and refuge, a place to rebuild lives for those who have fled communist brutality. The National Memorial to Victims of Communism will serve as a reminder to future generations about communism's horrendous legacy and Canada's role as a beacon of freedom.

Jason Kenney, December 2014