The National Capital Commission recently approved the final design of the soon-to-be-erected $2-million War of 1812 monument, to be unveiled later this year just metres away from the southeast corner of Parliament Hill’s East Block.
But a few things have been tweaked or added since the initial concept was designed.
The bronzed sculpture – titled Triumph through Diversity and designed by Toronto artist Adrienne Alison – was to feature seven statues posing in action atop a circular, stone slab between two granite boats, symbolizing that the war was as frequently fought on water as it was on soil.
Each of these seven figures would represent a group that waged war against the Americans during the 32-month conflict: the British Army and Navy, the Provincial Marine, the English and French militias, the First Nations, and the Métis.
But, in light of the role women played during the war, a female nurse figure has replaced the Provincial Marine figure in what was once a circle of strictly male combatants.
A small cannon has been added atop the monument’s eastward-pointing boat, too. Finally, the First Nations figure will be sculpted in a different pose than was originally planned.
Though the addition of the female nurse was something Alison suggested, the other two changes were not her doing.
“I thought I had a very strong concept and that’s why my piece was chosen,” says Alison, adding that she spent a lot of time delving into the history of the war to most effectively build her idea. “But you have to accommodate other people’s points of view because that’s what you do in a democracy.”
Though the NCC’s board of directors approved the revamped design, some directors highlighted some of the potential issues after the NCC official’s presentation.
For example, the monument will not be physically accessible from all 360 degrees to all its visitors. The downward sloping grass in front of where the monument will be erected and the fence separating Parliament Hill and Wellington St. poses an obstacle to anyone in a wheelchair.
Whether this lack of physical access to people in wheelchairs affects the monument’s overall quality, however, “is ultimately a very personal and subjective question of interpretation,” says Fred Gaspar, acting vice-president of the NCC’s capital planning and environmental branch. “But the visual appreciation at 360 degrees is protected.”
The Department of Canadian Heritage, which oversees the NCC, said the chosen location “has direct views of and a symbolic connection to the National War Memorial, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and The Valiants Memorial, all of which mark major conflicts in Canada’s history.”
The link to nearby military monuments “was an important factor in the final choice of the site,” the department stated in an email.
The National War Memorial, which was built to commemorate the First World War and was later rededicated to commemorate the Second World War as well, is located in Confederation’s Square. The Valiants Memorial, located near the National War Memorial, commemorates 14 prominent figures from Canada’s war history.
The idea to build a monument commemorating the War of 1812 dates back to 2009, when the Conservative government proposed it as a part of its initiative to commemorate the defining war that began about a half-century prior to Confederation in 1867.
“If the war didn’t happen the way it did, we wouldn’t be sitting and talking in the Canadian War Museum,” saysPeter MacLeod, the Canadian War Museum’s pre-Confederation expert. “It would probably be the North American War Museum, and we’d be talking about how we welcomed our American liberators.”
Leading up to the War of 1812, the British were clashing with the French, and, as a result, would forcibly enlist American merchant ships into its Royal Navy and would restrict trade between the United States and France. The United States viewed Britain’s actions as a violation of its sovereignty. It thereby retaliated, declaring war against Britain and its colonies. The French, British, and indigenous peoples who occupied what is now Canada were caught in the middle of the feud, and consequently rose up against the Americans.
“When you get down to it, though, the War of 1812 was decided by an economic blockade,” says MacLeod. “In the end, the British used its navy to cut off American foreign trade, cutting off the revenue they derived from customs duties, which forced the Americans to come to the peace table and negotiate.”
The new monument’s unveiling has been scheduled for this fall.