As the flowers surrounding the National War Memorial are removed, some Canadians are looking for a more permanent commemoration of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.
Members of the public are petitioning the federal government to honour Cirillo, the reservist shot to death on Oct. 22, with a plaque, statue or other lasting tribute to be displayed at the Confederation Square site.
“He was just doing an honourable service . . . I think it was the love in his heart for our nation that he was doing that,” says Miranada Voldock, a Carleton University student raising money for Cirillo’s son with her sorority, Alpha Omicron.
More than 85,000 individuals have signed a petition at the website on change.org to place a plaque near the monument in memory of Cirillo.
“It hits everyone hard and everyone wants to commemorate it,” says Voldock.
It may, however, be a difficult task to permanently place a tribute to Cirillo on Confederation Square.
“We would not support having a plaque at the National War Memorial . . . we would support something, like a statue at his regiment,” says Bruce Poulin, communications manager at the national office of the Royal Canadian Legion.
The National War Memorial is meant to commemorate all veterans from all wars, all those who died in the service of Canada. This could have been in a training exercise or at home.
It’s for all military that have fallen during service, explained Poulin. Even if a tribute is placed on Confederation Square, people have different ideas for what exactly that commemoration should look like.
Peter Stoffer, an NDP MP and the party’s veteran affairs critic, would like a statue of a valiant soldier standing on guard in front of the National War Memorial, guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for all time. A name wouldn’t be on the statue but everyone would know exactly who it is.
“There’s lots and lots of plaques already around this place. No one’s going to read it and see it when they walk by it,” says Stoffer.
“That way for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the monument will be protected in individual stance by this statue.”
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was placed in front of the National War Memorial in 2002.
It holds the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who died in France in the First World War.
The tomb is meant to be inclusive of all soldiers, according to Poulin.
“We were very supportive of having the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and in fact the agreement was that if we brought somebody over, for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, it would be agreed by everyone that there would be no attempt to try to identify that person. Because we really wanted to represent everyone,” says Poulin.