A planned Sparks Street monument to commemorate a 19th-century governor general’s donation of the Stanley Cup as pro hockey’s top prize is on thin ice as the project struggles to get enough funding.
The project, which was officially announced in 2013, was originally expected to cost in the range of $7 million to $8 million.
But Lord Stanley Memorial Monument Inc., the group spearheading the monument project, now says that they are well short of their current, much-reduced $4.5-million fundraising goal.
Despite the reduced budget for the monument, fundraising is still taking longer than expected.
Lord Stanley Memorial Monument Inc. had intended to hold a national design competition in 2014, to be judged by internationally recognized experts. This has yet to happen, though.
“We want this thing to be seen as a Canada-wide project, not just a local thing,” says Paul Kitchen, an Ottawa hockey historian who is the originator of the project and president of the group working to build the monument.
The exact amount that still needs to be raised is unknown.
“We don’t have the actual confirmations signed, sealed and delivered,” Kitchen says.
“It’s been slow going, but we’re optimistic about the project.”
There is some good news for the monument, as the National Capital Commission recently changed its policy about recognizing donors on commemorative sites.
The ruling that previously banned all mention of donors has been overturned because it “makes fundraising more difficult for proponents,” says a report released by the NCC.
The change allows on-site recognition, such as names and organizations, as long as they are inscribed in a “secondary location and not in the visual field of the main monument,” the report concluded.
The hope is that having some visible recognition “(will) likely increase the availability of private sector funds for the program,” the NCC report found.
A 2012 study found that donors were deterred when they found out that no mention of their donation would be placed near the memorial.
The rule change is breathing new life into the prospect of getting the Stanley Cup Monument funded, says Kitchen. Moving forward, he says that proponents are looking at securing some government help to finish the project.
This change came about after three current Ottawa monument projects lobbied the commission, one of which was the Lord Stanley Memorial Monument Inc. The other two projects were the National Holocaust Monument and the Memorial to the Victims of Communism.
These projects have seen their fair share of controversy; the Memorial to the Victims of Communism has recently increased its projected cost and moved from pure private funding to relying partly on government contributions.
Contrary to the original proposal to have the Stanley Cup project fully funded by the private sector, Kitchen now says “we’re hoping that we’ll have balanced public and private contributions.”
Regardless, the future of the monument will be known by July. The organization needs to have the funding secured by then, so that it can move forward with the planning and design.
The unveiling is targeted for March 18, 2017, to coincide with the day that the cup was donated 125 years earlier.
The monument will be located on city-owned land near the intersection of Sparks and Elgin streets. The location was chosen because it is just across from the former Russell House Hotel, where the dotation of the cup was made by Lord Stanley.
As the July deadline approaches, the success of the project could be in doubt, but supporters remain positive, says Kitchen.