One year after the fatal shooting at the National War Memorial and armed attack on Parliament Hill, two Ottawa women have created a children’s book in what they say is a bid to help the nation heal.
Despite the undeniable tragedy of Oct. 22, 2014, We Stand on Guard focuses on something else: hope.
“The book is about moving forward and caring,” said local artist Katerina Mertikas, illustrator of We Stand on Guard. “It’s about being bold and being brave. It’s also about moving on; it’s about sadness and how that affects us, and what we can do when we are struck by tragedy.”
Centretown was the target of an armed attack on Oct. 22, 2014. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he stood guard at the War Memorial. While bystanders attempted to save Cirillo’s life, Zehaf-Bibeau stormed Parliament Hill. He was later shot and killed in the centre block of Parliament Hill. The shooting led to a security upheaval at Parliament and played a part in the creation of Bill C-51 earlier this year.
Author Menna Glyn Andrews says she felt compelled to do something after seeing the print of Honouring My Father, painted by Mertikas, in the days after the attack. The painting shows Cirillo standing guard at the cenotaph, and his young son saluting him. The City of Ottawa showcased the painting and all proceeds were donated to Cirillo’s family. Andrews purchased the print for her grandson’s first birthday.
“I felt compelled to show the people at my grandson’s party this print,” says Andrews. “When I opened it, there was a gasp in the room… I knew that the panting had a huge impact on all of us, and in those moments, I said to someone at the party, ‘Well, if this art can inspire all these emotions, I think I need to do something for children, too.’”
Andrews says she immediately knew she wanted to write a children’s book, and spent the next several months thinking about what to write. During her lunch hours from her day job at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Andrews says she would walk around downtown, thinking about the incident and how children must be feeling.
“Every time I passed the [Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica] downtown, there would be all these crows cackling,” says Andrews. “It came to me that I would speak through the crows. In the book, the crows ask what has happened, what can we do, how can we move on, that kind of thing. So that’s how the book came to be written.”
We Stand on Guard only briefly mentions the tragedy at the War Memorial, and only in very general terms. Instead, the book focuses almost entirely on healing.
“It’s all about inspiring people to go on and talk about grief,” said Andrews. “It’s all about conversing with children about incidents. We use the crows and obviously the inspiration begins: what did people do? Well, one woman took up her paintbrush almost immediately and painted a picture that is on the front of the book. Prince Charles sent money for the (Stand on Guard Fund), so there is a little about that. And children sent money themselves. So it’s all about what little things we can do.”
After writing a draft of We Stand on Guard, Andrews asked Mertikas if she would illustrate the book. They decided the painting Honouring My Father should appear on the front cover. Mertikas went on to create another 13 prints for the book.
One illustration shows a boy and girl, arms clasped around each other. They look out on a scene with the Peace Tower, the cenotaph and the Notre Dame Cathedral in the distance, with crows fluttering around the Ottawa landmarks.
Loukia Zigoumis, the illustrator’s daughter, says that everyone can relate to the book on some level.
“We are all affected in some way, so it’s a book that’ll touch us all in different ways,” Zigoumis said in an email. “I think the book… with the beautiful images of people and the city of Ottawa, is a book to treasure.”