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Trigiani imagined a ribbon cutting ceremony for July 1, 2017. All appeared to be going swimmingly until it all started swimming sideways, as word of the project spread and opposition formed, as far away as Australia. Media pundits teed off. The Twitter mob roared. Headlines blared about a statue that was “hubristic, ugly and just plain wrong.”

Trigiani got a phone call at 6:30am on Friday Feb. 5, 2016. Parks Canada was on the line. The memorial was kaput. Trigiani was shocked.

But he hasn’t surrendered.

“I am not giving up,” he says. “My father immigrated to Canada in 1949 — four years after the war. Canada opened up its doors to him and we all benefited, not just the Italians. And this year — the 150th birthday of Canada — all immigrants, immigrants who were on both sides of the battles lines, we are all now an intricate part of this country.

“The great Canadian weave — we have so much to celebrate — and there are 114,000 of our boys buried overseas, and a lot of what they did helped to build this country, and what they did gave so many of us an opportunity.

“Why not take the 150th — not to float a freaking giant yellow rubber duck around — but to honour our dead. Am I crazy, or what?”

Not crazy, just passionate, and, at age 70, a dreamer, still, soldiering on in support of a cause that he has personally invested several hundred thousand dollars in to get off the ground. Trigiani, however, is not alone in his passion. In fact, he is in suburban Toronto, whereas the most vocal base of support for Mother Canada resides among the locals in Cape Breton.