The winning design for a memorial to the victims of communism in downtown Ottawa has been chosen.

Toronto architect and artist Paul Raff created the design with Michael A. Ormston-Holloway, a designer and certified arborist, and landscape architects Brett Hoornaert and Luke Kairys.

"The design is a broad, sweeping, arcing form, moving from east to west, and it's made up of more than 4,000 individual bronze rods," Raff said in an interview Wednesday morning following the announcement.

"Each one points at the sun in the sky, one successive hour of the day, every day of the year. So it actually forms a three-dimensional calendar, which memorializes every moment of the vast millions of moments of suffering of victims. But it also expresses resilience and hope."

The announcement was made by Arif Virani, parliamentary secretary to Canadian Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly, at the Canadian Museum of History.

Memorial scheduled to be finished in 2018

The memorial will be built on the west side of the capital's Garden of the Provinces and Territories at Bay and Wellington streets, with construction expected to be completed in 2018.

Valued at $3 million, the cost of the monument will be split evenly between the federal government and Tribute to Liberty, the private group spearheading the project.

According to the federal government website, the memorial will recognize Canada's "role as a place of refuge for people fleeing injustice and persecution, and honour the millions oppressed by communist regimes."

The memorial was championed by the former Conservative government, which supported plans to have the monument built next to the Supreme Court of Canada building on Wellington Street.

After widespread criticism, the National Capital Commission later rescinded its decision to use the land in front of the Supreme Court building, and approved construction of the memorial in the Garden of the Provinces and Territories.

These were the other 4 finalists

Team space2place

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Designed by Vancouver-based landscape architect Jeff Cutler and Canadian artist Ken Lum.

Team Mills

Designed by Hamilton, Ont.-based public art consultants Karen and Ben Mills; landscape architects Silvano Tardella and Robert M. S. Ng; and artists Vong Phaophanit and Claire Oboussier.

Team Moskaliuk

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Designed by Wiktor Moskaliuk, a Markham, Ont., architect, with landscape architect Claire Bedat and artist Larysa Kurylas, both from Washington, D.C.

Team Reich+Petch Architects

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