Article content continued

Photo by Julie Oliver / Ottawa Citizen

The monument’s prominent location has drawn criticism and opposition from the likes of Mayor Jim Watson, Ottawa architect Barry Padolsky, Shirley Blumberg, an architect who was on the jury that chose the winning design, and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

“It troubles us greatly when some prominent members of our community say that your story is not Canadian enough, that you don’t belong. They want you and your memory to be delegated to some dark corner of Canadian history,” said Klimkowski. “They claim this land is better used and better suited for a stack or papers and endless corridor of file cabinets.”

The land was initially designated for a new federal court building.

Klimkowski said the placement of the monument in the heart of the Parliamentary precinct demands respect and humility. Eight million Canadians trace their roots to countries oppressed and occupied by Communism, he said.

“Your Journey to Freedom will remain restless until people like they embrace you and demand for the memory and justice for your wife and daughters raped and killed at the sea, for your fathers and sons blown up in the fields of rice,” said Klimkowski.

Conservative Senator Thanh Hai Ngo and Heritage Minister Shelly Glover were also present at the rally in support of the memorial. Those who attended later marched to Parliament Hill for another rally to commemorate the inaugural Journey to Freedom Day.

Duy Nguyen — who fled Vietnam by fishing boat in 1980 — called the memorial an “awesome project” that all of Canada should support.

“When you talk about one innocent person being killed, that is a huge thing. This is about hundreds of millions of innocent lives, so I think it is worth it,” he said.

aseymour@ottawacitizen.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour