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Let’s stop quibbling about the monument to victims of communism and ask the real question: Should we have such a monument in our capital? I think not.

At a time when our country must focus on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, why not invest instead in the long-proposed National Aboriginal Centre on Victoria Island?

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The Liberal government recently announced it will consult Canadians on the design of the controversial National Memorial to the Victims of Communism, now that it has changed the project’s location. But the government has yet to consult Canadians on a much more basic question: Should we even have this monument at all? I studied the file for the past few years and deeply believe the whole idea should be shelved.

At the beginning, the proponents of this memorial pitched a monument to commemorate the victims of totalitarianism and extremism. Then, under the Conservatives, that idea morphed into a commemoration to the victims of communism. During the planning, there was little to no public consultation on the idea, let alone on the location or the design.