Memorial Debates Are Not Built Equally: Constructing Canadian Heritage in the Capital City

A memorial to victims of Communism, to be built in Canada’s national capital region, has provoked Canadians to heated debate, while a similarly planned Holocaust memorial has garnered almost no discussion at all. Why does this imbalanced reaction matter? What is the relationship between commemorations in public space, the political uses of heritage, and civic debates? This presentation uses the current memorial debates taking place in the Canadian media to explore the discursive spaces where heritage is constructed and to what ends. It also analyzes grassroots counter-monument initiatives that aim to reframe the national conversation about which histories are being made to matter. It argues that memorials are built out of public discussion and protest as much as they are out of concrete and stone. Large-scale government heritage projects offer a valuable opportunity for civic society to make claims and also to challenge a government’s attempt at instrumentalizing history.