Education is lost on some

Peacekeeping monument defaced
Canwest News Service
Published: Sunday, April 06, 2008

The curator of Ottawa's peacekeeping monument, defaced with antiwar graffiti this week, says the vandals chose altogether the wrong target.

Sometime Thursday or Friday, the eastern stone wall of the monument facing Sussex Drive was spraypainted with messages apparently objecting to Canada's involvement in Afghanistan. As of Saturday, the graffiti on the wall still read "Afghan civilians dead," "Oppression anywhere resistance everywhere," and included an anarchy symbol.

The monument, however, predates Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan.

"It's a monument to the very act of carrying out Canada's foreign policy by the military, and going wherever we're sent to hopefully convince the warring factions to stop fighting and start talking," curator John Gardam said.

"If only these people could be educated as to what the monument really means, then maybe they would show a little more respect."

The monument honours the more than 110,000 Canadian peacekeepers who served in conflict zones since 1948, the National Capital Commission says on its website.

It features three peacekeepers "cutting through the rubble and debris of war and converging at a high point, which symbolizes the resolution of conflict," the website says.

It would be interesting to hear the response of Canada's various anti-war groups to this "resistance".

Protesting is one thing, this is simply disgusting.

Anti-war vandals hit wrong target, curator says - Ottawa Citizen