The group behind an Ontario memorial to fallen soldiers says it will immediately begin work to remove the installation after mistakenly including the names of living veterans on its list and overlooking others who had died in battle.
The monument is located along Highway 401 at the Trenton OnRoute and was unveiled two years ago to celebrate the completion of an initiative to plant two-million-plus trees along the Highway of Heroes.
Called “Presence in Absence,” the installation set out to honour soldiers who had made the ultimate sacrifice.
Oversights when it was drawn together and installed, however, have left one veteran in shock after learning her name was included on the memorial, while the names of others were committed altogether.
“A colleague of mine in Ottawa called me on Sunday night and she found out about the monument and she informed me,” Honourary Lieutenant-Colonel Lee Anne Quinn told Global News.
“My name is on that, and the silhouette is on that, my comrades — I lost 16 comrades in Afghanistan and none of their names are on it.”
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Quinn served for 22 years as a military nurse with the Canadian Armed Forces and was deployed during the Afghanistan war. She said she was never asked about the monument, which included her name.
Hers was not the only name of a living soldier included on the monument to commemorate the fallen. The plaque meanwhile, which has since been removed, has also been criticized for omitting the names of some soldiers who died in action.
“If they’re going to do it right, they need to do it right,” she said. “There were 157 soldiers lost in Afghanistan. They need to have 157 soldiers that did not make it back.”
The tree tribute the plaque was installed to commemorate was funded by donors and all three levels of government. But the monument itself was not paid for, or consulted upon, by Veterans Affairs Canada.
“Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is aware of this issue and has been in touch several times with the Executive Director of Trees for Life to ensure that appropriate steps are taken,” a spokesperson told Global News.
“This specific installation was not funded by VAC. VAC was not asked to validate the list of names featured on the memorial.”
The executive director of the charity, Trees for Life, told Global News it was sorry for the upset and outrage and said the employee who had been in charge of drawing up and verifying the list had been let go.
“The absolute furthest thing from our intentions was to offend anyone, especially those that have bravely served our country in uniform,” Mike Hurley said in an emailed response.
“Although words cannot express how truly disappointed I am that this mistake was not caught before the plaques were produced and installed, I would like to formally apologize to all those who were affected and their families. We remain grateful for their service to our country. They truly are heroes in every sense of the word.”
Quinn said the experience of being named on the monument had triggered post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I’m not sleeping, I don’t eat,” she said. “I pace at night and look out the windows. I vomit, I shake, I have panic attacks — I have flashbacks and nightmares.”
On Friday evening, Trees for Life confirmed it planned to remove the installation altogether.
Work to remove it is expected to begin early next week.
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