Mother Canada statue not feasible for Green Cove war memorial, says firm

The company hired to assess the Never Forgotten War Memorial says an enormous statue planned for Green Cove, Cape Breton,isn't any more feasible than it was when the company pulled out of the project four years ago.

LANDinc, a Toronto-basedlandscape architecture firm, is onlynow speaking publicly about its involvement becauseFriends of Green Cove, agroup opposed to the Mother Canadastatue,asked the company to share what itlearnedbefore leavingthe project in 2012.

Patrick Morello,a partner with LANDinc, saidthe project didn't start off with plans for a large statue.

"Originally, that point on the site was meant to be a place for reflection, a space for one to two individuals, and it grew from there to having a sculpture that was three, four, fivemetres and then it kept growing and growing," he said.

Early signs

TheMother Canada statue has sparked controversy. Public and private opinions have been mainly split over politics,planning, community impacts, and what's appropriate for a memorial.

The statue would stand 24 metres, witharms outstretched towards Europe.Thefile is under review by federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.

Morellosaidas the statue's sizekept growing, his company developed concerns about the potential impact ofice, wind and waves.

"As the statue was getting bigger, we started to do our own investigation on the geomorphology and the movement of ice on the site,"Morellosaid.

"And determining that it's going to be quite an intervention to have a large base to sustain that statue and a large base for people that it might not be sustainable."

One man's vision

The Never Forgotten War Memorial is the brainchild of Toronto businessman Tony Trigiani. He envisions a site in Cape Breton looking across the ocean.

Morellosaid hiscompany never received the final 25 per cent of itspayment forwork on the project.

On Tuesday, theNever Forgotten War Memorial organization saidit won't comment on "personal" matters betweenMorelloandTrigiani.

A spokeswoman said in an email, however, that the Mother Canada statue has "always" been modelled after the Canada Bereft statue at theCanadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

Morello saidTrigianiis committed to building Mother Canada, despite LANDinc's concerns.

"Once he had an image in his head he didn't want to move from it," Morello said.

Documents revealed by LANDinc showGreen Cove wasn't on the original short-list of locations. Louisbourg, Keltic Lodge in Ingonish and Lakie's Head were the first three places considered.

'This has grown out of proportion'

Walter Kehm,also with LANDinc,has studied veterans monuments for decades.

"This has grown out of proportion now and you know size doesn't mean monumental. Monuments can be very intimate in scale, places of reflection need not be enormous," he said.

In May 2012, Morello said his company drafted a five-page work planwith recommendations for Trigiani to hire more consultants particularly for theenvironmental assessment process and to improve communications with the public.

• READ the five-page work plan with LANDinc's recommendations

Morello saidTrigiani didn't agree.

"There was a number of communications about our concerns through a probably six to eight-month period,"Morello said.

"But always hoping that we could be involved and help steer the project, to be involved in it to make it more sustainable. ButI think it came to a point where Tony didn't like our recommendations and he thought we were sidetracking the whole project."

Cape Breton MP Mark Eyking has said he expects the federal government to either approve or reject the project by this spring.