Veterans Affairs worried about blowback after it rejected Afghan memorial design, memo says

Officials at Veterans Affairs (VAC) feared that their decision to overrule the government's handpicked jury on a proposed design for the Afghan war memorial would be met with a «mixed reaction» that could «negatively affect the families of the fallen,» says an internal department memo obtained by Radio-Canada.

Last June, the department chose a design by Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson for the planned $3 million memorial — even though an independent jury appointed by the government chose a design proposed by Team Daoust, backed by architects Renée Daoust and Luca Fortin and former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.

The 2023 department memo indicates the government worried that overruling its own process for selecting a design could damage the department's reputation.

«Veterans of the mission may feel disrespected by the lack of due process on behalf of the government of Canada,» said the document. «The government of Canada can be criticized for failing to follow the procurement process and dismissing the decision of the jury.»

The decision to go with Stimson's design apparently was popular with many veterans, however — including military historian Lee Windsor, a veteran who was a member of the design jury that was overruled by VAC.

In an email he wrote to a senior official at Veterans Affairs Canada — obtained by CBC/Radio Canada under the access to information law — Windsor said he was delighted by the news.

«Whoooooohooooooo! You made my year! Maybe my decade!!!!!» Windsor wrote last June.

The University of New Brunswick professor told Radio-Canada he could not talk about the confidential deliberations of the jury in 2021. He was one of four members of the seven-person jury who were appointed by Veterans Affairs Canada; the