Aboriginal war memorial receives support

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Claude Petit is fighting one more battle.

The Korean War veteran, and Order of Canada recipient, is part of a group fighting to round up funding for an Aboriginal war memorial in Ottawa.

So far, the group of veterans is only about one-tenth of the way to its $1 million target, but they recently won a major skirmish in the war in Prince Albert.

Lumber industry giant Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd. chipped in $25,000 toward the soaring bronze and marble artwork.

Petit, vice-president of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association, said the project has been ongoing for several years now, since former Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Ron Irwin approached him with the idea for a monument, along with a youth scholarship on behalf of the veterans organization.

"Of course I thought it was a great idea," Petit said. "Irwin got the fundraising project started with a little seed money and arranged the money to fund the scholarship.

Lloyd Pinay was the Saskatchewan artist chosen by a committee to create the nine-metre monument. Sketches were drawn up and the process of finding consensus among Aboriginal groups began, leading to criss-crossing the country and several design changes to include all the groups.

Two years later, the design is nearly finalized and will be similar to the model Pinay has constructed for the fundraising effort.

Pinay said he's looking forward to the day he can stand atop the larger-than-life version of the statue.

"It was quite an achievement itself, how this came about," Petit said. "It didn't come about overnight."

Both Petit and Pinay were on hand in Prince Albert to accept the donation from Weyerhaeuser's National Donations Committee on behalf of the National Aboriginal Veterans War Monument Fund .

"We feel the Aboriginal people are a big part of all of the country," said Wayne Roznowsky, public relations manager for Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd., Saskatchewan Division.

Roznowsky noted that it's unusual for the company to put money toward a project that is not destined for an area in which it operates.

"We felt very clear this was something we had to bend our rules for because it was so important to Aboriginal people."

Petit said a site for the monument has been chosen through consultations with the National Capital Commission. It will be located in downtown Ottawa, not far from the main national war monument.

To date, about $150,000 has been raised toward the estimated $1 million cost.

Petit said there will be a meeting in Edmonton in early June to see where the fundraising effort can go from here. So far only private donations, like that made by Weyerhaeuser, have been put forward towards the project.

"We'll see if we can't come up with some other ideas to push this fundraising," he said.

Petit said the year 2000 has been set as a target for finishing the monument.

The monument depicts four representative Aboriginal people - a woman, a First Nations person, a Metis person and an Inuit person.

As well, animals are incorporated into the design to show the traits valued in Aboriginal societies which may show up as spirit guides: a bear for strength, a wolf for family values, a cougar for stealth and an elk for sharp senses.

Above all else on the monument flies an eagle, known as the thunderbird, which is symbolic of the Creator.

Pinay, from Fort Qu'Appelle and Saskatoon, said he drew on his own family history for inspiration in creating the work.

His father was a Second World War veteran who was wounded in combat.

"In some ways they never received the recognition they deserved, in more ways than one," he said.