Local war memorial to include gardens, educational building: city council roundup

With phase one of Renee Charbonneau’s dream complete, she will look to accomplish phase two and three by summer next year. 

The Project Lead was able to bring the Afghanistan War Memorial to fruition with the unveiling in 2017 and an Indigenous Veterans Day being held at the location near the ANAVAETS Hall earlier this month. 

“This project has been sitting in my brain for five years. We have been actively working it for three. And to have the Afghan monument in the ground for a year and to have the first major ceremony there, it has been really rewarding,” says Charbonneau.

Phase two and three are now in the works with some major plans for a Veterans Garden and program delivery building. A 24-by-60 building from Horizon North will be transformed and modified to be a fully themed military building for programs. 

“We have done so much behind the scenes over the last year,” she says. 

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“We have 75 completed stories now, thanks to the Fallen Heroes Program. We have the photos, the stories, the biographies, and everything has been cross-referenced and will be off to French translation.”

She says if everything goes to plan and they receive all of the grants applied for, the two phases should be complete by the end of July 2019. The grant money would cover the cost of about $350,000 for those two additional parts of the project. They have applied for provincial as well as grants from regional partners like MD of Greenview.

Charbonneau approached Grande Prairie City Council Monday night with some asks, but none were for money for her project. She is hoping trees can be donated or help from the city in writing grants for the greenery. They are also hoping for some guidance from the Parks Department to help create a planting map based on indigenous practices. The monument area will also need some sort of snow removal this year as they don’t have anyone to clear the space. 

“My goal is by 2022/2023 we should be almost complete and planted, fully doing nothing but program delivery and upgrades.”

One of the main goals for the area is to create a “connection” for people.

“This region, as sparsely populated as it is, contributed 320 lives to the overall bigger picture of Canada at war and peace. That is just the lives contributed not the effort,” she says. 

According to the Charbonneau, almost 60 of those were indigenous soldiers. 

Charbonneau says their group is still looking for volunteers, donations and sponsors. You can contact her directly at bdbetty@beltdrivebettymedia.com.

Other council highlights:

A park in the Mountview neighbourhood near 112 Avenue and 93 Street will now be called Bill Adam Park. 

Mayor Given will write a letter of support for provincial funding for day shelter services in the community. This is following a presentation that Jared Gossen from the Saint Lawrence Centre made at a Community Living Committee meeting earlier this month. 

A street was also closed down. The lane between two blocks of land south of 132 Avenue and east of 102 Street will be closed.