Photo courtesy Veterans Memorial Park Facebook

By Erika Rolling

Veterans Memorial Park

Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Sunday

Jun 4, 2022 | 1:30 PM

What started in 2017 with an Afghanistan War Memorial, has now flourished into an entire park to remember our veterans.

The Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre in Grande Prairie is holding a Grand Opening on Sunday, June 5, 2022 and has the stories of around 95 of 367 regional killed-in-action soldiers.

Renee Charbonneau, Project Lead and Founder of the Veterans Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre says it’s been a labour of love.

“The idea stems from me going across Canada and visiting all of the different graves and then finding the different memorial gardens and things across Canada… and then realizing that we were one of the only northern communities that didn’t have something really unique and special that represented local and regional soldiers.”

“It just seemed wrong that one of our own wasn’t being memorialized here in Grande Prairie.” she noted on Master Corporal Timothy Wilson, who was born in GP and died of his injuries in Afghanistan in 2006.

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The park has an Afghanistan War Memorial, Korean War Mural, a Ukrainian display, First World War Internment Camp display and Orange Shirt Garden so far.

“There’s lot to do yet!” Charbonneau says.

In 2019, the Veterans Memorial Gardens was able to expand to include an Interpretive Centre by winning a grant, with multiple displays for the community to view inside of it.

Charbonneau says the park is important to have in Grande Prairie because the northwest Alberta region covers from Grande Cache, to the Northwest Territories border, from the east side of the MD of Opportunity, to the B.C border.

“What a lot of people don’t understand from this area is just how mant magnificent stories we actually have to tell… the amount of overwhelming history that’s here.”

“We have from our own backyard; a Cree code talker that was a motorcycle dispatch rider, we have one of Canada’s most decorated soldiers… his Alberta story started right here at Blueberry Mountain.” Charbonneau says.

The Grand Opening events start at 9 a.m. on Sunday with a free pancake breakfast, a ride and drive at 10 a.m., the ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. and an open house until 5:30 p.m.

The Veteran Memorial Gardens & Interpretive Centre is located at 10121-93 Street in Grande Prairie.