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Check out how HUGE this monument is! You’d think it must be REALLY important for it to
be this big — wouldn’t you? Well, as it turns out, it is really important. It’s
a tribute to Canadian peacekeepers — and their work is super important. They’re the
soldiers who go on peacekeeping missions in war zones all around the world. They work
to protect people. And, usually, the people they protect are the ones who are the most
vulnerable — like women and children, and older people. When people see peacekeepers
coming, they greet them like heroes. They immediately feel safe because they know that
the peacekeepers are going to help them find shelter and will watch over them if there’s
any danger. It’s like what the statues are doing on the monument. They’re standing
guard. They’re watching through binoculars. And they’re communicating with other peacekeepers,
using radios like the one that the woman kneeling has on her shoulder. If you go into the middle
of the monument, it looks like the ruins of a village that’s been destroyed by war.
It feels kinda sad. But, if you follow the line on the ground and look off in the distance,
you see Canadian peacekeepers. The monument shows the transition from war to peace, and
that’s why it’s called Reconciliation. I think that’s pretty cool! Can you imagine
how many people it takes to make a monument like this? It takes a whole team of people.
Canadian sculptor Jack K. Harman from British Columbia created the sculptures of the peacekeepers.
He worked with Richard G. Henriquez, an urban designer, also from B.C. to come up with the
design for the monument. Henriquez drew the plans, and made models of the monument — to
see what the end result would look like, and to make sure that everything was in the right
place. You see all the bushes and trees? A landscape architect did that part of the monument.
Her name is Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. And guess where she was from? Yep, B.C.! She chose
plants that would be able to grow and survive the winters in Canada’s Capital. See the
grove of trees in front of the monument? Well it was Cornelia Oberlander who had them planted
there — to symbolize peace, like the peacekeepers. Then, there was a team from a company called
Gabriel Design. They're from here, in the capital. They worked on the lighting, to make
sure that the monument looks its best at nighttime — and that it’s always safe. And then,
finally, all the pieces had to be put together, like a giant puzzle. And it was the people
from a company called J.L. Richards and Associates, also from Ottawa, who made sure that the whole
monument was built exactly as you see it now. That’s pretty amazing! I think it would
be so cool to make a model of a monument! Have you ever tried to do a big project like
that?