Saturday, July 17, 2021

Peace

Reconciliation is the title of a large monument lying at a crossroads downtown, with the Byward Market, Major's Hill Park, Notre Dame, and the National Gallery as neighbours. It honours and commemorates Canadian peacekeepers, both living and dead, who have participated in international peacekeeping missions. Dedicated in 1992, it features a movement from the debris of war into the stability of peace in its design, with two men and one woman positioned at the top on two stone ridges.


Peacekeeping soldiers dates back to Lester Pearson, who was foreign minister at the time of the Suez Crisis and proposed the idea of neutral soldiers being used to keep the peace in hostile regions. Pearson would later be Canada's Prime Minister, and would win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Canadian soldiers have served in multiple peacekeeping missions ever since.



Here broken walls represent the chaos of war.


Leading to the restoration of peace.


Inscribed onto one wall are various peacekeeping missions over the decades that have involved Canadian personnel.


One last look from the north.

38 comments:

  1. ...the restoration of peace seems to always be a challenge, always choose peace!

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  2. A touching, clever one. To Peace.

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  3. Peacekeeping is Canada's most honourable legacy.

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  4. It's a worthy memorial though I can never see us having peace. There is always conflict somewhere

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  5. Hello,
    Impressive monument, I wish for peace.
    Have a great weekend!

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  6. Great message. We all need peace.

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  7. @Tom: true.

    @Stefan: we can.

    @Iris: a great concept, both peacekeeping and the monument.

    @Jan: very much so.

    @David: a good legacy.

    @Francisco: thank you.

    @Anvilcloud: definitely.

    @Bill: unfortunately true.

    @Eileen: thank you.

    @Italiafinlandia: indeed.

    @Nancy: definitely.

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  8. Great monument! Need of the hour!

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  9. A Beautiful and thoughtful design for Peacekeepers.

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  10. In many ways keeping the peace is a much harder job than making war. They deserve to be commemorated with such a fine monument.

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  11. Thee was a day when peace keeping really worked. Today peace keeping does very little good.

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  12. What an interesting monument. There is a lot of symbolism here.

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  13. A beautiful monument for the peacekeepers. The world needs a lot more of them today.

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  14. Love this! Thank you for sharing.

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  15. La Paz, es uno de los bienes más preciados que podemos tenemos.

    Es buena idea lo del Monumento para concienciarnos todos, sobre la necesidad de fomentar la Paz.

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  16. @Magiceye: indeed.

    @Catarina: hopefully.

    @RedPat: it really is.

    @Maywyn: very much so.

    @John: it is difficult.

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  17. @Red: there are many complications.

    @Sharon: very much so.

    @Bill: quite true.

    @Marie: you're welcome.

    @Ventana: thank you.

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  18. My knowledge of Canada history is abysmal, but I did know (and appreciate) that your country is known for peace-keeping. I also would recognize Lester Pearson as a PM because of that connection. An appropriate monument to something to be very proud of.

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  19. These photo of your country Peacekeepers Monument breaks my heart. Peace is a hard battle to win with war the easy option. The mess in the middle east shows that.

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  20. There seem to be never ending wars, one after another in our world, maybe we need more displays like this to remind people.

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  21. I was just reading about the role Canadian troops fulfilled in France during WWII.

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  22. Impressive reminder. I don’t know anything about Canadian history. Thank you for sharing.

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  23. That looks a very nice monument.

    All the best Jan

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  24. A glorious monument, a remembrance of an essential task.

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  25. That is quite a monument. Very impressive.

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  26. What a wonderful idea for a monument and thoughtful choices on the design.

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  27. Beautifully thought out and sculpted monument, excellent detail shots William ✨

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  28. War and Peace ~ a Neverending Story ~ sigh ~

    Living in the moment,

    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  29. peace is good. makes life so much easier and calm. ( ;

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  30. @Sallie: he was a great PM.

    @Parsnip: a good reason for a monument.

    @Amy: I think so too.

    @Revrunner: they did a lot.

    @Betty: you're welcome.

    @Jan: definitely.

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  31. @Joanne: indeed.

    @Gemel: quite so.

    @Jeanie: I agree.

    @Grace: thanks.

    @Carol: so it seems.

    @Beth: I agree.

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