The City of North Vancouver has endorsed the development of a commemoration policy for erecting memorials and monuments, as plans get underway to put in place a memorial for the victims of Flight 752.
The policy, penned for completion in October this year, will help “establish equity” in commemorating people and events, said staff in a council meeting Monday.
Staff said a policy-driven approach to decision making can “help ensure a fair and transparent process,” can clarify the city’s roles to “support, curate and regulate,” can provide guidance and can help support “a trauma informed process.”
In January of this year, during a protest for the passengers of downed Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752, Premier David Eby announced the province would be providing $100,000 to the City of North Vancouver for a memorial for the victims.
In Monday’s meeting, staff said the policy would serve as a roadmap for the Flight 752 memorial and all other monuments, memorials and plaques that would come after it, proposing that work begin on the tribute immediately after the policy is approved.
Staff have been looking to other creative tributes, like the Sailor’s Point Memorial in Waterfront Park and the Workers Memorial plaque in Victoria Park, for inspiration and to gauge how long it would take to complete.
The process will likely take just under a year, said staff, with a month given to finding an artist through a planned open call, the selection and design process each taking a month, and the installation taking six months. A location is still to be determined.
Amid fears that the process would take too long, however, Coun. Shervin Shahriari proposed an amendment that would see the policy and the memorial worked on concurrently.
“We need to do better in order to speed up the process here in any way, shape or form we can,” he said.
The amendment received pushback from both Mayor Linda Buchanan, who said she appreciated its intent but couldn’t support it for concern of rushing the project, and staff, who said combining the two wouldn’t gain any efficiency and would make it difficult to create the policy in an unbiased manner.
“Our city and this council takes this extremely seriously, which is why it is really important that we get this right,” said Buchanan.
“Policy, what we do at this table, is what guides us. It’s what provides the guidance, the consistency as well as the accountability of what we are doing in the community and making sure that we don’t get it wrong. Because getting it wrong can further traumatize people.”
Buchanan said it was particularly important to her that the families impacted by the tragedy feel that the council built a commemorative memorial correctly.
Couns. Angela Girard and Jessica McIlroy also commented on their appreciation in the urgency for getting the memorial installed, but said they didn’t want the process rushed to a point of hindrance to the finished tribute.
McIlroy said she wanted to see more time for community engagement to “prevent further trauma by getting it wrong.”
Despite concerns, Shahriari's amendment to work on the commemoration policy and the Flight 752 memorial concurrently was passed by council 6:1, with only the Mayor voting in opposition.
Coun. Tony Valente said that even if there isn’t a gain in efficiency, they should still try to move forward on the memorial nonetheless.
“I think we need to realize this work has a very strong emotional component,” he said. “For some this memorial may be a part of attaining some form of closure.… I think we want to show as much as we can how we’re moving ahead with this process.”
Closing the discussion, Buchanan said the public can rest assured that for January 2024, whether a monument is in place or not, a commemoration event will occur for the seven North Shore residents lost during the tragedy. The event would likely include a march, as has been the case in previous years.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
