The City of North Vancouver is moving forward with a plan to build a memorial for the victims of Flight PS752 in a local park.
At a Dec. 2 meeting, council voted to move forward with the next steps toward building a memorial that would be integrated with Jack Loucks Court in Lower Lonsdale.
To that end, city council endorsed the high-level design process, which would see the project through various phases toward an expected completion date in two to two and a half years.
Next steps include seeking out and appointing members of a selection committee, which will review design submissions for the memorial.
City staff will also continue to meet with the Association of Families of Flight PS752 steering committee to seek input and guidance on the process. Staff are set to report back to council with updates as that work progresses.
Staff and the steering committee will also create a memorandum of understanding to identify roles and responsibilities for the project, as well as fundraising responsibilities.
According to the staff report presented at the meeting, Jack Loucks Court at 170 West First St. was identified by council as the memorial site in February.
With that site, there’s an opportunity to integrate the memorial into the landscape with a renewal of the surrounding park, staff wrote in the report.
Examples of existing integrated landscape memorials were given, including the Air India Memorial in Stanley Park and the Nikkei Memorial in Steveston.
The overall design process for the PS752 memorial can be broken into three phases, staff said: appointing the selection panel and creating the design team, concept design and engagement, and project delivery.
As they look to appoint the selection panel, staff will be seeking five members with representation from impacted or special interest holders (e.g. a victim’s family member), design professions (e.g. a landscape architect), an artist recognized in their field, and an artistic or cultural professional with expertise in a related field (e.g. commemorative practice).
The selection panel will work collaboratively to develop the request for expression of interest and request for proposals. It will then evaluate submissions and provide input into the creation of design concepts.
To build the memorial, the provincial government gave $100,000 in 2023. The rest of the project’s budget will be covered by the Association of Families, staff said. But costs associated with park improvements in Jack Loucks Court will be part of the city’s capital budget.
While no cost estimate could be given for the PS752 memorial, staff told council that it would be in the range of similar builds, like the Air India Memorial which cost $400,000 and was completed in 2009, and the Nikkei Memorial which finished in 2022 for the same dollar figure.
Despite delays, victims' loved ones support chosen location
During council’s discussion, Coun. Shervin Shahriari suggested that staff could also look to the federal government for additional funding.
As the fifth anniversary of the tragedy on Jan. 8 approaches, and construction of the memorial is another two or more years away, it has to be done right, he said.
“I do want to stress that I like to see a very transparent type of process going forward,” Shahriari said. “A lot of people when they ask me about this, I'd like to be able to point them to a link and say, ‘Here you go. There’s a bunch of information,’” he said. “We still don’t have that.”
Mayor Linda Buchanan said she liked the approach of the integrated landscape.
“It reflects the intent of the motion, which was really about a place that was reflective and a place similar to what I talked about earlier, the Strength and Remembrance Pole. It’s a place for people to come and reflect and get strength and heal,” she said.
Like many of the loved ones of the 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents who lost their lives aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, Hooriran Sohran is asking a question about the memorial construction: “When?”
While a timeline of up to 2.5 years is the current estimate, staff said it could change due to factors like fundraising efforts and overall scope of the project.
Despite delays faced so far, Sohran said that Jack Loucks Court is a peaceful place and will make a good location for the memorial. She lives nearby on Second Avenue.
Sohran lost four people close to her in the PS752 tragedy: daughter Negar Borghei, son-in-law Alvand Sadeghi, as well as Sadeghi’s sister Sahand and niece Sophie, who was just five years old.
Arman Abtahi, who lost his brother Seyed Mehran Abtahiforoushani on the flight, also said the process to build the memorial has been slow, but is glad to see it moving forward.
Originally, many from the Association of Families had hoped the memorial would be built in Victoria Park.
“The second option [Jack Loucks] is also good,” he said. “We didn’t want to initiate this with a lot of friction with other stakeholders. It is supposed to be a place for reflection, so we didn’t want to start it with friction.”
“This was our second-best option. We selected these sites among 10 or 20 sites. So I’m happy with it, actually,” Abtahi said.
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