Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Mother Canada and Mother Russia

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Half an Hour, Jun 02, 2015

The current government plans to deface some pristine Cape Breton wilderness with a 'Mother Canada' monument. Here's the proposal. Here's some coverage of opposition. A photo below:

 

What I find a bit puzzling is why Canada's conservative government - the same government that wants to erect a 'victims of communism' memorial in Ottawa - would want to emulate a series of Soviet-era monuments.

Here's the 1960s era 'Mother Armenia' statue in Yerevan:





Here's Mother Georgia, in Tblisi:



Mother Russia, in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad):



Mother Motherland, in Kiev.

 

Hero City, Minsk:



Mother Latvia:



Freedom Monument (Mother Pest?) Budapest.



And this one I photographed in Riga, Latvia:



Don't get me wrong; I love every one of these statues. But they speak to a view of the world we more commonly associate with an all-embracing state. It seems an odd choice of design for the Harper Conservatives.

The one thing the 'Mother Canada' proposal does not have in common with the other statues: the other statues are designed to be seen. This statue is designed to be installed in one of the most remote wilderness regions of Canada. It's an odd choice.



Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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