The Memorial Chamber is a special space within Parliament and if the Peace Tower is the, sort of, spine of the building, then the Memorial Chamber really is its heart.
Well the altar, at least the central altar in the Memorial Chamber was created by the architect, John Pearson, to memorialize Canada's, essentially Canada's war dead from the First World War—
all the people who had given their lives for king and country at the time. And, it's taken on an incredible significance because it has come to be, essentially,
a focal point to memorialize not only Canada's war dead from the First World War, but also the Second War, the Korean War and other conflicts that have occurred over the last century.
It's very important that these altars be replaced because, to me, it is a matter of respect, showing the utmost respect for the sacrifices that the people have made.
So we decided the first thing to do was to hire an architectural historian to write a paper about the Chamber and include as much research as possible about Pearson, the architect's, intentions.
Canadian soldiers from the Great War, as they called it at the time, were buried where they fell. So their bodies are in Belgium and in France.
They are not here on Canadian soil. This was something that was very important—that there be a record of these individuals. So early on, John Pearson, the architect,...
His vision was that all of the names of the soldiers, and service men and women and chaplains be enshrined in that space. But as they started to get the casualty list and they started to see the extent of the losses from the Great War,
it became apparent that there was no space for all of those names on the walls. So they had to think of a different strategy, and that is why we have the Books of Remembrance.
The architect intended that the space would represent a sacred grove—grove implying that the central altar is surrounded by trees, by columns of stone, by elements of the design of the room that represent trees all surrounding and protecting the central altar.
So the intention of the new altars is to complement the idea of the sacred grove and introduce the element of poppies surrounding—forming part of the altars—and also surrounding the central altar.
So, I came up with about a dozen different sketches—just quick thumbnail sketches—on pieces of paper and presented them to the committee.
They involved the traditional block, pieces that were more sculptural that included big 3-D figures, pieces that included large relief carvings and pieces that were more like a table, which is a traditional way that books are shown in a library.
The table idea actually worked out very well because the solid blocks actually block off a large section of the floor in the room, and the floor in the room has a fairly elaborate design in the floor that is made up of stones from various battlefield sources in Europe and they form a cross in the floor.
We really did not want to cover up this cross. The current altars actually do cover up the points of the cross, but the intention is to show the cross on the floor once again.
When the Memorial Chamber was constructed initially, it only had space for the one altar. So it was designed around the altar for the First World War memorial and that altar is... The stone for the altar was a gift from Great Britain.
It is Hoptonwood and the Dominion Sculptor, in crafting the new altars for the other Books of Remembrance, sought to echo the design of that original altar so that the space would be a really cohesive tribute to all the Canadian fallen.
Bronze was chosen for the legs for a number of reasons. Bronze is a traditional material of memorials. There was a great memorials program that was undertaken after the First World War.
Bronze sculptures were done all around the country, all across the Commonwealth really.
There are a number of different artisans that have been employed. There are people who are doing stone carving, shaping of stone, letter carving and there are also people who are working in a foundry doing foundry work and people who are doing the final assembly, welding and patination of the bronze.
There's also a company that has been hired to do the cases themselves, which will contain the books.
It feels really good to be the creator of these altars and to have had even a small contribution to the heritage of this country—the heritage of commemorating our veterans and the commemoration of our war dead. It really is an honour to have been able to have been involved in this.
Every name of everyone who has fallen in service to this country is there. And that has a very profound impact when you walk the halls of this space and you get an opportunity to go in there and be quiet. It touches you in a way you that can't always describe.