Veterans outraged by people urinating on war memorial
Last Updated: Monday, July 3, 2006 | 10:38 AM ET
CBC News
Veterans groups have renewed calls for more guards or a fence to protect the National War Memorial in Ottawa, after people were photographed urinating on the monument on Canada Day.
A retired Canadian Armed Forces major, Michael Pilon, took photographs after he found several people relieving themselves on the memorial around 11 p.m. on July 1, after a fireworks display came to an end.
The incidents came hours after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean hosted a huge ceremony at the site, which honours the country's war dead and holds the remains of The Unknown Soldier, returned to Canada from France in 2000.
Pilon said that in 2005, he saw drunken revellers pouring beer on the site.
"It's absolutely disgusting — absolutely disgusting," Bob Butt, the director of communications for the Royal Canadian Legion, told the newspaper.
"The tomb is a sacred place, the area surrounding it is consecrated as a graveyard. It's the same as if you went in and urinated on someone's grave."
Pleas to politicans, police unheeded
Pilon, 63, a retired major with the Royal Canadian Dental Corps, said he has tried on a number of occasions to get local police to guard the memorial but has been told there aren't the resources available to do so.
'It's absolutely disgusting.… It's the same as if you went in and urinated on someone's grave.'-Bob Butt, the director of communications for the Royal Canadian Legion
He said he has also sent e-mails to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ottawa Mayor Bob Chiarelli, the National Capital Commission and others, and did not get a response.
"You're not going to be able to control how many drunks there are out there, but keep them away from the area and have a [security] presence," Pilon told the Citizen.
He said he would like to see a small fence and a plaque erected to inform people of the site's significance.
The Royal Canadian Legion has been asking for increased protection through the RCMP, police and politicians — also to no avail.
A spokeswoman for the RCMP said the force works with local authorities to patrol the Canada Day weekend parties and festivities, but pointed out that officers can not be everywhere.
What are we going to do to ensure that this sacred memorial is properly guarded?
Lets do something to correct this idiocy in Canada.
Lets stay on topic and stay focused one time.




and stand along side our veterans.

