EDMONTON – A former Silver Cross mother is accusing the federal government of forgetting about the families of fallen soldiers.
Sherry Clark is upset that a new Afghanistan memorial is being unveiled in Ottawa on Tuesday evening, and she only found out about it on Thursday, through Facebook.
“Once again, Ottawa has forgotten about the families and they’re insensitive about us wanting to be there,” she said.
Clark’s son, Private Joel Wiebe, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in June 2007. The new memorial in Ottawa is meant to honour him, along with the 157 other soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.
The only problem, according to Clark, is that few families received invitations. And she says that those who did were notified by phone or email on Thursday. Clark believes that is not enough notice.
“Many people do want to attend these kinds of things, but we need time. You have to have more than two business days or four days to drop everything and fly to Ottawa,” Clark added. She thinks three or four months notice would have been more appropriate.
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“It’s not like we expect for them to pay for us to go, but we would like notice in a more timely matter so we can attend these things…It’s not easy to change schedules, get holidays from work, or even to be able to afford to fly to Ottawa.”
A Defence Ministry spokesperson sent Global News the following statement in regards to the situation:
“It was very recently that our office secured the Hall of Honour on Parliament Hill–a respectful and accessible location in the National Capital–for the Afghanistan Vigil. We felt it right to display the Vigil as soon as possible, to allow the families of the fallen, and the many Canadians who daily visit the Parliament during the summer months, the opportunity to pay their respects. We felt it would be wrong not to give Canadians as much opportunity as possible to visit, remember, and honour our fallen Canadian Armed Forces members.”
Clark questions that – pointing to a recent email to her from Defence Minister Peter Mackay that says nothing about venue problems.
“He did say that all of the families had been contacted, and I wrote him back to say that his office had been misinformed.”
The new Afghanistan Memorial Vigil will be on display on Parliament Hill all summer. Then for the next two weeks, it will be taken across the country, so that all Canadians, including the families of the fallen, can pay their respects.
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
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