Newsletter Volume 8, Issue 4 Fall 2016 Tribute to Liberty Christmas Appeal As Christmas approaches we ask that you remember Tribute to Liberty in your holiday plans. While preparing for joyous holiday celebrations with your friends and family, it is important to stop and reflect on the joy and blessings in your own life while also being aware that not everyone has been as fortunate in the past. Tribute to Liberty is pleased to inform you that we are very close to reaching our fundraising goal of $1.5 million, but we still need your help. For every $1000 donated you are invited to submit a family name of a victim of Communism for the Wall of Remembrance, which will be a permanent part of this prominent memorial, in our nation’s capital. Why 1000 names on the Wall of Remembrance? Multiplied by each $1000 donation, they will symbolically represent 100 million people murdered by Communist regimes. Please join the Wall of Remembrance and help us reach our goal by the end of 2016. Additionally, you are invited to share a victim’s story on the virtual Pathway to Liberty available at http://tributetoliberty.ca/thepathwaytoliberty. Anastasia Lin is my fellow Canadian, my "spiritual sister," and I'm very proud of her. Anastasia Lin grew up in China but later moved with her mother to Canada as a young adult. Once she was outside the influence of the Communist Party, she realized the lies she had been taught to believe. Now, as an accomplished model, actress and winner of Miss World Canada 2015, she speaks out in hopes it will encourage others to do the same. Anastasia’s story is told in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-IBLFgP2ZE Tribute to Liberty is a Canadian organization whose mission is to establish a memorial to the victims of Communism in the National Capital Region. Tribute to Liberty’s Newsletter is published four times a year. If you would like to add an email address to our subscriber list please email [email protected]. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 84558, 2336 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario M6S 4Z7 Charitable #: 814999660RR0001 www.tributetoliberty.ca We are seeking your help to honour the victims and survivors and ensure they have a permanent place in our nation's consciousness and memory. To do this we need your personal stories and your financial support to build the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. Please complete the donation form at the end of this newsletter, or contribute online by visiting tributetoliberty.ca. Tribute to Liberty is a registered Canadian charity, #814999660RR0001. Eligible donors will be issued tax receipts. Sincerely, Ludwik Klimkowski, Tribute to Liberty Chair Christmas Eve in the Gulag 1955 The following is a Latvian Christmas carol originally belonging to a Gulag inmate. The carol was sent to Marta Zalaiskalns, who was Design Competition Finalists incarcerated in one of Stalin's labour camps between Chosen! 1945 and 1954. The card was sent to her for Christmas 1953, and she was obliged to sew it into her clothes to th On November 7 , the Department of Canadian prevent guards confiscating it. Heritage announced the finalist teams that qualified as part of the Request for Qualification (RFQ) process It was written by an unknown composer, and is a to submit a design proposal for the Memorial to the setting of the poem Šai sveta nakti (On this holy night) Victims of Communism – Canada, a Land of Refuge. by the Latvian exile writer Valda Mora. This announcement marks the start of the Request for Proposals (RFP) phase of the design competition. The carol's translator, Dr. Mara Kalnins said, “The carol is a poignant reminder of the means such Team Cutler: Jeff Cutler, landscape architect prisoners found to keep hope alive. It is a moving (Vancouver, BC) and Ken Lum, artist (Philadelphia, thought that all those brave and silent hearts who Pennsylvania) endured the labour camps will be remembered across Team Mills: Karen Mills and Ben Mills, public art the globe this Christmas through words and music that consultants; Silvano Tardella and Robert M. S. Ng, celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.” landscape architects; Jordan Söderberg Mills, artist (all from Toronto, ON); Vong Phaophanit Šai sveta nakti and Claire Oboussier, artists (London, U.K.) On this holy night earth and heaven shine, Team Moskaliuk: Wiktor Moskaliuk, architect (Markham, ON); Claire Bedat, landscape architect In this night the heart and stars commune, (Washington, D.C.); Larysa Kurylas, artist And enmity fades, each loves the other, (Washington, D.C.) ‘And o'er the stillness warm wings hover'. Team Raff: Paul Raff, artist and architect; Michael On this night your footsteps glimmer; A. Ormston-Holloway, designer and certified This night transfigures doubt to hope; arborist; Brett Hoornaert, landscape architect; This night must banish every sorrow, Luke Kairys, landscape architect (all from Toronto, ON) And teach you to forgive and love. Team Reich: Tony Reich, architect (Toronto, ON); On this holy night, in this holy night, Catherine Widgery, artist (Cambridge, On this holy night, each loves the other; Massachusetts); Matthew Sweig, landscape On this holy night, in this holy night, architect (Toronto, ON) On this holy night, each loves the other. On this night the gates of heaven open, The finalists were chosen by a jury comprised of Above earth's darkness burn the stars, design professionals, content specialists, and a representative from Tribute to Liberty. The teams And on each person's head this night have until March 2, 2017, to complete their design The Lord in blessing lays His hand. proposals. The design concepts will then be posted on the project website for the public to view and were reviewed. Due to the fact the design guidelines comment on. The winning design will be announced in don’t entirely convey the emotional suffering of the April 2017. The jury will make a recommendation on victims and their families or adequately describe their the final design to the Minister of Canadian Heritage work in Canada to lay the foundation for a peaceful who is responsible for the final selection of the future, Tribute to Liberty board member Robert Tmej winning design on behalf of the Government of outlined for the finalists his family’s story of fleeing Canada. the Communists that forcefully took over Czechoslovakia . Tmej’s family arrived safely in Canada The jury: (Quebec City and Halifax) while the family that stayed Larry Beasley, CM, is the retired director of back home would suffer the consequences of planning for the City of Vancouver and currently Communist rule. The punishment included the Distinguished Practice Professor of Planning at imprisonment and forfeiture of property - no one was the University of British Columbia. immune from the terror. Ruth Derksen is Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and a first- Tmej also described how Tribute to Liberty is generation Canadian of Russian Mennonite comprised of and represents citizens from around the descent. Dr. Derksen holds a PhD in the world who suffered and sought refuge in Canada, and philosophy of language. that the memorial will represent their agony and Ludwik Klimkowski is the President of Moneyweb sorrow of fleeing their homeland, their joy and Financial, a financial planning and investment happiness of building a new life in Canada, and their service, serves as Chair of Tribute to Liberty and is continued fight for freedom and democracy. Vice-President of the Canadian Polish Congress for Canadian Affairs. The group visited the memorial site at the Garden of Ted Merrick is the director of the design studio at the Provinces and Territories to enable the finalist Ferris + Associates and a founder of the acclaimed teams to see where the memorial will reside and Winter Stations Design Competition in Toronto where hundreds and maybe even thousands will that reimagines lifeguard stations with temporary eventually gather to commemorate their ethnic public art. heritage and struggle against Communism while Nadia Myre is a visual artist from Quebec and an celebrating their past, present and future in Canada. Algonquin member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation. Ms. Myre is the recipient of several prestigious grants and awards, including the Sobey Art Award. Tribute to Liberty Chair Ludwik Klimkowski says, “Tribute to Liberty is excited to see this project move forward with the Government of Canada’s strong support. We appreciate the commitment of Minister Joly, who has worked closely with Canada’s cultural communities represented by Tribute to Liberty to make this project a reality.” Memorial site at the Garden of the Provinces and Territories. Design Teams Meet to Discuss Guidelines and Visit Site On November 7th the finalist design teams met with representatives from Canadian Heritage, the National Capital Commission and Tribute to Liberty to discuss the guidelines for the design competition and to visit the memorial site. The design guidelines, a technical document and roadmap of parameters for developing the final plans, Design competition finalists. Vietnamese Fundraiser for A blogger who was recently released from 6 years of prison and later forced to live in exile in the US. He Memorial met with President Obama at the White House last year shortly after his release to provide the American The Toronto Vietnamese Committee to Support the Congress with an update on Vietnam's violations of Memorial to Victims of Communism held a fundraiser human rights. on Sunday October 9th in Mississauga, Ontario. More than 350 attended the 3rd Toronto Vietnamese community fundraiser for Tribute to Liberty's Memorial to Victims of Communism project. The evening's emcee was Tribute to Liberty board member Christine Chi Dang.