Memorial Wall and Living Monument Documentary Proposal

 

Introduction

 

Within each culture and society there are people that take up arms in order to protect those that are within the society. These people and their families as well as support staff and other participants of these conflicts endure great hardships as a result of these conflicts. Canadian society owes its freedom and independence to these individuals of our society that have chosen to take up arms and to defend our way of life, and ensure that our children are safe and prosperous for years to come. Around the country there are many tributes to these fallen heroes of our society. These various tributes to our fallen take the forms of cenotaphs, memorials, and veteran’s graveyards. There is also the book of heroes and the grave of the Unknown Soldier as well as the eternal flame. These however, are not living monuments to the struggle that each of these individuals participated in. Instead, they are still life representations of a snapshot in time that really do not allow people to see, feel, and actually be part of the experiences that these great heroes lived. The only way to really bring this whole experience to life is to not only have names on a wall but also have a forum into which people would be able to live and breathe even for a moment the same environment that these heroes once occupied.

 

This is the dream Ed Forsyth has for Canada’s fallen. He has dedicated years to developing a way for people to be connected to soldiers and to participants from Canada that have fought and participated in conflicts around the world. These are not just the people that have participated in one or two wars but people who have participated in all conflicts that Canada  has been involved in the throughout its history. The national war museum in Ottawa combined with this memorial wall will allow for that experience because not only will you have the names of the individuals, but you will also have their occupations. This allows for people to actually the link with the environments that are presented in the war museum. This link creates a tangible connection between the present and past and people get to see how these heroes within our society went about their daily lives and how they spent their time away from their loved ones and their friends. People also see the environments and living conditions that these people had to endure day in and day out through these events that are presented within the national war museum. Many of the heroes that we are talking about right now including Ed Forsyth are not going to be around for much longer. Many of our world war one and world war two veterans are well over 80 years old and they feel in many senses that they are disconnected from the society that they’ve helped to defend. This is also true about our current troops that are deployed in trouble spots around the world such as Afghanistan. Many of these people feel that there’s really no place for them in today’s Canadian society and that the conflict is something that Canada never would nor should get involved in. This creates a disconnect between the troops in the field and the children within the society they are defending. There needs to be recognition of all those individuals that gave their lives in whatever capacity in conflicts around the world for Canada. This needs to be done in a way that will allow for future generations to feel the connection to the fallen heroes of our era. If this is not done than many of todays veterans will feel the same disconnected feeling that the veterans of past wars are currently experiencing.

 

The Documentary Itself

 

            What we are hoping for is that the CBC will be able to chronicle the struggle that Mr. Forsyth has had so far in getting his dream off the ground. We’re also hoping that we can include other supporting organizations such as the Red Friday’s to illustrate current feeling of disconnection that the troops in Afghanistan feel and the connection that these troops feel to words their comrades of the past. The importance of this documentary is the groundwork that it will lay for showing the link between the heroes of our past and of our present. Also, it will show what happens when people are able to actually feel the environment and see what these individuals actually did in their day to day lives. Also, it would show the importance of preserving this connection for generations to come and show what this preservation would mean to those heroes that are still living. This puts a human face on the sacrifices that are made and that have been made by the heroes that have participated in the conflicts and the families that have been left behind. For some, it will be the only connection that they will have directly with the person they have lost.

 

            The reason for this is because until recently the fall and we’re not repatriated and return to Canada. Instead, they remain the wards and the responsibility of those foreign countries in which they fell. This means that there may be generations of Canadians who will never see the members of their families or have any real connection to those members because there’s no gravesite for them in this country. In parallel, as the families of these fallen age into com is less likely that they will be able to visit the grave sites of their family members. This documentary would be able to show what a permanent connection here in Canada to those individuals and the ability to actually go into their environments would mean to the families of those fallen that are still living. This project will mean a lot to many of the heroes of yesterday, today, and tomorrow who sacrifice everything to ensure our society safety and prosperity

 

Conclusion

 

          This project has the potential of creating an environmental, emotional, and personal link between all of the heroes that have fought and died within the many conflicts Canada has been involved in. This dream that Ed Forsyth has planted has the potential to unite all generations that have gone through the pain of having someone taken from them in a time of conflict. It also allows generations of our children to really understand why these people did what they did. This in turn gives them a connection to our fallen heroes and allows them to preserve their memories and their accomplishments for years to come. We ask that you develop this documentary for two reasons; one, to raise awareness for the cause and get the wall built at the national war museum; two, remember the efforts of the people and the individual who conceived the dream and made it possible.

 

Ben Bishop BA

President and Chairperson

Executive Director of Facilitation and Technology

Community Functionality Facilitation Inc.

9 Lamoreaux St. Unit 74

Hamilton Ontario

L8R-1T9

Phone: (905)961-6728