Retired Canadian Armed Forces member Natacha Dupuis, who served as a Coyote Gunner in Afghanistan and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, on Thursday at her home in Gatineau, Que.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
A pair of bronze cylindrical sculptures, erected along Ontario’s Highway of Heroes, where military convoys carrying the remains of those killed in combat in Afghanistan once passed, were part of a plan to honour Canada’s war dead.
The roadside monuments, unveiled in 2022 outside ONroute rest stops on Highway 401 near Trenton and Port Hope, were called Presence in Absence and they included references to soldiers both living and dead. However, five living female veterans, whose names and silhouettes were used on the monuments, say the sculptures wrongly implied that they are among Canada’s fallen soldiers.
The veterans successfully campaigned to have the art taken down last year. Now, they are suing the federal government, the artist, the non-profit organizations that oversaw the initiatives, as well as the companies that run the rest stops, claiming their inclusion on the sculptures evokes psychological harm and trauma.
The plaintiffs say they only learned of the sculptures after friends and family members began asking them why their images appeared on monuments for soldiers who made “the ultimate sacrifice,” according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs include former Canadian Forces members as well as one soldier who continues to serve in the military.
The site where a veterans memorial art installation was removed from in Port Hope, Ont. A light fixture installed to illuminate the sculpture remains in place, along with markings outlining where the artwork previously stood.Shay Conroy/The Globe and Mail
Kathleen Pentney, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force pilot instructor, said she and the other plaintiffs spent months raising concerns about the sculptures before they were taken down.
“It’s not an honour,” she said in an interview.
She later added: “I feel a lot of guilt. I feel a lot of shame.”
Ms. Pentney helped train young soldiers who were later killed overseas. She says she was shocked that her face was featured on the monuments. “To be named while your friends are not honoured and respected is just so hurtful.”
Jennifer Hunter, a Toronto lawyer who filed the suit in Ontario Superior Court in September, said the controversy could have been avoided.
“As Canada prepares to mark Remembrance Day – a time dedicated to honouring those who have served and sacrificed – this incident serves as a stark reminder of the importance of accuracy, dignity and care in how we commemorate our veterans,” she said. “None of the women were informed of their inclusion, nor were they asked for consent.”
No statements of defence have been filed.
Plaintiff Kathleen Pentney at the controversial ONroute monument.Supplied
The monuments were commissioned as part of a campaign to plant trees for fallen soldiers along the Highway of Heroes by the non-profit organizations Canadian Trees for Life and the Ontario Horticultural Trades Foundation, with funding from the federal government, according to the statement of claim.
Josh Bueckert, a spokesman for Veterans Affairs Canada, said he could not comment on the lawsuit, because it is before the courts. In December, 2024, assistant deputy minister Amy Meunier told the House of Commons veterans affairs committee that the department didn’t fund the sculptures. However, the department has publicly acknowledged that it has provided funding to Canadian Trees for Life.
A spokesman for that group said that it cannot address the litigation at this time. “Until we’ve had a chance to speak with our legal counsel about this, we have no comment,” said Josh McIntyre, communications and fundraising manager for Canadian Trees for Life.
The group’s founding chair Mark Cullen spoke at the unveiling ceremony for the statues in November, 2022, appearing alongside federal, provincial and municipal politicians, as well as Canadian Armed Forces commanders.
“Today, we add to our legacy by unveiling two spectacular installations, one in Port Hope, one in Trenton, to commemorate the fact that the highway corridor is now reforested with a tree for every military hero,” said Mr. Cullen, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube.
During the ceremony, a soldier played The Last Post, a bugle call associated with military funerals and Remembrance Day.
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The sculptures were made by Ruth Abernethy, who has received the Order of Canada and is known for her life-size bronze statues of pianist Glenn Gould and of John McCrae, the soldier-poet who wrote In Flanders Fields.
Ms. Abernethy said the artwork was intended to honour a variety of Canadian military figures from history, both alive and dead. She said she consulted photos from military archives for the back-lit silhouettes she rendered.
She noted that they included Laura Secord, who warned Canada about an American attack in 1812, and Roméo Dallaire, a retired Canadian lieutenant-general who spoke out about the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s.
The companies that do business as ONroute – HK Travel Centres L.P. and HKSC Developments L.P. – are also being sued. In a statement to The Globe and Mail, a spokesperson who did not give their name said the business removed the sculptures in December, 2024.
“When we learned of the errors in the Trees for Life memorials, we immediately had the statues removed,” the statement said.
The lawsuit says the sculpture caused Ms. Dupuis ‘immense mental and psychological distress.’Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Natacha Dupuis, who is among the plaintiffs, says that she was not invited to the 2022 unveiling but finds the YouTube footage chilling.
“They portrayed me as someone who was killed in Afghanistan,” she said of the sculpture.
A master corporal in the army who later won medals for Canada at the Invictus Games, she is currently on leave from her job at the Department of National Defence. The suit says the sculpture caused “immense mental and psychological distress” and left her with “a loss of motivation and an inability to continue with employment.”
The other plaintiffs are Lee-Anne Quinn, a former air medical evacuation nurse; Guylaine Lamoureux, a former master warrant officer, and Marie Viviane Jean-Baptiste, who continues to serve in the military.