A monument honouring victims of communism has been unveiled in Ottawa, with advocates stressing that communist tyranny persists to this day and urging continued efforts to address its crimes.
The “Memorial to the Victims of Communism—Canada, a Land of Refuge” was unveiled on Dec. 12 on the west side of the Garden of the Provinces and Territories in downtown Ottawa on Dec. 12, 17 years after the idea was first proposed.
“This memorial stands as a solemn tribute to countless lives shattered by regimes rooted in oppression. It is a monument to the resilience of those who endured. It is the courage of those who resisted and the memory of those who perished. It is also a beacon of hope and a reminder of Canada’s unwavering commitment to freedom, human dignity, and justice,” said Ludwik Klimkowski, board chair of the advocacy group Tribute to Liberty, the main driving force behind the project.
His comment was made at the memorial’s opening ceremony, which was attended by diaspora groups who suffered under communist rule, including the former Soviet Union and existing regimes like the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In an earlier interview with The Epoch Times, Klimkowski highlighted that communist regimes remain active to this day and present an ongoing danger to future generations.
“We need to be mindful that the next generations are perhaps not as on guard as we were, because we grew up under that system,” he said, noting that 25 percent of the Canadian population could trace their heritage to countries that have been “touched by that evil ideology.”
Sheng Xue, a Chinese-Canadian democracy activist and outspoken CCP critic, said while communism is now part of history for many Eastern European countries, for those under the Chinese Communist Party, it remains a powerful, relentless, and ongoing tyranny.
“It continues to commit atrocities; it is still creating disasters every day, every hour, every minute; it is still taking lives,” Sheng told The Epoch Times in Mandarin as she attended the ceremony.
She added that the devastating impact of communist regimes has caused more deaths than the combined toll of both World Wars.
“While many view war as the greatest threat to human life, which causes immediate harm, it is crucial to recognize that under communist tyranny, the loss of life far exceeds that of all wars combined. Under the Chinese Communist Party’s rule alone, an estimated 96 million people have died unnaturally. Yet, the world remains largely unaware of this tragedy,” Sheng said.
“Therefore, we all have a responsibility—to continue raising awareness of the ongoing evil of communist tyranny.”
Pixing Zhang, an advocate for Canadian Falun Gong practitioners, said the unveiling of the monument marks only the beginning of a long journey to address the harms of a communist regime like the CCP which persecutes adherents of the peaceful practice. He noted that CCP’s violent repression of its people is still ongoing—particularly the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, which includes egregious crimes like live organ harvesting.
The CCP’s brutal campaign against Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual movement rooted in meditation and moral teachings, began in 1999. When the spiritual discipline quickly gained millions of followers across the country, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who perceived Falun Gong as a threat to the Party’s ideological control, launched an aggressive campaign to suppress the practitioners.
“China is home to the largest group of victims of communist tyranny, and the 25 years of persecution against Falun Gong practitioners stands as one of the most significant chapters in this tragic history,” Pixing told The Epoch Times in Mandarin. “[These crimes] must be exposed further, so that humanity can fully recognize the disasters and toxic effects brought by communism, ensuring such atrocities are never repeated.”
