Canadian Navy Monument

While at Dialog, Bruce Haden collaborated with fellow Dialog partner Joost Bakker and artist Al McWilliams on the competition winning Royal Canadian Navy Monument on the riverfront below Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The Monument site of the prow-shaped piece of Richmond Landing jutting into the Ottawa River embodies a powerful visceral feeling of flow and movement. Layered with both an Indigenous and colonial past, Richmond Landing offers a storied ground on which to sculpt a memorable monument to the Canadian Navy. The site also provides a dramatic view to Parliament Hill. The considered interaction of a Canadian Navy Monument with this vista will allow the chance for a visitor to reflect on our Navy as a key defender of Canadian democracy.

Rather than just being a focal object, the Canadian Navy Monument is also a distinctively sculpted open space at the centre of Richmond Landing. Offering multiple orientations, the open space is accessed by both land and water.

A shallow grass berm, surrounded with symbolic oak trees (“the heart of oak”) and seasonal colour, generously defines this space of reflection. At the heart of the monument site is the “naval signature”. The robust, curved white marble naval signature celebrates the Navy’s past and future. This dramatic vertical form is suggestive of a multitude of naval associations ranging from sails of days gone by to naval attire and even modern stealth design for signature minimization.