Professors Alissa North and Pete North, and alumnus Scott Eunson (BArch 1996), have been selected as finalists in a national design competition to create concepts for the national Memorial to the Victims of Communism — Canada, a Land of Refuge. The landmark will recognize Canada’s role in offering refuge to the millions that left behind torment and oppression under Communist regimes for new beginnings in a free and democratic country.

A request for qualifications, launched in March 2014, invited teams of professional artists, architects, and landscape architects to submit their credentials and examples of past work as part of the first stage of a two-stage design competition.

A jury of design professionals, specialists, and a representative from Tribute to Liberty, the charitable organization responsible for establishing the memorial, recommended six teams as finalists.

Fung Lee (Bach 1997) and Wiktor Moskaliuk (BArch 1975) are also on teams listed as finalists. Daniels Faculty Instructor Eric Beck Rubin, who teaches cultural and architectural history (and received a Bachelor of Arts in South Asian Studies from the University of Toronto) is also on a shortlisted team.

The teams will spend the coming weeks developing their concepts, which will be presented to a jury in August 2014. Prior to the jury considerations, the public will be invited to see the designs, meet the artists and share their opinions.

The monument will be built in Canada’s capital, on Confederation Boulevard between the Supreme Court of Canada and Library and Archives Canada. It will be managed by Canadian Heritage in collaboration with the National Capital Commission, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and Public Works and Government Services Canada.

For more information, visit the Government of Canada's website.