Images of the Fathers of Confederation, the Vimy Ridge Memorial in France, Terry Fox and other famous Canadian people and places will not be included in the pages of redesigned Canadian passports.
New passport designs were announced by the federal government May 10 and the replacement of those historic images with others — such as polar bears, birds and people jumping in a lake — has drawn some criticism on a national and local scale.
“We are disappointed with the news that pictures of iconic Canadian history are being removed from our passports,” wrote Helen Stewart, Royal Canadian Legion Branch 25 president, in an email to SooToday.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge in France (April 9-12, 1917) is considered one of the defining events in Canada’s history. Other Allied troops had tried to take the Ridge during the First World War and failed, but Canadian soldiers captured the objective.
The victory came at a great price. There were more than 10,600 Canadian casualties, including 3,600 deaths.
“Pictures of the Vimy Ridge Memorial and Terry Fox are remembered throughout our entire nation and are known world-wide as Canadian and they are a true depiction of what Canada represents," Stewart wrote. "Canada stands out and should continue to stand out through the pictures in our passport."
At the national level, the Royal Canadian Legion stated “the Vimy Memorial was a fundamental image, also representing a defining moment in Canada, a country emerging as an independent nation with limitless potential. Removing that image in the context of a design change and without knowing the rationale was, to put it bluntly, a poor decision.”
Terry Fox Foundation officials were unavailable for comment on the planned removal of Fox’s image from the new passports when contacted by SooToday.
Brad West, mayor of Fox’s hometown of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, tweeted: “Whoever made the decision to remove Terry Fox from Canadian passports needs to give their heads a shake. Our country needs more Terry Fox, not less.”
Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and Karina Gould, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, announced the changes last week.
The federal government states that the redesigning of Canadian passports stems from consultations with government departments such as Canadian Heritage and Indigenous communities.
It also states that the redesigning of the passports, which will have new security features, is a necessary move against potential counterfeiting.
Production of the new passports will begin in the near future and the government will start to issue them in the summer.
Current passports will still be valid for up to 10 years.