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OTTAWAA prominent Chinese-Canadian writer and democracy activist who left China after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 says she is disheartened over the controversy surrounding the location of the National Memorial to Victims of Communism.

The memorial is slated to be built on Wellington Street in Ottawa near the Supreme Court of Canada and the Justice Buildinga location opponents say is too prominent and an inappropriate choice.

Shen Xue is a key leader of the overseas Chinese democracy movement and an award-winning writer who lives in Toronto. Having grown up under the repressive communist regime that rules China, she believes that putting the memorial in such a prominent location is desirable because communism has been the worst disaster in the world for the past 100 years, and directly impacted Canada, which participated in the Korean War.

From the standpoint of history or culture or multiculturalism or upholding universal principles, it is necessary and meaningful for the monument to be situated at a location as prominent as the current one, Xue says.

This national monument should be supported by all parties because Canada has a moral responsibility.

Support from all parties was in fact the case until recently. On the website of Tribute to Liberty, the organization that spearheaded the project, messages of support from NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper are still prominently featured.

But now, the Liberals and NDP MP Paul Dewar, whose riding includes the memorial site, are lending their voices to a growing chorus of opponents who want the government to move the memorial to a different location.

On Feb. 26, Ottawa-area Liberal MPs and candidates held a press conference calling on the government to reconsider the location.

Stephane Dion, the partys critic for Canadian Heritage, said in a news release that while the Liberals are not against the memorial, the current venue is not an ideal choice.

Amongst other things, it would make it impossible to complete a long-envisaged, judiciary triad projecta complementary companion piece to the parliamentary triadthat is meant to include the existing Supreme Court and Justice Buildings as well as a future judicial building that could house the federal judiciary, he wrote.

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Ottawas Victims of Communism Memorial Site Is Fitting, Says Chinese Democracy Activist