Lane Borstad, Grande Prairie Regional College

A great deal of attention has been given over the past year to the 90th anniversary of many of the horrific battles of WW I.1 No doubt this will reach a peak in 2008 with the anniversary of the November 11, 1918 armistice treaty between the Allies and Germany which ended WW I. In Canada much of this attention has focussed upon the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge in France. Most of what has been written does little to our understanding of the monument and its place in Canadian History. This paper will apply a Constructionist approach to discussing the Vimy Ridge Memorial in an attempt to understand why the a monument in France, seldom visited by most Canadians, has retained its significance in Canada. Understanding Walter Allward’s personal response to the horrors of war will also give a greater understanding how this memorial has withstood the revisions and repositioning of 90 years.