OTTAWA, ON, July 4, 2006 - The Federal Government must not be allowed to shirk its responsibility regarding adequate measures to protect the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

This statement was released today by Cliff Chadderton, Chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations, representing 55 organizations.

He pointed out that Canada was far behind other countries in establishing the necessary monuments and icons to its military heritage and added that it should look at three well-known examples.

"The first Unknown Soldier for the British military was established upon the entombment of the remains of a deceased World War I soldier in Westminster Abbey," Chadderton said. "The thought of anyone desecrating this tomb borders on the insane. I have visited it several times.

The reverence paid by visitors to this tribute to the fallen in World War I is of the highest order. I have been quoted several times as saying that any attempt to defile this sepulchre would call for immediate public censure of the Government."

As a second example, Chadderton noted that after World War I, President Woodrow Wilson asked that the British and Americans exchange the bodies of unknown soldiers. This resulted in a well-known site in the U.S. National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia which bears the body of a British soldier entombed in American territory. The British arranged for an American killed in action in World War I to be buried in Westminster Abbey. The Arlington Tomb is guarded 24-hours-per-day and 365-days-per-year by specially trained members of the 3rd United States Infantry (The Old Guard). Their mission statement is as follows:

My dedication to this sacred duty is total and wholehearted. In the responsibility bestowed on me never will I falter. And with dignity and perseverance my standard will remain perfection. Through the years of diligence and praise and the discomfort of the elements, I will walk my tour in humble reverence to the best of my ability. It is he who commands the respect I protect. His bravery that made us so proud. Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day along in the thoughtful peace of night, This soldier will in honored glory rest under my eternal vigilance.

The third example cited by Chadderton is a tomb recognized throughout the world which stands in Red Square in Moscow. Visitors and Russian people alike line up for days ahead to pass by the tomb which originally bore the remains of Josef Stalin and was later replaced by other Soviet war heroes.

The Canadian Government arranged, at the request of veterans, for a Canadian soldier killed in France in World War I to be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the site of the National War Memorial in May 2000.

"The failure to adequately guard this memorial must be looked upon as a failure on the part of the Federal Government," Chadderton said. He added that veterans' organizations have been asking for protection of the War Memorial site for more than 15 years. No Federal Government has taken up the challenge which has been part of the agenda of veterans' organizations in their submissions to the Canadian Parliament.

"Those of us who have studied the situation have provided subsequent Ministers of Veterans Affairs with practical solutions," Chadderton said. "For example, in the summer months, the Parliament Buildings grounds are the location for a Changing of the Guard. It would be quite a simple matter to have four representatives of the military at the four corners of the monument site in summer months."

"Also, a removable chain fence could be placed around the Tomb and the War Memorial itself. This could be movable for state occasions. At other times, the fence would prevent the kind of conduct which Canadians would find reprehensible if access were too close," he said.

Chadderton added that insofar as information is concerned, it has been the proposal of veterans' organizations that plaques be erected explaining both the War Memorial and, since its interment, the body of the Unknown Soldier.

"The desecration on July 1st should act as a spur to action by the Federal Government to protect this national treasure," Chadderton concluded.