In Search of a Soul: Designing and Realizing the New Canadian War Museum

Graeme S. Mount is a professor of history at Laurentian University. He
is the author of Canada’s Enemies: Spies and Spying in the Peaceable
Kingdom, Chile and the Nazis, and The Diplomacy of War: The Case of
Korea.

Even before the spring of 2005 when Canada’s new War Museum opened,
Ottawa’s original War Museum on Sussex Drive was a national treasure.
It reminded visitors that, contrary to what we may wish to believe,
violence has always been part of Canadian life, from the interactions
between Vikings and Skraelings more than 1,000 years ago to peacekeeping
deployments in the post–Cold War period. It had dioramas of battle
scenes from the two world wars and Korea, and Hitler’s car was a
highlight for almost every visitor. Once, it was so strapped for funds
that its management threatened to sell that car. The anticipated public
uproar terminated that scheme.

The new War Museum, located a few blocks west of Parliament Hill, is
more beautiful and even more expansive. No longer is it possible to
absorb what many consider the most exciting aspects of Canada’s
history in a single afternoon. There are restored forts across the
country and an RCMP museum in Regina, but the War Museum remains by far
the best single source of information on military operations affecting
residents of what is now Canada.

In this book, architect Raymond Moriyama explains what motivated him to
design the new War Museum the way it is. A victim of Canada’s
treatment of Japanese Canadians after Pearl Harbor, Moriyama made the
most of his experiences and forgave those who had seriously disrupted
his life. It is an inspiring story. Perhaps most amazing is the speed
with which the museum appeared. Sheila Copps, Minister of Heritage in
Jean Chrétien’s government, announced the site in May 2001. Four
years to the month later, the new complex opened to the public.

Moriyama, an Officer of the Order of Canada and chancellor of Brock
University, previously designed a number of prominent buildings in
Canada as well as Canada’s embassies in Tokyo and Riyadh. His book of
coloured pictures (plus a few black-and-white treasures) is recommended
for anyone who has visited the new War Museum, plans to visit it, or
would like to visit it.