Olympic Plaza Bricks – final outcome

As you may recall, back in October of 2024, I decided to take a stand regarding the City of Calgary’s terrible decision to erase an important segment of our history and destroy the 1988 commemorative bricks at Olympic Plaza.

As a born and raised Calgarian, and as someone fiercely proud of our city’s Olympic legacy, I could not stand idly by as I knew that there had to be some kind of solution.

This led me to launch a Parliamentary petition (e-5193) which called on the Government of Canada to:

1. Recognize the significance of the engraved names on the building blocks and bricks of the Olympic Plaza; and

2. Ensure they are preserved, recognized and/or featured in the creation of any new structure.

This petition received 1,399 signatures in just three months, meeting the requirements necessary to be tabled in the House of Commons – which I look forward to doing in the upcoming Parliamentary session.

The petition and my Op-Ed drew a great deal of public interest and I was given the opportunity to speak with various local media outlets about the matter. During this period, I heard from many citizens who felt as passionately as I did about preserving this important piece of our city’s history and culture.

The petition, media attention, and public outcry eventually pressured the CMLC and the City to reverse course in late December when they finally relented and agreed to give Calgarians the opportunity to retrieve their bricks.

As I stated at the time: “I fully credit today’s change of heart to the pressure applied by proud Calgarians who made their desire to preserve this important piece of our city’s history very clear. I am honoured to have helped give them a voice via my Parliamentary petition, and thank all those who took the time to sign it.” You can read my full statement here.

I heard from many Calgarians over the Christmas break that they were thrilled to have successfully retrieved their brick. Others were understandably disappointed by the short window of time provided by the City to register and pick theirs up. Some didn’t know about the retrieval program at all. It was far from perfect, and there’s no doubt that the CMLC could have taken action much sooner – giving those who no longer reside in Calgary the opportunity to schedule retrieval – however, ultimately, I am glad that they listened to Calgarians and worked to find a solution.

It is my hope that in the future, they will think long and hard before casually throwing away pieces of our history.  Truly, what will we be left with if we allow woke leaders to continue to dishonour and erase our history? We must each do our part to protect our identity from being eroded.  

Thank you to one and all who stood with me on this one.