Drapeau > Canadian Garden of Peace, 2018

Drapeau > Canadian Garden of Peace, 2018

The Canadian Memorial Park in Vimy near Arras commemorates the Canadian involvement in the Great War. Not far from the visitors’ centre, landscapers Karyna Saint-Pierre, Julie Parenteau and Pierre-Yves Diehl have created a garden inspired by Canada’s boreal forest and snow-covered landscapes, whose light colours echo the symbolism of the white flag. The garden is located between two pine trees and has a rectangular perimeter, inside which amelanchiers with pale grey trunks are planted in the middle of a meadow of white flowers. Here, the variety of plants is a reminder of Canada’s vastness, from perennials to shrubs. A small track of white sand leads the visitor among shrubs and flowers to two long seats where one can contemplate the landscape. For the landscapers, the blossoms that dance in the wind are like so many white flags, a reminder of the need for a peaceful dialogue between nations.