The Kandahar Cenotaph rests within the Afghanistan Memorial Hall and consists of 204 plaques representing each of the 204 fallen. Originally, the plaques were part of the Kandahar Air Field Cenotaph, now called the Kandahar Cenotaph, – a memorial structure built in 2006 for soldiers, by soldiers, to commemorate their fallen comrades while deployed in Afghanistan. Canadian Forces personnel and Afghan employees added to the memorial over time. It is constructed of marble and slate, the plaques are etched with photographs of those who died, and it weighs about 225,000 kilograms.
On November 10, 2011, the Department of National Defence announced that the memorial would be brought home to Canada. The memorial travelled across Canada and the United States between May 3 and October 26, 2014. The memorial was refurbished in 2016 on the new site for the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa's west end. The Afghanistan Memorial Hall, home of the Kandahar Cenotaph and Kabul Cenotaph was unveiled on May 13, 2019 and rededicated on August 17, 2019.
The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) held a dedication service at the new Afghanistan Memorial Hall at the National Defence Headquarters (Carling) on May 13, 2019. The event was attended by the Minister of National Defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, General and Flag Officers, Chief Petty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers, and Assistant Deputy Ministers.
The focal point of the hall is the Kandahar Cenotaph battlefield memorial, built by deployed CAF members over the course of their mission to honour the military and civilian fallen who made the ultimate sacrifice during Canada’s long campaign in Afghanistan.
The hall and memorial are open to the general public, and the memorial is accessible to families of the fallen upon request.
Canada’s military engagement in Afghanistan came at a significant cost: 158 Canadian Armed Forces personnel, a Canadian diplomat, a DND contractor, a Canadian journalist who was embedded with the CAF, and 42 United States Armed Forces members, and 1 American civilian contractor who were under Canadian command were killed during our military engagement in Afghanistan. Thousands of others were injured in the line of duty.
A national memorial to commemorate the Afghanistan mission is being planned for Ottawa, to serve as a point of reflection for the Canadian public as a whole.
