The Monument to the War of 1812 was created by Canadian artist and author Douglas Coupland.  It was commissioned by Malibu Investments, the company that built condos in front of which the piece stands, and was unveiled by then Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone in November 2008.

 

 

The plaque on the installation reads:  “Two abandoned toy soldiers pay tribute to Toronto’s history in this artwork. Without Fort York there would have been no Canada – the British would have lost Canada to the Americans in the War of 1812, and Canada would have been absorbed in the United States.”

 

 

The figures represented in the monument are 2 soldiers – one standing and one fallen. The standing gold figure a member of the 1813 Royal Newfoundland Regiment, representing the British North American Army.   The fallen silver soldier is from the United States 16^thU.S. Infantry Regiment. Having the British North American standing over the fallen U.S. soldier represents B.N.A.’s successful resistance of the U.S. invasion during the War of 1812.

 

 

The sculpture is situated just about a block away from the Fort York National Historic Site which contains Canada’s largest collection of original buildings from the War of 1812.   This site is the location of the original founding of Toronto which happened in 1793 when a military garrison was constructed by Liuetenant-Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe, and which was involved in many important battles during the war.

 

 

Interestingly, Coupland himself was born into a military family – his father was a medical officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force.  Copeland was actually born at an RCAF base in West Germany in the early 1960s.   He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada – to which he was appointed in 2013.