Parks Canada grant to defunct Mother Canada project already spent

A $100,000 grant given by Parks Canada to help complete the controversial and now defunct Mother Canada project in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park has already been spent.

Parks Canada had donated the money to the Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation in 2013 to support the "development of a digital communications platform and the market and visitation projection analysis."

A spokesperson for Parks Canada said in an email on Friday that the grant was partly spent on the visitation analysis.

The other portion was spent on "a website to maximize public engagement and information sharing."

Parks Canada announced its withdrawal from the project earlier this month, saying "too many key elements" remained outstanding, including the availability and structuring of funds.

It yanked its support of the $25-million project that included a 24-metre statue planned for Green Cove that would be a memorial to soldiers whose remains were never brought home to Canada. The eight-storey Mother Canada statue would have featured a woman with her arms outstretched toward Europe.

The grant from Parks Canada, which was not publicly acknowledged,added more fuel to the fire when a group opposed to the projectsaid the lack of transparency called Parks Canada's impartiality into question.

"In numerous communications, in fact, Parks Canada officials have told us that the project is expected to be 100% privately funded," Friends of Green Covesaid in June.