New contract awarded for St. John's tomb of the unknowns, but price more than doubles

A Nova Scotia company has been hired to construct a tomb of the unknowns at the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John's, a month after a Bishop's Falls company was stripped of the prestigious contract.

But the price is going way up.

The Transportation and Infrastructure Department confirmed Thursday that Heritage Memorials is the new supplier of the tomb, which will be placed at the base of the memorial on Duckworth Street, which is undergoing a $6-million refurbishment by a Bay Roberts company called Can-Am Platforms and Construction ahead of the 100th anniversary of the memorial on July 1.

The new tomb contract is valued at $236,830, more than double the $105,000 contract signed with Ocean Floor Granite owner Mark Brace last spring.

The department announced in early December that it was parting ways with Ocean Floor because the company had not delivered the required engraving samples, for which the department had made a $30,000 progress payment.

This is a drawing of the tomb of the unknowns, which will be established next July at the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John's. (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)

Ocean Floor operates a quarry and stone fabrication plant at Jumpers Brook, near Bishop's Falls. The plant was not connected to the provincial power grid because thieves stripped away electrical infrastructure in order to obtain the copper.

Brace was powering the plant with an industrial generator, but a different government department — Service N.L. — ordered that the plant be shut down last fall because it did not meet modern electrical standards.

After learning that he had lost the contract, Brace called the decision an "insult to Newfoundlanders and all the veterans," and suggested it would be challenging for the government to find an alternate supplier who could meet the project's timelines.

"I don't believe that there's going to be a tomb," Brace said on Dec. 6.

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In a statement Thursday to CBC News, a spokesperson for the Transportation and Infrastructure Department said the tomb will be complete by July 1.

Repatriating a soldier's remains

The remains of an unknown Newfoundland soldier who died in the First World War will be repatriated from a battlefield in northern France this spring, and placed inside the tomb during a ceremony on July 1.

The project is a partnership between the federal and provincial governments and the N.L. Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which maintains the graves and places of commemoration in France for those who died in two world wars, is not commenting on the gravesite selection process in order to prevent any speculation about the identity of the soldier.

Hundreds of soldiers from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment were killed during the First World War, at places such as Beaumont Hamel, and many are buried beneath headstones labelled "Known Unto God" because they could not be identified.

The remains of one of these soldiers will be returned to St. John's, creating just the second tomb of the unknowns in Canada. The other is located at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

The soldier will represent all branches of the military, and others who served in wartime, including the merchant marine and the forestry corps.

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