Veterans Affairs minister vows to help find resolution to Juno Beach condo dispute

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay is vowing to do "everything possible" to resolve a dispute over a proposed condo development at Juno Beach in France, the site of the D-Day landing during which hundreds of Canadian soldiers died.

The site is currently home to the Juno Beach Centre, a privately operated Canadian museum that has been open for nearly 20 years.

The museum has for two years been engaged in a lengthy legal battle with French developer Foncim, which plans to construct two buildings near the beach, for a total of 66 condos.

"We will do everything possible to bring a proper resolution to this dispute," MacAulay told reporters outside of the museum on Wednesday.

Save Juno Beach, a group of Canadians organizing to stop the development, says the construction of condos on the site where Canadian soldiers took part in the pivotal Normandy landings will dishonour the sacrifices of those soldiers who stormed the beach on June 6, 1944.

However, a French court ruling in early January granted Foncim the right to begin construction later this year. A spokesperson for the developer told French media that construction could begin in September and last for up to two years.

MacAulay didn't go into detail about what kind of resolution he would like to see, but noted that he had met with the mayor of Courseulles-sur-Mer — where Juno Beach is located — and would be meeting with the French minister delegate for remembrance and veterans to stress the importance of commemorating the loss of Canadians who died at Juno.

"I'm certainly not going to direct what the centre does, what the town does here, or what the French government does," he said.

"My job is to indicate how important paying respect and commemoration is, and of course to indicate how important Juno Beach is to Canada because a lot of our blood has been spilled here."

Legal dispute over road access

Unlike the Save Juno Beach group, the museum says it is not categorically opposed to the possibility of construction near the site of the landings.

The legal dispute between the developer and the Juno Beach Centre has largely centred on the usage of a road — named la Voie des Français Libres — constructed and operated by the museum.

Foncim plans to use the road during the construction. The museum has tried to block access to the developer on the grounds that construction will disrupt access to the site.

"We have great concern for the impact that this will have on the Juno Beach Centre," the museum said in a previous statement to CBC.

'We need to be united,' says opposition critic

Conservative Veteran Affairs Critic Frank Caputo, who was also at the museum on Wednesday, said it was "saddening" that a developer would consider building a condo near the site in the first place.

"It's difficult to accept that a condominium complex may go up on Juno Beach where Canadian blood was shed for the very freedom to build," he said.

Caputo added that he was pleased with MacAulay's support to bring about a resolution to the dispute.

"This is a bipartisan issue, this isn't an issue where it's us versus the government or the government versus somebody else for partisan points," he said.

"This is a point on which we need to be united as Canadians and as parliamentarians."