Calgary MP collects names on a petition in hopes of saving the bricks of Olympic Plaza.

To celebrate the memory of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, more than 30,000 bricks were engraved and placed on Olympic Square at a cost of $19.88 each.

But the city has announced plans to redevelop the area, and the group responsible for designing the square says the bricks are too old to be reused.

Stephanie Kusie, who represents Calgary Midnapore in Parliament, hopes the bricks – or even just the names on the bricks – can be recognized within the new structure.

Over the past few weeks, a number of Calgarians have passed through the square and removed bricks bearing their or their family’s names.

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), which is overseeing the renovation of the area, explored the possibility of removing the bricks and returning them to the original purchasers, but this was deemed “impractical.”

“They’re not in a state where if you can remove them, they’ll be intact. As a result, this is not a wise thing to do,” said Ward 7 Councilor Terry Wong.

“Having everyone come and remove it will cause a lot of confusion or disruption. People are encouraged to come down to carve the brick.

In a Substack columnKusie pushed back.

“These building blocks represent sentimental value to thousands of people in our city and are part of Calgary’s identity; something our woke mayor seems determined to erode,” she wrote.

“Many Calgarians are excited to see the new Arts Commons expansion come to fruition. However, ironically, this addition results in the elimination of a key element of Calgary’s identity. Although Calgarians have been told it is too expensive to preserve the bricks, some citizens are so keen to preserve them that they they went to Olympic Plaza to collect theirs independently.

“Even though the city administration may say, ‘It’s just a brick,’ it’s certainly more than that. There is a general feeling among the population that our identity is being erased or that we should not be proud of our history.”

With files from Tyler Barrow and The Canadian Press