Dear Editor,
At a recent Special Council Meeting Whitewater Council voted to stop the Westmeath cenotaph relocation from its current site to the new parkette at Rapid Road and Gore Line. Council had received an outpouring of community objections.
Good intentions by Council to beautify Whitewater villages were met with negative consequences due to lack of community input and consultation. Admittedly, we elect officials to get municipal business done and town hall meetings cannot be held on every issue, but occasionally something occurs like the cenotaph relocation which grabs the hearts of residents.
Councillor Nicholson, who had done some “pre-consultation”, in a display of integrity and humility, told Council he now realized that his sample of our community did not represent all the voices being raised in the last three weeks. His sense of community support was not inclusive of the greater community. He and Councillor Olmstead showed they understood that real democracy can be messy and time-consuming.
For twenty-five years there were no problems with the cenotaph site until a special interest group wanted the land under it and staff wanted to use it to secure funding for something else – the parkette.
The impulse behind the cenotaph relocation was never, “What can we do to enhance the cenotaph and Veterans Park?” but rather, “What can we use to get grants and how can we clear space for a rest station?” The poor noble cenotaph suddenly had a bulls-eye on it.
In the May 20, 2020 agenda for Council, staff said that “in discussions with the Tour de Whitewater chair, it (the vacated cenotaph site) would be the ideal location for a rest station (toilets).” The Tour is a recent annual cycling event. CAO Tremblay reported in June 2021 that no formal decision had been made.
In her June 18 Letter to the Editor, Margarit Gervais spoke about “backroom deals and hidden agendas.”
From the Special Council Meeting (YouTube) we learned that in the intervening months between January 2020 when Marion Laderoute had given the land for the parkette and the May 2020 meeting, staff had applied for a Veterans Affairs grant for $25,000. CAO Robert Tremblay had been involved with a similar project in Navan and calculated that the relocation of the cenotaph would cost about $1,000 and the remaining $24,000 could be used for parkette purposes. The total parkette estimate was $130,000.
A site plan was drafted, tender for site preparation issued, and on various submissions to council, staff promised next steps would be public consultation, ads in newspapers, and flyers. Both council and staff claim that the pandemic hampered communication but Canada Post continued to deliver as did the Westmeath & District Recreation Newsletter, yet these options were not used and the general community was unaware of the proposed relocation.
Also, what staff and some newcomers who have posted letters seem unaware of, is that the cenotaph was for the former Westmeath Township, before amalgamation into Whitewater Region. Far from being only a village matter, the cenotaph’s supporters also come from rural Westmeath, Beachburg, Perreton, Lapasse, and beyond. Anyone who has attended Remembrance Day services knows that.
At the 11th hour shortly before the removal of the monument, dozens of supporters from all the aforementioned regions met at the site to discuss the faulty process, the looming problems with the proposed site, and pose for a photograph.
The site plan placed the cenotaph on the north side, backed by cedars and a six-foot fence and sandwiched between two shrub beds. What all Westmeath school children, past and present, could have told the landscape designer and staff is thirty-nine names of fallen soldiers are on the back and their names would have been completely inaccessible. Our Veterans Park sign says “Lest We Forget.” Indeed.
Also, the Vimy oak seedling, a descendent from Vimy Ridge trees and received from a national commemoration action to mark the centenary, and flourishing near the cenotaph, was omitted from the site plan.
The parkette has no parking.
It is at a busy, 4-way stop and while Kenny’s Store across the road is owned by nice community-minded folks, their retail parking should not be used for the parkette. Rapid Road and the Gore Line are the only access roads to much of the Westmeath peninsula and have heavy traffic.
Each Remembrance Day service always draws a crowd and long line of wreath layers. Afterwards, in the hall above the arena, school children host a pageant and refreshments are served. A contingent from Garrison Petawawa seems to enjoy meeting everyone. The extent to which attendance at this wonderful and meaningful community event would be jeopardized by having the cenotaph blocks away is unknown.
In the Special Council Meeting, some councillors expressed their frustration with the negativity of the public response to the relocation. Viewed from another angle, it was a positive thing. There is an abiding respect for those who worked so hard to erect the cenotaph.
Nowadays with a GoFundMe campaign, the money could be raised in mere minutes. Back then it was raised in $5 and $10 bills (and larger) with nearly 150 families contributing.
Long-term residents recall that the cenotaph site once held the original covered rink, where likely, many of those thirty-nine young soldiers skated. And the backlash shows strong sentiments about how much people honour such a monument. Given that those men are buried far away, it is their gravestone in our village. For our current military, it represents fallen comrades too. As such, it is not an item to be as casually moved to the new parkette as a swing set.
As for the parkette, some people think that spending money on a park nobody asked for is wasteful, unlikely to be used by rural folk, and that the green space being created is substantially smaller than our nice ball park. Others look forward to sunning on a bench. Those soldiers died so that we are free to argue about such things.
For the letter writers who have criticized the current cenotaph’s proximity to old cars and a port-a-potty, well the latter is funded by Tour de Whitewater and the cars belong to one of the very few businesses operating within the village, where waiting for parts and payment is a reality.
There are lessons to be learned.
Every community is unique and some have a hearthstone like our cenotaph. Also, people need to be heard. Undoubtedly every person opposed to relocation would have accepted the new parkette site had the community been consulted and a democratic process enacted. Finally, it is a lesson that public council meetings do not ensure general public awareness of an issue.
In the end, Whitewater Council demonstrated responsibility and did a rather uncommon action — they reversed a decision with the project in the midst of construction and with financial repercussions. The wars listed on the cenotaph were fought for just that kind of democratic governance. Westmeath residents should commend their Council for their decision.
Patti Desjardins
