Dear Editor
For more than 20 years, my wife and I have been attending Remembrance Day services at the Royal Westminster Regiment Armories in New Westminster, right above city hall. They have always been a very moving and well done joint effort by the Royal Westminster Regiment and the City of New Westminster.
But not this year.
For some bizarre reason the City of New Westminster not only refused to participate with the Royal Westminster Regiment, but actually seemed to try to undermine their service. In past years, the city has contributed to the security of the service in the Armoury as well as providing some financial and technical support. This year they withdrew all of that support.
So the United Church across the street that was normally used to provide overflow space for the great turnout was closed today with a sign on the door saying that because “the City of New Westminster has security concerns, the church is closed for the Remembrance Day ceremony.” What this means is that the city withdrew funding for security.
The overflow crowds were told to go wait on the lawn in front of city hall for the city’s service from 9:00 am until 10:30. They also blocked off the stairs leading up to city hall where so many seniors and veterans were able to rest so they could run a red carpet down the steps for the so-called dignitaries.
This year, not only did the City of New Westminster not have even a council member present at the service in the Armoury, they timed their service to start while the Royal Westminster Regiment service was still in progress. This this meant that the city service was already in progress before the parade to the cenotaph was even started. Veterans and seniors had to rush around to the front of city hall to be present for the service and the two minutes of silence and the laying of the wreaths.
The mayor, councillors and bureaucrats of the City of New Westminster owe an apology to the soldiers of the Royal Westminster Regiment, the veterans in the city and to all the citizens who attend Remembrance Day ceremonies in New Westminster.
Bill Davies, New Westminster
