Midland Coun. Sheldon East wants the town to create a memorial crosswalk at the intersection of King and Ellen Streets to honour local veterans.
East proposed the motion for which notice was given at Wednesday's council meeting, where it received wide-ranging support.
“(I’m) hoping to look at the opportunity of creating a memorial crosswalk to the cenotaph to honour the sacrifices our veterans gave up for us Canadians and our freedom,” said East.
Earlier in the week, an announcement was made by the town’s fire department that a $6,650 thermal-imaging camera would be funded from a donation by Midland Royal Canadian Legion Branch 80, through support of the Ontario Provincial Command Branches and Ladies’ Auxiliary Charitable Foundation.
“The Legion, still, is giving back to our communities even after so many soldiers have died for us,” said East on the announcement. “They haven’t stopped.”
Mayor Bill Gordon revealed that over the Christmas holiday, “I got a communication from (Raytheon) ELCAN – who teamed up with the BIA for the Remembrance banners. They’ve pledged $10,000 to make this (veterans crosswalk) happen.”
In 2021, the town installed a roughly $13,000 rainbow crosswalk to represent the two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus others (2SLGBTQ+) community.
Following East’s crosswalk request, council members supported the request for staff to look into feasibility and costs, and bring back a report to a future meeting which East impressed should be considered for installation prior to November.
While East had suggested the crosswalk be placed at the west-to-east corner of King Street and Ellen Street, with the Midland cenotaph located at 527 Len Self Boulevard where annual Remembrance Day ceremonies are held, some on council attempted to offer a more visible location for the installation in the downtown core.
In 2023, a deputation to council pitched a ‘cultural corners’ set of four representative crosswalks at King Street and Elizabeth Street where Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival (attendance of roughly 60,000 visitors in recent years) and others are held annually.
While council agreed that the cenotaph could work as a location, Gordon and Coun. Jaz Patel also suggested that greater visibility could be gained at the proposed cultural corners if given consideration and staff direction to explore as a possibility. Bill Meridis also noted the possible financial contribution of the Downtown BIA if it were located at the King and Elizabeth intersection within its boundaries.
However, East stuck firm to his wanting it at King and Ellen, and was also supported by Eric Major and Catherine MacDonald.
“I feel that they deserve their own crosswalk going to the place where we celebrate the lives that they gave for us,” said East.
Additional suggestions given praise by council were to include local artists and school students to possibly help with the crosswalk design.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
