During a September 2023 Council meeting, a delegation from the Stouffville Legion requested that Council investigate relocating the cenotaph back to Memorial Park. It is currently located at the Stouffville Legion.
They also asked the Town to assist in accepting a decommissioned Leopard tank and see it located in Memorial Park as well.
Stouffville currently has memorial elements in various locations, including the Stouffville Legion, Civic Square, and at the end of Church Street South.
The relocated cenotaph would become part of a larger memorial within Memorial Park, incorporating the tank, elements of remembrance pillars that include the names of fallen soldiers from Whitchurch-Stouffville, and a plaque for Captain Arthur Roy Brown, as explained in the related Staff report.
“In addition, through the Department of National Defence, the Town and the Legion have the opportunity to receive a donation of a Leopard tank at no cost to the Town that will form a new, larger memorial area,” the report adds.
Council will decide between two possible locations for the cenotaph and tank, each with different cost estimates and shown in the map below:
Option A: The southeast corner of Booth Drive and Park Drive, with an estimated cost of $345,000 to $400,000
Option B: The north pavilion site located north of Burkholder Street and south of the Stouffville Lawn Bowling Club, with an estimated cost of $245,000 to $300,000
Staff believe Option A offers a more prominent display location while providing space for larger gatherings as necessary, though such gatherings could require road closures. It would also require changes and relocation of existing gardens, trees, and other earthworks.
Option B provides for a “more intimate space and scale for reflection and contemplation,” according to the Staff report, and its close proximity to the north pavilion offers shelter for visitors. The location is not as prominent and would face challenges in accommodating larger events and gatherings.
The Town has not allocated a budget to the project. Staff hope to work with the Stouffville Legion to identify funding opportunities, including assistance from the Department of National Defence, the Veterans Affairs Community Partnership Program, and the Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Trust Fund.
While acquiring the Leopard tank comes without costs, Town Staff did not offer an option considering cenotaph relocation and installation without incorporation of the tank.
Council will decide on both items at their meeting tonight, December 6, at 7 p.m in Council Chambers. Residents can speak to the proposal then, or submit correspondence to the Town Clerks via email prior to the meeting.
Should Council support the proposal, Staff will finalize detailed plans and drawings for the project. If costs can not be offset by alternate funding opportunities, associated costing will be submitted in a report to Council for their approval.
There will be a cost to moving a tank here, paid for by residents in either Town, Provincial or Federal taxes.
Why would anyone want a tank, a symbol right now of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza that we are seeing on the nightly news?
People get rich by supplying weapons which we should never forget. My father drove an ammunition truck for 6 years in the war and he wouldn’t even go to war museums (which is where tanks belong.)
We can pay respect to our vets by wearing poppies we do not need a tank.
Many neighbours are horrified to think they will have a tank in their back garden and they were not consulted.
I was born in the Briar Bush hospital, Stouffville was founded by Abraham Stouffer. We are both peacemaking people. there is a peace pole on the south side of Main Street. The last thing we need in today’s war torn world is a military tank.
To have an instrument of war and killing with which miilions have been killed on all sides is proposterous. We were poppies to honour and remember the fallen. We don’t need symbols of war and a killing machine that was used to fell those brave soldiers. It’s peace and harmony we need to promote, not war and killing symbols.
The Bartell family. A Peace Garden is not a place for a tank my father was in the war and so was his younger brother who signed up getting in only because he lied about his age. He got malaria and came back very ill he never married never had children never held down a job. He died in his 50s. My father never talked about the war what he saw. They were not good memories take the tank to where it would be appreciated to a museum and those that wish to see it can go and do so
.
There will be a cost to moving a tank here, paid for by residents in either Town, Provincial or Federal taxes.
Why would anyone want a tank, a symbol right now of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza that we are seeing on the nightly news?
People get rich by supplying weapons which we should never forget. My father drove an ammunition truck for 6 years in the war and he wouldn’t even go to war museums (which is where tanks belong.)
We can pay respect to our vets by wearing poppies we do not need a tank.
Many neighbours are horrified to think they will have a tank in their back garden and they were not consulted.
I was born in the Briar Bush hospital, Stouffville was founded by Abraham Stouffer. We are both peacemaking people. there is a peace pole on the south side of Main Street. The last thing we need in today’s war torn world is a military tank.
We should be doing all we can to suppress war and its accourtrements.
No one needs a reminder of killing machines in their midst.
To have an instrument of war and killing with which miilions have been killed on all sides is proposterous. We were poppies to honour and remember the fallen. We don’t need symbols of war and a killing machine that was used to fell those brave soldiers. It’s peace and harmony we need to promote, not war and killing symbols.
The Bartell family. A Peace Garden is not a place for a tank my father was in the war and so was his younger brother who signed up getting in only because he lied about his age. He got malaria and came back very ill he never married never had children never held down a job. He died in his 50s. My father never talked about the war what he saw. They were not good memories take the tank to where it would be appreciated to a museum and those that wish to see it can go and do so
.