Good evening, Wilmot citizens,<\/p>\n
The topic of this discussion is the Prime Ministers Path project, and delegations have tended to focus on events surrounding the eras of the Prime Ministers \u2013 starting in 1867.<\/p>\n
I prefer to expand the perspective and start with time about the occurrence of the ice ages when people first started to appear in North America.<\/p>\n
Ruth Abernathy asked you to imagine Wilmot and Canada at a time 30 years into the future. I\u2019m going to ask you to look at Wilmot and Canada from a height of about 2,000 feet in the air.<\/p>\n
If one was to look at Wilmot Township from a low flying airplane and could imagine the political boundaries around it, one would see individual buildings, vehicles on roads, farm lanes, greens of trees, yellows of crops, blues of water, animals grazing maybe individuals looking up at you. It would be a unique perspective \u2013 not repeated exactly with those people and things anywhere else. Wilmot would be a unique and special place if looked at from a close perspective.<\/p>\n
But if one was to fly higher one would discover that the scenes of Wilmot blend into its surroundings. Distinctions are not easily recognized. Wilmot is no longer unique and special. It is very much like its neighbours, and from a space view it would be indistinguishable, insignificant.<\/p>\n
From a world-wide view, Wilmot is not much different than anywhere else. Wilmot and the rest of the world is about people. Wilmot\u2019s issues are common to most of North America, and to the world in that they are \u00a0fundamentally based in, \u201cHow do we get along with each other?\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilmot does not have an Indigenous Relations issue, only<\/b>. It does not have an ethnic Chinese, or Hindu, or Sikh, or French, or affordable housing, or water access issue only<\/b>. Like most of the western world, we have all of those issues in common.<\/p>\n
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was formed with this mandate: \u201c\u2026to inform all Canadians about what happened in residential <\/i>schools. The TRC documented the <\/i>truth<\/i><\/b><\/span> of Survivors, their families, <\/i>communities and anyone personally affected by the residential school <\/i>experience.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n To discover these truths, the TRC listened to and recorded witnesses\u2019 stories.<\/p>\n In her book titled, \u201cTrue Reconciliation \u2013 How to Be a Force for Change<\/i>\u201d, Jody Wilson-Raybould outlines three goals, Learn<\/strong>, Understand<\/strong> and Act<\/strong><\/i>. To get her points across, a significant portion of the book\u2019s contents consists of stories. The truths<\/i><\/b><\/span> of the witnesses interviewed were gathered as stories. We participate in their experiences. We accumulate understanding and knowledge of their lives through the stories they tell.<\/p>\n She says, \u201cIn addition to storytelling, many artistic and ceremonial forms of <\/span><\/i>expression are used to transmit knowledge<\/i>.<\/span>\u201d (page 206)<\/p>\n And, \u201cOne way or another, we must all learn how to live together into the <\/i>future\u2026. I think we need to define, understand, and talk about reconciliation <\/i>as part of this work.\u201d<\/i> (page 7)<\/p>\n The TRC defined reconciliation as \u201cestablishing and maintaining a mutually <\/i>respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Peoples in this <\/i>country.<\/i>\u201d Wilson-Raybould states, \u201cFor this to happen, there has to be <\/i>awareness of the past<\/i><\/b>, acknowledgement of the harm that has been <\/i>inflicted, atonement for the causes, and <\/i>action to change behaviour<\/i><\/b>.\u201d (page 9)<\/p>\n As a citizen on this land, I choose to broaden the task from an Aboriginal focus to an all-inclusive horizon that includes every identifiable group that may have suffered abuse. I, personally, do not assume blame or accountability for events in the past. I do assume a responsibility to not repeat the errors of the past, and toward that end we all need to communicate with each other. We need to learn each-others\u2019 truths. We need to hear each-others\u2019 stories.<\/p>\n We need a strategy that hooks people\u2019s attention, their interest to inquire, their willingness to move outside their circle of closed, self-reinforcing interactions. We need a strategy that will provide opportunities to become <\/i>aware of the past<\/i>, to hear others\u2019 stories, witness their many artistic and <\/i>ceremonial forms of expression to transmit knowledge<\/i>.<\/p>\n We need to work together to create a situation that is inclusive and representative of Canada\u2019s and Wilmot\u2019s diversity. We need a version of the Prime Ministers Path.<\/p>\n We need a project that will provide an opportunity for a multitude of voices to be heard, so that those \u201ctruths<\/i><\/b><\/span>\u201d can be heard.<\/p>\n Council will recall at a previous Council meeting that there was a delegation by a young woman voicing her experiences as an Indigenous person. She told her story in very eloquent, and emotionally forceful words and postures. Her voice would be limited to the ears of those who attended that meeting or viewed it on Youtube. A one-time opportunity for her truth to be expressed.<\/p>\n I suggest that a project such as the educational component of the Prime Ministers Path would provide an opportunity for unknown numbers of people to hear her story. She could be recorded sitting on the bench with Sir John A. telling her story, discussing with him her experiences with some of his political policies. She could be recorded in debate with a young person, acting in the role of a youth in the era of the 1870\u2019s. They could be debating the what, why and how their experiences were the same and different.<\/p>\n There was a virtual delegate who had strong, emotional and intellectual feelings of opposition to resurrecting the PMP project. She and others with similar positions could be provided structured opportunities to participate in live and \/ or recorded events. These could be shared by \u2013 to anyone \u2013 as a format within the PMP project.<\/p>\n I see this PMP project as an opportunity to increase the awareness of the past and the present. An opportunity to change behaviours now and into the future. That is sharing truths with an opportunity to enable reconciliation.<\/p>\n The LURA consultants discovered that this project was not binary \u2013 either display the statues or dispose of them. They recognized that firm starting positions based on strong emotions can evolve into compromise and opportunities for mutual growth. This Report outlines a strategy for creating a safe place that includes statues of Prime Ministers. It does not preclude the opportunity to include other artistic or ceremonial forms of expression or structures of people, plants, animals, things. It does not restrict a project from having a starting timeline before we had Prime Ministers. The artistic opportunities are potentially limited only by our creative imaginations and our ability to raise funds.<\/p>\n Their report includes 6 recommendations to get us started. It provides a tentative path toward creating an invitational, safe, project that can facilitate knowledge sharing, mutual understandings and reconciliation of differences.<\/p>\n I state, in absolute contradiction of the staff writer, that this project is within <\/b>the mandate of a municipality<\/b>. It fits snugly into the objectives of this Municipality\u2019s Strategic Plan:<\/p>\n Page 2: \u201cWorking together to build a better community<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n Page 2: \u201cWe know that we face challenges, but as your leadership team, we <\/i>are committed to working hard with our professional staff to take actions and <\/i>make decisions to build a better future together.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n Goal #2: Healthy Community. Action<\/i> 2.3, \u201cWorking with our community <\/i>partners to enhance our quality of life<\/i>.\u201d 2.3.b) \u201cStrengthen relationships with <\/i>community groups by developing partnership agreements that include clear <\/i>and consistent policies, processes, roles, and responsibilities<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n Goal #4: Trustworthy Leadership<\/i>. Action 4.1, \u201cEnhancing the Township\u2019s <\/i>reputation through meaningful community engagement.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n Core Value #5: Courageous. \u201cWe are committed to working together to do <\/i>the right things in the right ways \u2013 even when these decisions re difficult or <\/i>unpopular. We do this because we are committed to advancing the long-term <\/i>best interests of our community<\/i>.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a lot of excellent material in the 3 support documents provided by LURA. My comments below are intended to build on them as Council deliberates:<\/p>\n [Image #1 \u2013 Final Reflections]<\/span><\/p>\n 1) Move forward toward a goal of providing a safe space where structured opportunities for listening<\/b>, sharing<\/b>, learning<\/b>, and engagement<\/b> in reflecting on history, identity and belonging may occur.<\/p>\n 2) Council should vote tonight, to move forward with this project, and provide guidelines regarding strategy.<\/p>\n 3) Create a \u201cworking group\u201d of Wilmot citizens to manage the project in a manner similar to that used for the annual Canada Day project. [It needs be noted that Wilmot Council has provided an annual contribution of $20,000 to that weekend event.<\/em>]<\/p>\n 4) At one time the Corporation had a Communications Specialist and Manager of Strategic Initiatives. The CAO absorbed the latter unto itself, but the Communications role still exists. This person could be the liaison between a \u201cworking group\u201d and the Corporation. How do you manage the Canada Day event as a starting point.<\/p>\n 5) Create a legal relationship with Createscape Waterloo to facilitate a fundraising foundation with legal charitable opportunities. This legal relationship must provide irrevocable security to Createscape so that, once we get this set up correctly this time, there will be no more reneging by the Township.<\/p>\n 6) In coordination with Createscape Waterloo, consider establishing a Foundation Board of Directors, potentially at arms-length from the Corporation, but coordinating with it. This Board might consist of a lawyer, real-estate broker, certified accountant, historian, cultural representatives (Indigenous and others), an experienced project manager, etc. Optimally these members would be volunteers serving for flexible terms with prescribed responsibilities.<\/p>\n 7) Solicit Wilmot citizens to \u201cname\u201d the project.<\/p>\n 8) Solicit local individual and corporate donors for \u201cnaming\u201d opportunities. A special recognition display in a potential structure on the site would allow these donors to be recognized. Regular communications to the public could include sponsors \/ donors\u2019 names.<\/p>\n 9) Quarterly reports of financial affairs will be provided to the Township Corporation as it is the Township that is accountable for supervising fiscal affairs.<\/p>\n 10) Locate the project on Township land close to Castle Kilbride and the museum. (Professional landscape designers \/ engineers have already submitted site options to start discussions by a working group and the public.) <\/span>[See Image #2 site plan]<\/p>\n 11) Set up financial accounts that allow donors to contribute to the project. This could be in the form of a \u201csubscription\u201d list<\/i> where individuals and corporations make regular (monthly) donations of a fixed regular amount that is deposited automatically each month, such as for hydro, phone, taxes. This would flow through the Township Corporation\u2019s accounts, and an annual tax receipt would be provided. Once the system is in place, it flows. [$10 a month from 500 people = $5,000 a month or $60,000 a year. Each donor gets an annual tax receipt.]<\/p>\n 12) A funding alternative for site acquisition might be D.C.s \u2013 development charges. At present developers provide park land as part of their developments or make payments \u2018in lieu of\u2019. Council could create a policy that provides for a designated portion of DCs to be directed toward the acquisition and maintenance of a \u201cpark-like\u201d site for this project. I suggest there is a precedent for the alternative use of DCs. Council recently voted to defer about $1 \u00bd to $2 million in DCs to encourage the growth of a worthy site on the banks of the Nith in New Hamburg. I suggest that, similarly, this is a worthy project.<\/p>\n 13) I suggest that in any future consultations, that consideration be given to contacting The Saugeen First Nation located in Southampton. Saugeen First Nation is a distinct Anishnaabek Nation comprised of the Three Fires Confederacy. The Three fires Confederacy is a long- standing alliance among the Ojibwe (or Chippewa), Odawa (or Ottawa), and Potawatomi tribes. When the Iroquois invaded southwestern Ontario prior to the arrival of settlers, the peoples living in the region that includes Wilmot Township were defeated, and forced to be absorbed into the Iroquois culture, or to move. Many moved into Michigan and south, or north into the present Bruce Peninsula area \u2013 the Saugeen First Nation territory. The current Chief is Conrad Ritchie and one of the band councilors is Lester Anoquot who was the Indigenous representative on the school board, and with whom I worked when I was teaching in Southampton for 10 years. The Saugeen Nation has its own education office, and the counsel these people could provide to Wilmot would be valuable. 519-797-2781 ext. 1103 for the Council Clerk\/Executive Assistant.<\/p>\n 14) Identify potential ways to expand the visitation \u2018sites\u2019 placed on the property:<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> Start with ice age (first peoples\u2019 arrivals, various origins stories)?<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> Time sequential dioramas: small group of earliest arrivals, early housing (longhouse, etc.), early food acquisition (hunting, gathering, cultivating, etc.), Chinese labourers on CPR, Jews turned away at B.C. coast, individuals playing significant decision- making roles through our history, etc.<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> Construct a \u201ccultural centre\u201d of suitable size to accommodate tour groups of 30 \u2013 40 tour bus riders.<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> Cultural centre would have audio-visual displays that rotate on a schedule or can be \u201cbooked\u201d ahead of time by tour groups that make pre-paid reservations to visit.<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> The A.V. \u2018presentations\u2019 scripts would be created by content experts such as universities, cultural \u2018experts\u2019 and converted to \u2018professional grade\u2019 product paid for through grants.<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> Resource list \u2018hand-outs\u2019 with further reading suggestions.<\/p>\n 15) Create a communications strategy for promoting tourist visits to Wilmot\u2019s project site.<\/p>\n 16) Contact the Stratford Festival for ideas how to market such this project.<\/p>\n 17) Coordinate with the Board of Trade regarding long-term plans for provision of support services required by potential tourists:<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> food;<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> local transportation to Castle Kilbride and the museum (rickshaws pulled by university students in season?);<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> local historical buildings;<\/p>\n \u2022<\/span> alternate bus tour spin-off to New Hamburg to view homes in Marie Voisin\u2019s books\u2019 list (with accompanying local guides on the bus?)<\/p>\n I refer you to the attachments (also submitted to the Clerk for attachment to the minutes) contained in a previous delegation which included professionally prepared landscape concepts for the site, as well as evidence that Township staff were participating in the evolution of the educational component, even though senior staff did not drive it to any form of implementation. The Council body at the time was 100% in support of the project. The CAO at the time indicated that all forms of potential resistance had been considered and the project was fully supported within the corporation. Things have changed with current staff leadership \u2013not always for the better.<\/p>\n This project can work for the betterment of the citizens of Wilmot, and beyond.<\/p>\n Respectfully submitted,<\/p>\n Barry Wolfe, Baden<\/p>\n July 28, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2025.07.28 Delegation to Council re. PMP Good evening, Wilmot citizens, The topic of this discussion is the Prime Ministers Path project, and delegations have tended to focus on events surrounding the eras of the Prime Ministers \u2013 starting in 1867. I prefer to expand the perspective and start with time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3144,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6392","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6392"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6401,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6392\/revisions\/6401"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What and How<\/span>?<\/h4>\n