If one thing was indisputable following the downtown protests last week it is this: We need a law.
We need a law to protect the Princeton cenotaph.
It is not the first time the memorial has been used as a political stage. In this case, it was marchers protesting sexual orientation and gender identify information being made available in schools.
Reasons and motive, though, are irrelevant.
Regardless of the message, it is beyond inappropriate to circulate it from the foot of our community’s sacred place of remembrance and mourning for fallen soldiers and first responders.
Liken it to organizing a football game at Flanders Fields, or picnicking on the grave of a police officer killed in the line of duty.
The cenotaph itself is on municipal land, and was dedicated in 1929 with the names of 16 local men who did not return home from the First World War.
It is the crown jewel of Veterans Square, which is actually quite a large piece of centrally-located property that has a gazebo and benches – everything someone wanting to politic or protest could ask for.
We proudly regard ourselves as a patriotic community, with as many as 800 people attending the annual Remembrance Day service each November 11.
A bylaw requiring a use permit for gatherings at the cenotaph, which would need approval from the executive of the Royal Canadian Legion branch 58, would ensure respect is paid to this place every day of the year.
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