We the undersigned are opposed to the removal of our Cenotaph from Memorial Grove. We believe the cenotaph and the 30 memorial maple trees must all be protected from any future building expansion, development and/or a sale of property.
Therefore, we call upon:
1) …Grey Highlands to modify the Terms of Reference for the Memorial Relocation Taskforce, to protect the current location of Memorial Grove’s cenotaph.
2) …Grey County to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the community, protecting the Memorial Grove site in its entirety.
3) …Grey Highlands to pursue a property severance of the area of Memorial Grove and the adjacent parking area from Grey County, protecting the Markdale Cenotaph site & Memorial Grove from any future sale of Grey Gables to a private third party.
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Claim: “County of Grey has requested that the Municipality of Grey Highlands relocate the memorial assets.”
Fact: This is a finger-pointing blame game, between the County and Grey Highlands. Both parties are being misleading. The directive to "remove municipal commemorative assets and memorials" from Grey Gables was negotiated collaboratively, by both Grey County AND Grey Highlands - in secret. (County Staff Report CAOR-CW-17-25 // November 13, 2025)
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Claim: Any decisions about Memorial Grove "will happen transparently in an open setting and there will be opportunities for the public to participate."
Fact: Staff directive has already been given to remove the Markdale Cenotaph from Grey Gables. This decision was made behind closed doors, with no public input whatsoever. According to the latest staff report, the reason for removing the Markdale Cenotaph "cannot be divulged by staff as it has not been released in Open session"
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Claim: Moving the Memorial Assets “will support the forthcoming Grey Gables Expansion.”
Fact: There are 4 acres of unused land on the property (not even including Memorial Grove). Preliminary drawings of the expansion show a new fourth wing with 100 beds... nowhere near Memorial Grove.
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Claim: Markdale’s various memorials should all be moved to one single location.
Fact: The best place to do that would be at the existing Memorial Grove.
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Claim: Our Cenotaph should be on a “municipal property”.
Fact: It already is. Grey Highlands is a lower-tier municipality and Grey County is an upper-tier municipality. There is no benefit of moving the Cenotaph from one piece of municipal land to another.
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Claim: The trees are unhealthy
Fact: All 30 trees are healthy, as confirmed last week by an arborist.
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Claim: When the Grove was built, they didn’t have permission.
Fact: The process was public and the grand opening was attended by enthusiastic dignitaries from all levels of government.
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Claim: The Cenotaph was installed over a drainage pipe.
Fact: Drainage pipes can be easily accessed on an angle. Worst case scenario, the Cenotaph could simply be moved ten feet to the side.
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Claim: It’s “common practise” to remove memorial trees because they have “no guarantee of permanence”.
Fact: While memorial trees do often have a contractual “warranty”, this is in regard to a guarantee of replacing unhealthy trees at no cost. There is no precedent for pro-actively destroying memorial trees without reason.
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Claim: “The removal or relocation of the Memorial Grove trees is not being considered by the Municipality and is not part of the Memorial Task Force's memorial relocation project”
Fact: This line is technically true, but its message is misleading. If the trees weren’t being slated for removal, there would be no need to have a Task Force at all. Tree removal is the reason behind the entire project.