OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to recent discourse about the future of the Champlain Monument and the hospital's call for support of a new hospital.
The recent letters regarding the ongoing controversy surrounding the Champlain Monument makes it clear that the monument should not be returned to Couchiching Beach Park. Another solution is possible.
The City of Orillia is in the early stages of planning a new hospital. Now would be the time to relocate the cenotaph and the perfect place would be to Couchiching Beach Park where the Champlain Monument stood.
The current location of the war memorial at the front entrance of Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital is not easily accessible. Many of the war memorials across the country are located in municipal parks or highly visible and easily accessible locations.
It would be closer to the Orillia Legion and more convenient to all. I am sure that there would be a larger attendance at the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies on Nov. 11. A plaque could be placed at the Couchiching Park commemorating that Champlain did land here.
This would be an amicable solution for everyone.
Mike Carney
Orillia
