Designation Plaque honouring the “Georgetown Boys” at Cedarvale Park

Ted Arnott participated in the Town of Halton Hills’ unveiling of the Designation Plaque honouring the “Georgetown Boys” at Cedarvale Park. He made the following remarks at the June 26th event:

Your Holiness, honoured guests, friends:

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today as we acknowledge, formally and officially, an extraordinary part of our local history.

It is a story of unspeakable tragedy and suffering, which, through the compassion of Canadians almost a century ago, became a story of hope and opportunity, almost rebirth, in a new safe land.

I want to begin by thanking our Mayor, Council and Staff of the Town of Halton Hills, and the Members of Heritage Halton Hills, for their dedicated efforts, which have culminated in the designation of Cedarvale Park as a protected historic and cultural site under the Ontario Heritage Act.

There is precious little that I can add to what has already been said, without being redundant.

Let me simply say how moved I have been to hear again of the Armenian genocide and the response of Canadians in this very community, which today I’m privileged to represent in the Ontario Legislature.

To learn of the “Georgetown Boys” and girls, who found in this very town a refuge from the horrors they had experienced abroad, and to understand the lives they built for themselves here.

Next week, we will again celebrate our national identity on July 1st, and all that it means to be Canadian.

Those of us here today, who know of the story of the Georgetown Boys and girls will have one more reason, amongst so many, to be proud of our country.

Thank you very much.