Letters to the editor

Edyth Germain made a huge contribution



To the editor:

I cannot let the recent death of Edyth Germain pass without drawing the attention of everyone in Westmount to how much she did for this city.

Because she left us 15 years ago to retire with her husband to a quiet village in Ontario, only our older residents may remember the days back in the 1980s when she, more than any individual, pioneered an arts program in Westmount.

Long before the City contributed a penny or showed the slightest interest in its artists, writers and performers, she managed to put together a week each year where we showed off our home talent. She scoured stores and individuals for the necessary funds, used her home on Côte St. Antoine Road for receptions and meetings, organized the volunteers who welcomed, ushered and guarded exhibits—and got me to run for mayor back in 1987.

I didn’t expect to win. Westmount did not go in for electing its mayors. They were chosen by the city council, which was chosen by the Westmount Municipal Association. I hoped only that maybe the incoming government would pay attention to the arts, i.e. community activities centered around the triplex of the Library, in desperate need of renewal, the greenhouse and Victoria Hall. The latter was so little used back then, except for weekend weddings, its basement was readily handed over to the Westmount Manoir to serve as its dining room.

While some may still feel that getting me to run and helping me get elected were the least of Edith Germain’s achievement, every Westmounter who lines up to register for any of the dozens of activities, from bridge for adults to karate for kids, that fill all its rooms every weeknight, owe her a debt.

Her pioneering changed our city and I hope her name will be added to the Westmount honor role in our city hall.

May Cutler

Former mayor of Westmount





A blow to nature—and democracy



To the editor

A nature-enthusiast resident of Westmount since the 1960s, I know well all the parks of Westmount; especially Westmount Park of which I have been a daily visitor in all seasons—even during the ice storm of ’98. The damage was heart breaking, but Nature has helped it and all our parks to recover remarkably.

Now, the man-made catastrophe that hit Westmount’s Sunnyside green space will be a greater challenge to Nature’s resilience. In most if not all countries of our still-beautiful Earth, Nature is being raped; destroyed at a pace that gathers terrifying momentum each day.

Westmount’s Mayor in last Monday’s Gazette: “We respect trees, but a park is a park, not a forest.�

My answer: Whether Nature’s treasures stand in park or forest, it is a crime against her to harm them in any way: especially in ‘this’ way.

I know Sunnyside and its trees well. Many were senior citizens of great beauty and girth. Their green luxuriance, which hampered the view of tourists, is proof of their robust health. It was Nature’s majestic clump of masterpieces neglected by the City for years and years..

Mayor Marks in last week’s Examiner: “We as a council, made a decision to invest in this park and return it to its former glory. It is a piece of our heritage which we value and which must be restored as we have done with the Library, Victoria Hall and many other facilities.�

My answer: Former glory? A piece of our heritage which we value?

And which must be restored as we have done the Library?

I remember well Westmount Public Library before its tragic destiny. The hand-carved spiral oak staircase to the music gallery, the view from the gallery to the rhythmic archways on the ground floor, the excited hustle-bustle of children and visitors, the pure light from the entrances and clear glass windows. the trees outside both the elegant entrances, the spacious streamlined oak enclosure where Norah Bryant the librarian herself would often sit checking visitors’ books and, with a smile chat with and offer recommendations for reading.

All of that Westmount’s history and “former glory� is now gone with the wind. The very soul of that priceless jewel ripped out for seven and a half million dollars. Its shell now graced with a car park. So much for, “a piece of our heritage which we value and which must be restored as we have done the Library.� November’s destruction of Nature's cathedral on Sunnyside has surpassed the desecration of our library.

Mayor Marks is also proposing to replace Westmount Park’s green carpet with man’s green plastic at a cost of over a million dollars (due in time surely to increase as in the case of the Library).

A resident for long years here, my viewpoint merits serious consideration by City Hall—if democracy is Westmount’s strong point as proudly proclaimed (but I doubt its sincerity). The time has now come to speak out. Even if a few important toes are stepped on. It is time for all nature-loving residents to awaken if they do wish see Westmount Park stripped of much of its natural vegetation, peace and good air: become a noisy sports complexe with wall-to-wall soccer/baseball games in summer; in winter skaters on a rink opposite the Library. And last but not least, see its “under-used rest-room near the library get more use,� (quote from City councillor Lulham), become a popular haunt to drug users and sex-inclined loiterers.

In conclusion, I wish to add that I took along this letter to the public meeting at City Hall last Monday. I had not spoken five minutes when our mayor stopped me.

My plea to be allowed to conclude my last paragraph was refused. The reason? “Others are waiting to speak. Your letter will be published by the Examiner.�

Disappointed, I wondered whether this is proof that Westmount’s much-vaunted democracy is bubbles?

Stephen Chin

Sherbrooke Street