Some Wilmot Township residents want mayor gone

He removed ‘White Lives Matter’ video from his Facebook page, but calls for his resignation continue

WATERLOO REGION — Long before he became a Juno-award winning sound engineer, John Bailey was a kid growing up in New Hamburg and he remembers the town cop — Les Armstrong.

Armstrong was with the Waterloo Regional Police for 13 years, and was assigned to Wilmot Township. He loved the area so much that Armstrong resigned from the force in 1984 rather than be reassigned. “I have known him my whole life,” said Bailey.

Bailey built an international reputation as a sound engineer in Toronto, and lived in the GTA for a long time. In 2010 he returned to Wilmot Township, first to Punkydoodles Corners, and later to his hometown of New Hamburg.

Bailey remembers playing in the streets of New Hamburg and seeing Armstrong on patrol. Baily recalls registering his first vehicle in the licensing office with Armstrong.

The former cop was first elected to the township council 25 years ago. He has been mayor for the past nine years.

Armstrong clung to the mayoralty by fewer than 100 votes in the last municipal elections.

After sharing a “White Lives Matter” video on Facebook, and calling it “interesting,” a growing number of people are calling for his resignation.

Bailey was devastated when he read about Mychel Hendricks, a Waterloo Black man who called off his search for a house in Wilmot Township, saying he would not feel safe living there.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Bailey. “This is not who we are.”

The communities in the township have a grown significantly over the past 20 years. Housing prices are lower in Baden, New Hamburg and Punkydoodles Corners compared to Kitchener-Waterloo and Cambridge.

In the last round of municipal elections, Wilmot Township voters elected some women to council who reflect the changing demographics of the rural communities on the region’s west side.

The “White Lives Matter” video is only Armstrong’s latest controversy — he vocally supported having statues of Canada’s prime ministers at Castle Kilbride, and the township office did not fly the Pride flag.

The statue of Sir John A. Macdonald was splashed with red paint, twice, in the past week. No one claimed responsibility, but it is being interpreted as a protest against Macdonald’s genocidal policies on Indigenous people.

The statue, which stands on the grounds of the Wilmot Township offices at Castle Kilbride had a tarp placed over it after the second round of paint.

Wilmot Township Coun. Angie Hallman asked for the tarp to be removed so the public can see the statue with the paint, and think about what it might mean. The tarp was removed on Tuesday.

“We acknowledge that this is a difficult issue, and further meaningful conversations need to continue,” the township said in a press release.

“The world is looking at Wilmot Township now and saying: ‘You people are anti-LGBT, anti-Indigenous and you are an all-white racially biased community. Now the work is on us, and we have to prove to the world that is not who we are,” said Bailey.

Krista Cressman also grew up

New Hamburg, moved away, then returned to her hometown. Cressman is happy the story about Armstrong has gone national.

“I think that’s fabulous because you know what — in this day and age we need to be holding people to account,” said Cressman.

Armstrong should absolutely resign, she said.

“He is a dinosaur. You look at our community and what it is now, and how many people we have moving in here, it is not the old guard anymore,” said Cressman.

“He certainly doesn’t reflect my point of view,” said Rory Farnan, who moved to Mannheim with his family about five years ago.

The mayor’s actions have cast a dark shadow over the township, particularly if you are Black or Indigenous, he said. “Words matter, now more now than ever,” said Farnan.

He felt compelled to speak out after the Macdonald statue was vandalized a second time, and the mayor’s refusal to take responsibility for sharing the “White Lives Matter” video and apologizing for the harm it caused.

“I feel I can’t stay silent anymore at this point,” said Farnan.

“Because I know there is a lot of outrage out there.”

He also wants the mayor to resign.

Born and raised in Wilmot Township, Charlene Nafziger has known Armstrong most of her life. Like many other residents Nafziger has generally excused Armstrong’s comments in the past because they know him to be “a nice guy.”

But not now.

“It’s difficult to call out someone like that in your life. But I now see that it’s wrong not to call them out. That being a ‘nice guy’ isn’t enough. And, that we can’t continue to excuse comments like these,” said Nafziger.

“I believe it is incredibly hurtful for white people of privilege, like me, to stay silent and turn a blind eye to the ‘nice guy’s’ comments. We have to speak out and say that this kind of behaviour and his explanations are unequivocally not acceptable from anyone — let alone our mayor,” said Nafziger.

“His actions do not reflect the values of the community that I wish to be a part of,” she said.