Lakeshore dumps address changes
Angry residents convince council to withdraw controversial plan
Hundreds of proud residents of Comber, Woodslee, Stoney Point, Belle River and the other communities that make up Lakeshore packed a big gym Tuesday and successfully persuaded council to reverse a decision to change all their mailing addresses to Lakeshore. “You’ve opened up a big can of worms with this issue, hopefully in your wisdom you’ll put the worms back and seal the can,” longtime Woodslee resident Joanne McMurren told councillors as an estimated 600 people attending the special meeting at the Atlas Tube Centre, cheered her on. Sealing the can is precisely what the majority of council did. By a 5-2 vote they rescinded a Sept. 11 vote that would have set the wheels in motion for Canada Post to change the community address people have used for years — in Puce, Comber, Maidstone, Pointe-Aux-Roche, etc. — to Lakeshore.
People wore custom T-shirts proclaiming Comber Proud, Belle River Proud, Stoney Point Proud and Woodslee Proud. A petition drive organized by Comber resident Mark McKinlay had more than 5,000 signatures. He told council that people are upset about losing their identity, their heritage and history. All the communities, including the French-speaking communities on the north shore, are all unique and rich. “None of us,” want to change their mailing address, he said. “We just don’t want it, we don’t want you to spend your time, we don’t want you to spend our money to take this any further.”
After the vote to rescind, McKinlay expressed relief and pleasure with the outcome.
“I don’t think that council really realized this (community outrage) would happen, they thought it would simply slip it by and we’d be getting a notice from Canada Post six weeks before it’s implemented,” he said.
Many residents who spoke received standing ovations from the crowd. They were there, according to Comber’s Sylvain Gagnier, to ensure councillors don’t destroy their history, heritage and identity. “And now four or five of you want to wipe us off the map? It’s ludicrous. I don’t want the Town of Comber sign in a basement somewhere. It belongs at the entrance to our town.”
He demanded that council look around at the crowd and recognize that the citizens won’t accept this change.
“Right here and right now, and I don’t want to hear any whining about how to do it. Just do it and don’t bring it up again.” Norm Mailloux told councillors he lives in St. Joachim, right in front of the sign that reads: “Lakeshore Community of St. Joachim.” “You can’t take that away from me or anyone else,” he said, directing his comments to Mayor Tom Bain, who is running unopposed in the Oct. 22 municipal election. “Mr. Mayor, after seeing what’s going on, you should count yourself lucky no one’s running against you.” While the vast majority in the crowd opposed supplanting the names of their small communities with the single name Lakeshore, there were some residents who wanted it. These are mostly people living close to Tecumseh, who say their mailing address often says Town of Tecumseh and their driver’s licence says they live in Windsor. Other residents on the far east side of the municipality have a Tilbury mailing addresses. Ward 1 (in the northwest corner of Lakeshore) Coun. Steven Wilder received scornful boos when he defended the idea of changing the mailing addresses to Lakeshore. “I think it’s important you hear it is an issue for some people,” he said, adding he doesn’t want to close post offices or take down signs. “We’re not trying to do that, we’re trying to solve an issue,” he said. Wilder said he has different addresses on his pay stub, on his election ballot and his tax bill. He agreed it’s a Canada Post problem, but Canada Post requires council to pass a motion asking for an address change before it will take any action.
“I get that it’s a real concern you’re going to lose your community identity,” Wilder said. “I brought it up as an issue that existed in Ward 1. Certainly it was not my intention that it would become the political and election issue it has become.”
Also voting against rescinding the Sept. 11 motion was Coun. Len Janisse.
Wilder said he was “absolutely blindsided” by the community reaction to the address change. He said that he actually signed the petition twice, signing “Fake Person,” to show that the petition wasn’t legitimate. His attempt to organize an open house to discuss changing to Lakeshore in areas that want it — like his ward — didn’t get enough support.
“Quite frankly, I’m very disappointed with some members of council who have done nothing but fan the flames that led to this tonight,” Wilder said.