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Amherst Armoury closed until further notice
Just a few days ago, I wrote a blog about Bill Casey’s 3 Rules of Dealing with Government. The 3 Rules are:
- Nothing makes sense
- Broaden your base of support
- Be persistent
We just had a perfect example confirming my theory. Department of National Defence just put a sign on the door of the Amherst Armoury saying that the building is closed due to health risks. The military has been trying to unload the Armoury facility for decades. But for decades, the community in Cumberland has fought back and we have managed to prevent them from either demolishing the building or divesting it for some inappropriate use.
The 3 Rules applied perfectly: the original decision made no sense. The community came together and opposed the decision loudly. We have been extremely persistent.
It worked so far.
The Amherst Armoury is much more than an armoury or a building. It houses one of the most unique military museums in Canada with items on display that are not seen anywhere in the world. Almost all were brought back to Cumberland by our returning soldiers.
It is a memorial to the 486 Cumberland County soldiers who trained there and went overseas to fight for our country and our democracy and did not come back. It is the only place for all 486 names, and their memories are honored together.
It has been a center for training cadets and holding community events from car shows to sports events to fundraisers.
For several months a group has been working on a proposal to convert the armoury to a facility for veterans. We have preliminary drawings and a welcome investment from the Town of Amherst in the amount of $50,000 to move the project forward to the next step. VETS Canada is the proponent. The proposal keeps the focus on veterans and maintains the priceless museum.
So how does DND respond?They put a lock on the door. Instead of cooperation and assistance, they make it very difficult to proceed.
In discussions with MP Alana Hirtle, she has confirmed that she has already alerted senior government officials and politicians to try to help find an appropriate solution for the future of this important building. She is also bringing forth a Private Member's Bill to create a better approach to divesting former armouries. Hopefully she will have success in finding assistance at senior levels.
Below are excerpts from an article from the Chronicle Herald dated March of 2021, where Lt. Col. Bryan Mialkowsky confirms that repairs have been completed to allow the continued use of the building. However, the door is now locked.
The article also says that Now we re moving into Phase 3 which is to do the formal assessments on the building to see what needs to be done to get the building back to building code standards to make it safe so we can take away those safety measures and the building can be used for its intended purpose.
I trust that DND will keep its promise and upgrade the building to code as promised.
Excerpts from Chronicle Article:
DND REASSURES AMHERST OF FUTURE OF HISTORIC ARMOURY BUILDING
By Darrell Cole,
Published March 17, 2021
AMHERST
Lt. Col. Bryan Mialkowsky, commanding officer of DND’s Real Property Operations Unit (Atlantic), attended a meeting with community stakeholders to assure them repairs on the century-old building will continue toward its future divestment.
My marching orders have been to get this building up and ready so it can be divested into the community, he said. It is very important to the history of this area and we want to see it move forward.
The future of the building, which is home to the North Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum and three cadet corps, has been in doubt for 15 years with National Defence indicating on several occasions that it has no use for the building with a plan to abandon it, raising fears it could be demolished.
Last August, the military museum and the cadets were abruptly ejected from the building amid structural concerns. Following a rally in September, Cumberland Colchester MP Lenore Zann received assurances repairs would be made to the building before divestiture.
Mialkowksy said that work is continuing.
We re dealing on a three-phase project. The first phase was to do the temporary safety repairs, which was completed. Phase 2 was to take those temporary safety repairs and make them semi-permanent and that’s been completed as well, he said. Now we re moving into Phase 3 which is to do the formal assessments on the building to see what needs to be done to get the building back to building code standards to make it safe so we can take away those safety measures and the building can be used for its intended purpose.
Thanks for reading
Bill
The 3 Rules applied perfectly: the original decision made no sense. The community came together and opposed the decision loudly. We have been extremely persistent.
It worked so far.
The Amherst Armoury is much more than an armoury or a building. It houses one of the most unique military museums in Canada with items on display that are not seen anywhere in the world. Almost all were brought back to Cumberland by our returning soldiers.
It is a memorial to the 486 Cumberland County soldiers who trained there and went overseas to fight for our country and our democracy and did not come back. It is the only place for all 486 names, and their memories are honored together.
It has been a center for training cadets and holding community events from car shows to sports events to fundraisers.
For several months a group has been working on a proposal to convert the armoury to a facility for veterans. We have preliminary drawings and a welcome investment from the Town of Amherst in the amount of $50,000 to move the project forward to the next step. VETS Canada is the proponent. The proposal keeps the focus on veterans and maintains the priceless museum.
So how does DND respond?They put a lock on the door. Instead of cooperation and assistance, they make it very difficult to proceed.
In discussions with MP Alana Hirtle, she has confirmed that she has already alerted senior government officials and politicians to try to help find an appropriate solution for the future of this important building. She is also bringing forth a Private Member's Bill to create a better approach to divesting former armouries. Hopefully she will have success in finding assistance at senior levels.
Below are excerpts from an article from the Chronicle Herald dated March of 2021, where Lt. Col. Bryan Mialkowsky confirms that repairs have been completed to allow the continued use of the building. However, the door is now locked.
The article also says that Now we re moving into Phase 3 which is to do the formal assessments on the building to see what needs to be done to get the building back to building code standards to make it safe so we can take away those safety measures and the building can be used for its intended purpose.
I trust that DND will keep its promise and upgrade the building to code as promised.
Excerpts from Chronicle Article:
DND REASSURES AMHERST OF FUTURE OF HISTORIC ARMOURY BUILDING
By Darrell Cole,
Published March 17, 2021
AMHERST
Lt. Col. Bryan Mialkowsky, commanding officer of DND’s Real Property Operations Unit (Atlantic), attended a meeting with community stakeholders to assure them repairs on the century-old building will continue toward its future divestment.
My marching orders have been to get this building up and ready so it can be divested into the community, he said. It is very important to the history of this area and we want to see it move forward.
The future of the building, which is home to the North Nova Scotia Highlanders Regimental Museum and three cadet corps, has been in doubt for 15 years with National Defence indicating on several occasions that it has no use for the building with a plan to abandon it, raising fears it could be demolished.
Last August, the military museum and the cadets were abruptly ejected from the building amid structural concerns. Following a rally in September, Cumberland Colchester MP Lenore Zann received assurances repairs would be made to the building before divestiture.
Mialkowksy said that work is continuing.
We re dealing on a three-phase project. The first phase was to do the temporary safety repairs, which was completed. Phase 2 was to take those temporary safety repairs and make them semi-permanent and that’s been completed as well, he said. Now we re moving into Phase 3 which is to do the formal assessments on the building to see what needs to be done to get the building back to building code standards to make it safe so we can take away those safety measures and the building can be used for its intended purpose.
Thanks for reading
Bill