Months after Montreal’s city council voted overwhelmingly in favour of renaming Outremont’s Vimy Park after former Quebec premier Jacques Parizeau, a ceremony held Sunday afternoon made it official.
READ MORE: Outremont’s Vimy Park to be renamed after separatist
The ceremony, billed as “intimate” and “solemn”, featured members of Parizeau’s family and Outremont Mayor Marie Cinq-Mars.
In June, city council voted 51-2 in favour of the controversial name change.
READ MORE: Proposed renaming of Outremont park in honour of former premier Jacques Parizeau stirs controversy
Critics argued the move was an insult to the memory of Canadian soldiers who fought in the First World War, saying the park should not be renamed after someone who nearly led the province to independence in the 1995 referendum on sovereignty.
READ MORE: Renaming Vimy Park stirs controversy in Anglophone community
However, Coderre supported the decision, saying Parizeau was a big part of Quebec’s history.
The former premier lived a short distance away from the park for 30 years and there’s even a plaque honouring his first wife, writer Alice Poznanska Parizeau.
Following the announcement of the name change, Mayor Denis Coderre said the city would create two new public spaces in 2017 to commemorate the battles of Vimy Ridge and Dieppe.
Last week, Coderre announced the renaming of a portion of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Park after Vimy Place.
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