The Reopening of Mississauga's Vimy Park

A crowd gathered under sunny skies on September 23 to officially reopen Mississauga’s Vimy Park on Stavebank Road. Vimy Park is the site of the Port Credit War Memorial (Cenotaph). Formally known as the Port Credit and Vicinity Soldiers’ Memorial, the cenotaph is located on what was once the former site of the Port Credit village square and band shell. During the First World War, local Port Credit and area soldiers were given grand send-offs from the village square, which was located only a short distance away from the railroad station. As the war progressed and news of casualties reached home, notices of the missing and dead were posted on the band shell. As such the park and band shell became the focal point of somber community gatherings. After the First World War, local interests turned to creating a permanent monument to those who did not return home. The logical location for a memorial was the band shell site. The band shell was relocated in the early 1920s closer to Lake Ontario.

The first mention of raising funds to build a memorial to fallen soldiers in Port Credit came in April of 1924. A year later, in 1925, a cenotaph design from the McIntosh Granite Company was accepted. A committee was formed to collect the list of names of fallen soldiers from the Clarkson, Lakeview, Lorne Park and Port Credit areas, although there are some names from farther afield. The former band shell site was chosen, and the Soldiers’ Memorial was unveiled on November 12, 1925 by Lt-Governor Henry Cockshutt.

The design of the Soldiers’ Memorial is based on the “Cross of Sacrifice”, an accepted cenotaph design by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission in 1918. The Soldiers’ Memorial originally listed the names of 32 soldiers from Port Credit and the surrounding area who fell during the First World War. In 1946 and 1983 respectively, casualties from the Second World War and Korean War were added.

The park in which the Memorial sits was not originally named. In 2017 the Council of the City of Mississauga formally named the park “Vimy Park” in honour of the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. In 2023 the park has undergone an extensive redesign and revitalization of the memorial site and surrounding park, which was officially reopened by Ward 1 Councillor Stephen Dasko.

The name of the park remembers the Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9-12, 1917), which was a pivotal military engagement during the First World War. The Ridge was strategic and heavily fortified. Previous attempts on the Ridge had failed. To capture the Ridge, Canadians carefully planned their attack. Attacking together for the first time, more than 15,000 soldiers in four Canadian divisions attacked Vimy Ridge at 5:30 am on April 9, 1917. Many consider the Canadian victory at Vimy a defining moment for Canada. Canadian troops also earned a reputation as formidable and effective because of this stunning success. But it came at a heavy cost: 3,598 Canadians were killed and another 7,000 wounded. Amongst those at Vimy were more than 50 soldiers from historic Mississauga, including seven who lost their lives: Private Dennis Ainger of Erindale, Sergeant Thomas Cartwright of Erindale, Private Joseph Clarke of Streetsville, Private William Kidd of Clarkson, Private Eli Rossiter of Clarkson, Private Jack Young of Clarkson, and Lieutenant James Fawcett of Streetsville. 11 others from historic Mississauga were wounded.

We invite you to visit Vimy Park on Stavebank Road in Port Credit. We will remember them.