Pro-statue Wilmot residents helped fund distribution of unsolicited newspaper, The Wilmot Sentinel

Some Wilmot residents are asking why they received a newspaper named The Wilmot Sentinel unsolicited in their mailbox over the past week.

The newspaper questions the intention of anti-racism ralliers in the community and pushes back against the township's decision to halt the controversial Prime Minister's Path project.

The Wilmot Sentinel's spokesperson Pat Mighton said she understands that protestors are looking for reconciliation for members of the Indigenous community.

“How can defacing public property contribute to the process of reconciliation? In my mind, they are just so far apart that it boggles the mind to think about that. So if I wanted for the two of us to discuss something and to come some way forward on it, I wouldn't start by finding something of yours that is of value and defacing it.”

She said the Prime Minister's Path should be considered an outdoor museum — and that people who are traumatized by the statues should simply not visit.

“But the people who do go there will be the people who have chosen to come and see these statues, to learn from them — and as time goes by, the learning tools will be enhanced. They'll probably use QR codes that will link you directly to any questions you may have with any of these figures.”

Mighton said she doesn't see the Prime Minister's Path standing in the way of reconciliation and that both sides should sit down and hear what the other side has to say.

“I don't like the word 'compromise', because 'compromise' implies that everybody is giving up something and I don't think that's the way forward — that we each give up things. I think the way forward is that we come together and look at what we can contribute together, not what he, we or they have to give up.”

She noted The Wilmot Sentinel is funded by private individuals.

“There is a GoFundMe page. I don't think that's how they started. I think they were started by a group of people who had a point of view to express and they were willing to pay to express it.”

Wilmot Township is currently in the process of collecting public feedback to help determine the future of the Prime Minister's Path.