June 10, 2022 • 1 day ago • 3 minutes reading • 102 comments Mayor Ed Holder asked city staff to reconsider public places in London named by soldier Mark Wilson, including Trooper Wilson Place in east London, after from a London Free Press report on his 2004 conviction for assaulting a woman. The photo was taken on Tuesday, June 7, 2022. (Mike Hensen / The London Free Press)
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In a letter to City Council next week, Mayor Ed Holder and three city councilors are calling for the park and street to be renamed after soldier Mark Wilson.
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The letter, seeking support from the full council, states that city politicians have a moral obligation to create “a safe environment for women and girls”. The Free Press published a report this week describing how Wilson, who died in Afghanistan in 2006, pleaded guilty in a military court two years earlier to assaulting a colleague during a Quebec-based military training program. On Wednesday, Holder ordered a review of the public spaces named by Wilson, but took an extra step in the letter. “As you know, this council is committed to creating a safe London for women and girls, making London the first city in all of Canada to make it a strategic priority,” said Holder and advisers Shawn Lewis, Josh Morgan and Elizabeth Peloza. . write in the letter, which will go to the council plenary next week.
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Poppies bloom in a small garden at the entrance to Trooper Mark Wilson Park in north west London. Mike Hensen / The London Free Press “We have an obligation, morally and otherwise, to honor this commitment at all times,” they added. Their proposal would begin the process of removing Wilson’s name from the park at both Wallingford 2070 and Trooper Wilson Place in east London. It will also remove any references to Wilson from the city’s website. When she learned that the mayor had ordered a review on Wednesday, the woman, whose name is protected from the military court’s ban, told Free Press, “It’s unbelievable. “I am full of hope that things are changing.” Wilson’s parents, Carl and Carolyn Wilson, issued a statement this week calling for his name to continue to be honored. “The family is very upset by the recent developments that led to a call for Mark’s name to be removed from charity events, memorials and the public archives. “Essentially, this is a call to erase his legacy, to cancel all the good that was done in his name and to discredit him retroactively when he can not speak from the grave to defend himself,” he said.
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“Mark lost his life serving our country. His name lives on by raising money for the less fortunate. . . “It’s fundamentally unfair to raise these issues now, almost 18 years later, in a way that does not allow Mark to explain what happened.” Wilson and the woman were in a military training program in 2004. An investigation into an incident there concluded that Wilson had sexually assaulted the woman, but in his military tribunal the same year, Wilson pleaded guilty to assault and not sexual assault. . Both allegations were accepted by the military judge. Wilson was reprimanded, fined $ 1,500 and allowed to continue in the military. He was killed in Afghanistan in 2006 and since then London has honored him by naming him a street and a park. There was also an annual fundraiser in his honor. Wilson’s honor fueled the PTSD suffering from the attack and serving in Afghanistan, the woman told Free Press.
- STAFF GOES to identify all instances where soldier Mark Wilson’s name has been used in city amenities, including the Park at 2070 Wallingford Avenue and the celebration in the Hale and Trafalgar area, and to begin removing his name from every case. 2. DIRECT THE STAFF to subsequently begin the process of renaming these sites, including consultation with residents and community members in all affected areas.
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