Posted April 11, 2022
Save Juno Beach Campaign Gains Support of Parliament
As the Save Juno Beach campaign gains momentum, Canadians have sent nearly 50,000 letters to Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers and ambassadors in Canada and France demanding that a luxury seaside condominium development planned for Juno Beach be stopped.
Members of Parliament across the country have heard loud and clear from Canadians about their opposition to this proposed development at such an important site in our shared history. Juno Beach is one of the most sacred places in Canadian military history.
In just under a month, large numbers of elected officials are now standing shoulder to shoulder, regardless of their political stances, to stop this development of Juno Beach that is so deeply disrespectful. On March 29th, 2022, Frank Caputo, MP for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, introduced the following motion at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs:
THAT given that Juno Beach is one of the most sacred places in Canadian military history, the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs objects to plans to develop the area immediately adjacent to the Juno Beach Centre, expresses its support for the Save Juno Beach campaign in Canada, calls on the government to provide financial or other support for the Save Juno Beach Centre Association in order to protect the integrity of Canada’s primary site of Second World War commemoration overseas and reports this motion to the House of Commons.
MP Caputo’s Motion passed with unanimous consent at the Standing Committee for Veterans Affairs and will be presented to the House of Commons.
French citizens are taking action as well. Thousands are adding their names to a special French petition at https://www.sauvezlaplagejuno.ca/partager to stop the seaside condo development.
As a result of the significant pressure from across Canada and France, the Minister of Veterans Affairs, the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay will travel to Juno Beach on April 13th. The Minister will meet with the Mayor of Courseulles-sur-Mer, the Canadian-owned Juno Beach Centre and then travel to Paris for meetings with French representatives.
Armed with the support of thousands of Canadians and French and instructed by the House of Commons to provide financial and other support for the Juno Beach Centre, we expect the Minister of Veterans Affairs to speak with his counterparts in France to emphasize the extreme importance of this site and seek a diplomatic resolution to this situation. The Minister of Veterans Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs must, at the very least, work with the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the French Minister for Tourism, and the President of the General Council of the Calvados to ensure that the private road leading to the Juno Beach Centre is not used for construction as this could threaten their operations.
Meanwhile, the Save Juno Beach campaign continues to urge Canadians to email their Member of Parliament to keep building pressure on both the Canadian and the French governments to find a solution to building luxury condos on Juno Beach, the historical D-Day landing site for Canadian soldiers in WWII.
info@savejunobeach.ca
Save Juno Beach
1-800-393-5734
