April 30, 2012 Dear Mayor and Council, On Tuesday evening, the office of MP Paul Calandra will be proposing

to Town Council the "Freedom of the Town of Stouffville" event and parade, celebrating Stouffville's military heritage and role in the War of 1812. It is a very unique ceremony where a town or city bestows honours upon a particular military unit. The formal letter of request begins with a connection to the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. It notes that the "Governor General's Horse Guards" "traces its local roots back 200 years in the Whitchurch-Stouffville area." The event is proposed as a "unique opportunity for Stouffville residents to celebrate their rich local heritage ... ." This connection of Stouffvilles earliest history to Canadas military history is a significant concern to Community Mennonite Church Stouffville, of which I am a (ordained) member. Mennonites are a historical peace church, together with Quakers and Brethren in Christ. As you know, Stouffville was founded by Mennonites with the arrival of Abraham Stouffer and his wife Elisabeth Reesor-Stouffer in 1805. In the next ten years (i.e., over the time of the War of 1812), another 55 families arrived, "three of these families were of military stock; some were Lutherans; a few were Dunkers, i.e., German Baptists, most were Mennonites" (Barkey, Stouffville 1877-1977: A Pictorial History of a Prosperous Ontario Community, p. 4). Other hamlets in Whitchurch Township were settled by Quakers (Barkey, Whitchurch Township, p. 14). The settlers on "the eastern half of the old Township of Markham" were also predominantly Mennonite during the War of 1812 (Champion, Markham 1793-1900, p. 27; Markham was originally Reesorville, named after the Mennonite settler Joseph Reesor). Stouffville's history for the first decades of the 1800s is overwhelmingly a Mennonite and pacifist story, with the first "conscientious objectors in Canadas (pre-)history. Our concern is that the event proposal as formulated significantly distorts Stouffville's earliest history, and discounts the real contributions of Stouffvilles settlers to the fabric of Canadian identity (Our congregation will be extending an invitation to historian Dr. Jonathan Sieling to share his research and presentation publically in Stouffville: "1812 and the Early Rise of Conscientious Objection in Canada"-- for brief summary, see here, p. 4;see also the Mennonite, BIC and Quaker historical markers re: the War of 1812, http://mcco.ca/historical-markerspeace, with reference to York and Markham). A contingent of members from the area Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches will accompany me to the Town Council meeting on Tuesday. I will be asking the Clerk how I might be able to speak to this matter. I note that the request by Mr. Calandras office must be given by a community upon a military unit; his delegation makes a request for Town participation and support; for the preparation of town staff and

coordination through the Clerks Department; they are also requesting that the town waive any associated permit and facility rental fee." As such, Mr. Candras delegation is requesting an action (bestowal of honour) and an event with financial implications for the Town (staff time; waiving of fees). This request should (according to parliamentary procedure) become a matter of Council discussion. The Towns bylaws require that items requiring Council direction shall be placed on the Discussion Agenda (By-law 2012-001-RE, 4.11). Best procedure would also include a staff report with regard to the Outside Presentation requiring council action and a financial commitment: Where there is no accompanying staff report, the matter shall be referred to a future Meeting of the Council and a report requested for that Meeting (4.6 d). We would prefer that Council's decision is informed by a staff study of all costs, including historical consultation with the towns Heritage Committee, Library and Museum. Discussion with Stouffville's Mennonite and related churches (including Brethren in Christ) would also appropriate. If Council deems that Mr. Calandras proposal is urgent and requires an immediate decision, then the community should be able to address this item given for council direction. I will ask the Clerk if our group may (procedurally) address council as a delegation, appealing to By-law 4.4 (d): A Delegation not on the agenda shall not be heard without the consent of at least a Fifty Percent plus One vote of the Members present. We would graciously request Councils support for this to happen. I will seek clarity from the Clerk about proper procedure. Since the military unit being honoured is connected with The Governor General, our congregation will contact His Excellency RH David Johnson. He is the former President of the University of Waterloo and a friend of the Mennonite college on the U of W campus (Conrad Grebel University College). He is very aware of the important Mennonite peace church contribution to the fabric of Canadian life (Mennonites were the founders of Waterloo at precisely the same time that their cousins came to the Stouffville-Markham area), and we think he will be sensitive to an extravagant display of military in connection with the history of a town founded by Mennonites. The current Moderator of Mennonite Church Canada, Andrew ReesorMcDowell, is a resident of Stouffville and descendant of the town's first settlers. We respect that Stouffvilles history has many chapters and a diversity of actors; the Mennonite peace-church tradition is however the earliest prevailing story in town. It has made a unique contribution that is erased and appears to be rewritten by this proposal and event. We believe, however, that Stouffvilles pacifist origins are worthy to be remembered, explored and celebrated. The early Mennonite settlers of Stouffville left the United States to create something differentprecisely upon the invitation of Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe and under the Militia Act of 1793 which exempted them from military service. Simcoe was far more interested in acquiring desirable settlers with agricultural skills than forcing them to become reluctant soldiers. That is the context for understanding Stouffville in the first decades of the nineteenth century, and specifically, during the War of 1812.

As you know, this whole story is captured in the WhitchurchStouffville Coat of Arms, adopted in 1973; the dove of peace, the original seal of Whitchurch Township, is at the crest, recalling the pacifist Quaker and Mennonite settlers who founded many of the Whitchurch-Stouffville hamlets, including the Community of Stouffville. The white church symbolizes Whitchurch, and the star and chalice come from the Stouffer family (Swiss) coat of arms (see Barkey, Whitchurch Township, p.99). Thank you in advance for your help as guardians of the story of our shared community and of its earliest civic leaders. Please contact me if you have any questions. Respectfully, Arnold Neufeldt-Fast Stouffville , Ontario