Grimsby, Ontario

4 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 TOWN OF GR IMSBY , ONTAR IO more local art, and create platforms for people to share the local heritage. Those plaques will be in parts of the town, but also on their trails, including the Bruce Trail that travels through the Beamer Valley and over the Forty Mile Creek. It is Canada’s oldest and longest continuous marked hiking trail and runs 890 kilometres from Niagara to Tobermory, along the Bruce Peninsula. To connect with residents and visitors, the town plans to engage them in storytelling – asking them to tell their own stories, providing educational opportunities, and utilizing a strong communication plan to make sure that 2022 is one for the history books in many ways. Grimsby rests between Hamilton and St. Catharines, but is the gateway to the Niagara Escarpment. It was part of the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (who now reside on a reserve near Hagersville, Ontario.) A group of United Empire Loyalists from Great Britain settled on the land in 1790, but Grimsby gained Town status in 1922, so the community and its 28,000 residents are celebrating that milestone. Jordan explains, “Because Grimsby is situated on treaty land with Indigenous people, we are looking into more engagement with the Indigenous community to look at how their history can be fully recognized and acknowledged as a definite part of our heritage fabric. We’re very lucky that we have a lot of heritage, both environmental heritage and actually built heritage, to use to our advantage. It makes Grimsby an attractive spot for people to relocate.” After decades of working and lobbying different levels of government, this year the town will break ground on the new state-of-the-art West Lincoln Memorial Hospital that will include both inpatient and outpatient services, a 24-hour emergency department, complex and palliative care, surgery, and a maternal and newborn program, acute inpatient beds, and day surgical services. It will also be equipped with X-ray, mammography, echocardiography, ultrasound,