COLD LAKE – In an effort to honour local veterans while balancing design vision and budget realities, Cold Lake City Council at its June 24 regular meeting, has voted to postpone a decision on a proposed memorial signage project from Assumption Junior/Senior High School students until September.
The project, first brought to council by students Maya Asnong and Sydney Jorgensen at the Jan. 28 regular council meeting, aims to install a hardwood sign with stainless steel QR code plaques at Cenotaph Park. The codes would link to biographies of Canadian veterans, researched and written by students, on a webpage hosted by the City.
“This was a delegation that was made to City council from the Assumption School and Senior High School requesting for a type of memorial wall… having some form of QR code project… that provides some historical information on different veterans within the community,” CAO Kevin Nagoya reminded council.
However, Nagoya also added that while the project carries strong symbolic value, “the school itself and the school division does not have budget for this project, so they are requesting for the City of Cold Lake to do the improvements.”
The City has already completed a conceptual design and visioning document for Veterans Memorial Park. The potential addition of this project raises concerns about cost, design continuity, and long-term upkeep.
Nagoya warned, “We're probably talking a pretty significant [cost], probably in the order of magnitude of about a quarter million dollars, plus or minus.” Even a simple sign stand, he noted, would cost around $40,000.
Coun. Ryan Bailey expressed concerns over sustainability: “One concern I have with the project as a whole is that it's being left up to other people to eventually keep the project rolling. It’s only as good as the people keeping it up forever.”
Echoing those thoughts, Coun. Chris Vining questioned the long-term commitment: “Do we have a letter of commitment or anything from the school or from the division…? Because this was a project that was put together by this particular group of students.”
Nagoya responded, “At this time there is no [commitment], other than the delegation that is eager to get their project started and wanting the city to get it in before kind of the end of the school year.”
Coun. Vicky Lefebvre praised the students' initiative but felt their presentation didn’t fully consider the costs: “I think the thought process behind it was recognition of our fallen brothers and sisters… I think a little bit more consideration needs to be had both by the school division… and our Legion.”
Council agreed the project merits further review and consultation with the school division and the Cold Lake Legion, before a final decision is made.
“Why don’t we consider bringing this back in September,” Mayor Craig Copeland suggested. “In the meantime, myself and Mr. Nagoya will try to have dialogue with the school about continuation of this project and... with the Legion to try to see if they’re on board.”
Council voted to postpone the student-led veterans memorial project to the Sept. 16 Corporate Priorities Committee meeting. A license agreement with the school division will be explored to clarify roles for maintaining the project. Though students hoped for completion by graduation, the project will now be considered during the 2026 budget deliberations.
