I greatly enjoy the new version of the Citizen. Well done. I have just finished reading the Saturday, May 28 issue and I would like to comment on the article about the ceremony to mark the planting of tulips around the cenotaph at city hall to commemorate the liberation of Holland at the end of WW2.
This ceremony was held at noon on Friday May 27. Why was it held at that date and time? Why could it not have been done on a Saturday when more people would be able to go?
As it was, my schedule didn't allow me to go and I would have liked to have been there.
The reason why is because my parents immigrated to Canada from Holland in 1954.
Even though neither talked very much about what they and their families went through, it is my understanding that they choice to immigrate to Canada because of the effect the Canadian Army had on the Dutch people when parts of the Netherlands were liberated near the end of the war.
My mother was nine and my father was 13 when Holland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940.
The few times that they did talk about it, it would be mostly about the lack of food. My mother mentioned that there were no cats or dogs left near the end of the war and eating tulips for many people, was a means of survival.
For years in our family while we were growing up, when we ate our meals we were taught to only put on our plate what we could eat and to never leave any food behind. "Remember the children starving around the world especially the children in Biafra," was a regular comment.
Today I shake my head when I look around to see, hear and read about the amount of food that is wasted because of regulations, concerns about being sued, and because the product doesn't look perfect.
To sum up, next year could the organizers please plan the ceremony so that it is on a day and time that allows more people to participate?
Jerry Wessel
Prince George
