Central Huron Council has no plans to remove Alice Munro bench from Clinton

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Central Huron Council discussed the issue of honouring Nobel Laureate and former Clinton resident, the late Alice Munro, at its Monday, July 15 meeting - analyzing past honours and reconsidering new ones.

 

During his mayor’s comments for the meeting, Jim Ginn said he had conducted a number of interviews with the media after the revelations made by Andrea Robin Skinner that she had been sexually assaulted by her stepfather Gerry Fremlin and claimed that her mother, Munro, knew about it for years and remained with Fremlin. The most notable story was with The Canadian Press, in which Ginn said he couldn’t foresee making changes to or removing a monument bench in front of the Central Huron municipal office intended to honour Munro, who will always remain a Nobel Prize winner, but said that if there were growing calls from the public to make changes, then council could consider it at that time.

 

He also praised Skinner for her bravery in telling her story and wished her the best, while also hoping that the revelations would not tarnish Munro’s literary legacy.

 

At the Monday night meeting, Ginn said he was clear in all of the interviews he did that he was only speaking for himself and not on behalf of council.

 

Deputy-Mayor Marg Anderson and Councillor Alison Lobb agreed with Ginn and said they didn’t feel any changes to existing infrastructure should be made.

 

Ginn added that he received many nasty e-mails on the subject going both ways, with some suggesting that people would be very upset if the bench were to be removed, while others pointed the finger at Munro and said the bench had no place in the town. He said he has continued to protect the identity of the group that commissioned the monument, noting that it was not a municipal initiative, in order to shield the group from that kind of feedback.

 

Anderson then asked about the status of the Alice Munro Book Walk, an initiative that was being prepared by the economic development department. Ginn said he has advised Community Improvement Co-ordinator Angela Smith to press pause on that project, feeling that no new projects should go ahead, at least for the time being.