RMR Pays Rent After Church Parade

Westmount, Quebec – 03 June 2023: On Sunday afternoon 07 May 2023, during a Battalion Review parade following the traditional annual church parade, the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Maciej Jonasz, “paid the rent” to Westmount with a ceremonial amount of $1.00 to Her Worship Mayor Christina Smith. This annual $1.00 lease symbolizes a payment to the City of Westmount for the land upon which the Armoury sits, originally donated by Westmount in 1925.

BACKGROUND: With the return of the Regiment to Canada at the end of the First World War, in early 1919, the RMR found itself without a home station, as it had not been part of the pre-war Militia system. Greatly to their honour, the 58th Regiment, Westmount Rifles, gave up their place in the order of battle so the RMR could continue to exist. Thus began a long and treasured relationship between the Regiment and the City of Westmount. With the aid of a plot of Westmount civic land, leased for 99 years at the generous rate of $1 per annum, and the fundraising efforts of the Westmount Armoury Memorial Association (now known as the ‘RMR Foundation’), the RMR moved into the St. Catherine Street Armoury in December 1925.