RMR Pays Rent During Westmount’s 2024 Family Day
Westmount, Quebec – 27 May 2024: The Royal Montreal Regiment participated in the Westmount Family Day held at Westmount Park on a sunny Saturday, 25 May 2024. Later in the day the Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Maciej Jonasz presented the Mayor with the Regiment’s annual rent payment of a dollar in a short ceremony held before the citizens of Westmount.
The tradition of the RMR paying Westmount ‘rent’ stems from the strong relationship between the two ever since the RMR was raised for service in the First World War. The RMR was known as “Westmount’s regiment” for many decades after it was added to the Militia List in 1920, when the army was reorganized after the First World War. In 1925 Westmount granted the RMR a 99-year lease of land for the Regiment’s armoury located at 4625 Ste-Catherine, and the armoury was built with private funding raised by the Westmount Armoury Association (now known as the RMR Foundation.
In 1954, to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the unit was awarded the “freedom of the city” by Westmount, an old tradition that allows it to march through the streets with colours flying, drums beating and bayonets fixed.
