Nathan Cirillo's family will choose among dozens of requests to honour him
The Hamilton soldier was killed on Oct. 22
Requests are pouring in from across the country to name buildings, parks and trails after Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.
Coun. Sam Merulla of Ward 4, the area where Cirillo’s family lives, says he has seen as many as 100 requests from Hamilton and beyond to name amenities after the fallen soldier.
There have been so many, he said, that the city has set up a process to filter them through Cirillo’s family and decide which ones to explore.
We’re in no hurry. The more time we take, the better, to thoroughly go through the exercise and to allow the family to grieve.- Coun. Sam Merulla
“There are a number of suggestions,” Merulla said, who estimates there have been 50 to 100. “Everything is on the table.”
Cirillo, a 24-year-old Hamilton soldier, made national headlines on Oct. 22 when he was shot and killed while guarding the National War Memorial in Ottawa. His death inspired an outpouring of shock and grief across the country.
Coun. Lloyd Ferguson introduced a motion at city council Wednesday to rename an Ancaster leash-free dog park after the animal-loving reservist. Cirillo was reportedly a regular attendee of the park.
Merulla was mum on citing any other examples, saying he didn’t want to “circumvent the process.”
Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s office is compiling the requests with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, which is Cirillo’s Hamilton regiment. The Argylls will present the requests to the family, which will shortlist them and submit the chosen ones to Eisenberger’s office, Merulla said.
Local requests will then be forwarded to the city’s naming committee.
The requests started coming into Merulla’s office immediately after Cirillo’s death, he said. But with emotions high, “I felt the need to put the brakes on.”
Cirillo’s family will make the decisions in their own time, Merulla said.
“We’re in no hurry. The more time we take, the better, to thoroughly go through the exercise and to allow the family to grieve.”
Cirillo’s death, Eisenberger said, “was a tragic issue on a national scale.
It was “one of Hamilton’s own, standing on guard at a memorial that reflected the sacrifice of soldiers. It was a tragic event all around.”