February 27, 2026
Memorial Park to be Completed in Summer 2026
A new “passive park” is taking shape next to New Westminster Secondary (NWSS). The 3.2-hectare (eight-acre) site will be completed in summer 2026 and offer visitors a quiet refuge where they can reflect on and contemplate local history.
Memorial Park was designed to maximize green space by keeping infrastructure to a minimum. While visitors can enjoy benches and paved pathways for walking and biking – including a connection between 8th Street and NWSS – the site was developed specifically with low-impact activities in mind. The decision honours the grounds’ history as a designated cemetery, which precludes more extensive development.
To support visitors, the park will include expanded parking options together with existing stalls along 8th Street and 10th Avenue. Additionally, the site will feature a commemorative plaque that tells its story to ensure the location’s history and significance remain visible to the New Westminster community.
Memorial Park’s design is the outcome of a decade of collaboration between the district and 33 different groups of rightsholders and interested parties. Representatives with direct, historical connections to the location were invited in 2016 to participate in a Memorialization Advisory Committee (MAC), where they advised on the most appropriate and respectful ways to commemorate the site’s historical nature on a $1 million budget.
Developed as a provincially mandated add on to the New Westminster Secondary School (NWSS) modernization project, Memorial Park will be managed by the district. The costs of its development were included in the funds provided by the B.C. Government for the NWSS rebuild.
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