events Archives - LEES+Associates

May 5 Tulips

May 5th 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. This victory was won largely through the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers, and over than 7,600 Canadian soldiers died in the effort. Every year since 1946, the Dutch government has sent thousands of tulips in thanks to Canada.

This year was to have been special, 110,000 red tulips (Canadian Liberator and Strong Love) were planted last fall in the City of Vancouver alone. Over 30,000 of these bulbs were planted by the staff at Mountain View Cemetery.

Although COVID-19 forced the cancellation of events, this week saw the peak of an astonishing display, as thousands of tulips bloomed along the maple allée that runs through three of the cemetery’s military sections.
LEES+Associates is proud of our small part in helping to celebrate this remarkable anniversary.

Veteran’s Cemetery in Esquimalt, BC

It was a big day for one of LEES+Associate’s flagship projects!

The Minister of Veteran’s Affairs, Lawrence MacAulay was at the Veteran’s Cemetery (previously known as God’s Acre) in Esquimalt, BC to celebrate the completion of significant upgrades to this sacred burial ground.

Originally a burial ground for Canadian Navy men and women, God’s Acre has been the burial ground for Canadian Army, Navy and Air Services personnel for decades. The first burial at the cemetery was in 1868.

The expansion includes 1400 new columbaria, a scattering garden and room for burying cremated remains. As well, new paving, curbs and signage have been installed with finishing touches expected by the end of March.

LEES+Associates is honoured to be the landscape architects on the God’s Acre expansion project; we are proud of our work for Canadian veterans over the last two decades.

Official opening of the cemetery will take place on May 28th, during the annual Candlelight Ceremony honouring veterans and serving members.

God’s Acre Veterans Cemetery, a national historic site, is located off Colville Road inside Gorge Vale Golf Course.

A Night for all Souls

Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery held its 13th annual Night for All Souls last Saturday, October 28th 2017.
The highlight in a week of events honouring the dead, this year’s “Night” was blessed with wonderful weather. Hundreds of visitors—families, neighbours and friends of the cemetery—turned out for an evening of music and song, candle-lit shrines, personal tributes, and tea and flowers in the Celebration Hall.

In recognition of this wonderful tradition, we have posted a video from 2005 that tells the story of how it all began. Enjoy!

Mountain Bike Tourism Symposium

LEES+Associates was excited to attend the 2017 MTB Tourism Symposium in Revelstoke BC this fall.

Gathering multidisciplinary minds invested in furthering the future of mountain bike tourism in British Columbia, the core theme for this year’s event was stewardship.

The symposium lectures covered topics such as; Creating Successful Multi-Use Trails, Sustainable Trail Management, Building Relationships in our First Nations Communities, Planning and Building for All Riders, Mtn Biking in National Parks, and The future of E-Bikes.

The symposium was a great success with over 200 participants representing a broad spectrum of the industry; from community planners, landscape architects and trail builders to recreation professionals and policy makers.

Ali Canning from our team, took part in a pre-symposium IMBA Canada Trail Building Workshop which focused on sustainable trail building technique and design, and was followed by infield construction and a reforestation project.

World Design Summit 2017

Erik Lees was one of the speakers at the World Design Summit held in Montreal, Canada last week.
Erik’s presentation “Resilience in northern cemetery design: lessons from Nunavut” addressed the congress theme DESIGN FOR EARTH. The congress convened over 3,500 delegates from six design disciplines to discuss transforming the future through design.

In New Orleans with the ASLA

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) held its annual meeting and expo in New Orleans recently. Billed as the largest gathering of landscape architecture professionals and students in the world, this year’s events included several education sessions and tours, workshops, networking and a large exhibition.

In October, Catriona and Anezka from our team attended the conference, where Anezka, a 2016 University Olmsted Scholar alongside this year’s other scholars received recognition for demonstrating exceptional leadership potential.

Below are some photos from their trip to New Orleans…