Irish Protestant Benevolent Society

The 5th Annual Lecture of the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society will take place on Friday, January 18, 7:00 p.m.at the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve W., Room 1001.01 (10th floor) in Montreal.

The speaker will be Professor Donald Akenson, Queen's University, Kingston, and he will talk about “Wicklow Protestants and the World of Evangelicalism”.

Dr. Donald Akenson is an internationally acclaimed scholar and author who is considered the world's foremost authority on the Irish Diaspora. Akenson received his B.A. from Yale University and his doctorate from Harvard University. He is Professor of History at Queen's University Kingston, Ontario and Beamish Research Professor at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, and Senior Editor of the McGill-Queen's University Press.

As of 2007 his work included eighteen non-fiction books, including more than a dozen about Irish history, and five novels. Akenson won the Grawemeyer Award for God's Peoples (1992) and the Trillium Book Award for Conor: The Biography of Conor Cruise O'Brien (1994). His book on the Bible, Surpassing Wonder (1998), was short-listed for the 1999 Governor General's Award for nonfiction. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Royal Historical Society (UK).

This event is FREE and open to the public.

The webpage is www.irishpbs.ca

New Resorces At Our Ontario

Jess Posgate has sent this news to us, and I thought that you may wish to know about it -

Newmarket Public Library has completed digitizing their newspaper collection, making 125 years of The Era available online with highlighted keyword searching, and it’s available at http://news.ourontario.ca/newmarket
Whitby Public Library digitized an index of vital statistics and have linked them to page images from 140 years of various newspaper titles from the Whitby area. The OCR full text search will be available before the end of the year at http://vitacollections.ca/whitbynews

Further to these, the City of Kawartha Lakes Public Library digitized a catalogue of WWII records, including clippings, photos and vital statistics, and have launched that collection online as well at http://vitacollections.ca/ckl-digitalcollection

The Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO) is at the first stages of a major digitization project and marked the first year by launching a large portion of their oral history collection, including more than 100 interviews with Canadians from a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, with ongoing transcription underway for full text searches.

The MHSO is working toward digitizing more oral histories as well as hundreds--even thousands--of photographs over the next year is available at http://vitacollections.ca/mhso

You an contact them at http://ourdigitalworld.org

CAUT Launches Canada’s Past Matters Campaign

For immediate release

(Ottawa: November 22, 2012) The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has unveiled a national campaign exposing the threats to Canada’s cultural institutions and historic sites and proposing what must be done to reverse the damage.

The “Canada’s Past Matters” campaign will highlight how federal funding cuts and policy changes are putting the survival of libraries, archives, museums and historical sites across the country at risk.

“Our ability as Canadians to know, understand and appreciate our past is at stake because of the federal government’s short-sighted cuts and ill-advised changes to historical programs and services,” CAUT executive director James L. Turk said at a news conference in Ottawa today.

“We’ve launched this campaign because the changes we’re seeing affect not just our members, but all Canadians in very damaging ways,” added Turk. “We cannot chart our future properly unless we know and understand our past. Until government policy is changed, that will be less and less possible for our children and future generations.”

Turk said the five aspects of the campaign are:

Save Library & Archives Canada The federal institution responsible for preserving Canada’s history and cultural heritage is seriously threatened by major budget cuts, service reductions, and a narrowing of its mandate.

Preserve Canada’s Historical Sites A $29 million reduction in the budget for Parks Canada is threatening the future of Canada’s 167 historic and archaeological sites.

Protect Canada’s Public Libraries The inter-library loan program between Library & Archives Canada and regional public libraries is being eliminated along with public internet access in local libraries, making it more difficult for Canadians to access information and knowledge.

Restore Canada’s Local Archives The elimination of the National Archival Development Program has put at risk regional archives and their projects across Canada.

Retain the Canadian Museum of Civilization The government plans to end Canada’s largest and most popular museum – the only museum committed to promoting knowledge and critical understanding of, and appreciation and respect for, human cultural achievements and human behaviour.

For more information about the “Canada’s Past Matters” campaign, visit www.canadaspastmatters.ca


The Canadian Association of University Teachers is the national voice of more than 68,000 academic and general staff at 120 universities and colleges across the country.

You may contact Angela Regnier, Communications Officer at 613.726.5186 (o) or 613-601-6304 (cell), or by email at  regnier@caut.ca

Canadian Premiere at the Morrin Centre, Quebec City

On Sunday, November 25 at 2:00 p.m. at the Morrin Centre, 44, Chaussée des Écossais, Quebec City, the centre will host the Canadian premiere of the documentary “From the Morrin with Love: Canadian Premiere of Everything or Nothing ”. Hilary Saltzman, daughter of the Canadian producer who helped bring Ian Fleming’s secret agent to the silver screen, will answer questions afterwards.

In addition, they will be giving away two pairs of tickets to the movie Skyfall, the 23rd in the James Bond series, showing at the IMAX theatre in Quebec City.

Many more James Bond related surprises await you at this premiere.

The fee is $10.00 per person,and the seats are limited, so reserve yours today!

For more information or to reserve your tickets, visit www.morrin.org, or call 418.694.9147.

The fall season continues to offer a huge selection of activities at the Morrin Centre. Upcoming events include a talk on a love affair that could have changed the course of our city’s history, a presentation on preserving family history through scrapbooking, and a series of interactive readings for children.

To learn more about the inspiration for James Bond, here are two sites which may interest you -

Inspirations for James Bond http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspirations_for_James_Bond

Harry the Spy: The Secret Pre-History of a James Bond Producer www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/09/harry-saltzman-bond-secret-spy-life#slide=1 The story of Harry Saltzman and the James Bond movies.

Corktown Christmas Forest

Alison Little tells us of the Corktown Christmas Forest which will be held at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse at 106 Trinity Street, Toronto on Sunday December 2, 2011. The Schoolhouse will open its doors to families, friends and newcomers for our third-annual “Corktown Christmas Forest” event from 11 am to 5 pm.

They are excited to present the “Forest” in our West Hall – Christmas trees decorated in hand-made Victorian ornaments. Each tree will be sponsored by a local business or group, and donated to the Salvation Army Local 614 of Regent Park following the event.

The schedule will include:

• 12 p.m. Reading of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” by our own ballerina – Katherine Belrose!

• 1 p.m. Performance by members of the Corktown Chamber Orchestra

• 2 p.m. Reading of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Stuart Hughes of Soulpepper Theatre Company

• 3 p.m. Performance by the St. Paul’s Toronto School of Irish Music

• 4 p.m. Reading of “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”

• All day -  Victorian ornament-making demonstrations - try your hand at scrapwork balls, paper fans, cornucopias, sugarplums, stars and pomanders! Cider, coffee, tea and treats for all, and cupcakes baked by Pretty & Sweet will be on offer. Tours of the Schoolhouse will be available all day.

Admission is pay-what-you-can, with children under 10 admitted for free.

For more information, please call 416-327-6997 or email enochturner@heritagetrust.on.ca.

The website is at www.enochturnerschoolhouse.ca

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

How Did Ontario’s Early Settlers Celebrate Christmas?

Ever wondered how Ontario’s early settlers celebrated Christmas?

Drop by the Haldimand County Museum & Archives at 8 Echo St., Cayuga, Ontario on Saturday, December 1st from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm, and enjoy some tea and a lecture on how settlers from 1812 celebrated the festive season.

You can contact them at 905.772.5880, or by email at museum.archives@haldimandcounty.on.ca

Go to their website at http://www.haldimandcounty.on.ca/residents.aspx?id=150 where you can see what they have to offer the genealogy researcher.

They have extensive collection of family histories, local histories, newspapers, church records, cemetery transcripts, census records, some birth, marriage and death records.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

SCHOOL OF CANADIAN IRISH STUDIES

On Friday, November 23, 7:00 p.m. at the Concordia University, School of Canadian Irish Studies located at the Hall Building, 1455 de Maisonneuve W., Room 1070 (10th floor). Montreal, they will be holding the 7th Annual St. Patrick’s Society Lecture .

The topic of the lecture will be “The Irish Decade of Commemorations: Some Reflections” and the speaker will be Catriona Crowe, National Archives of Ireland.

Catriona Crowe is Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland. She is Manager of the Irish Census Online Project, which has placed the 1901 and 1911 censuses online free of charge over the last 4 years. She is an Editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, which published its seventh volume, covering the period 1941-45, in November 2010. She is editor of Dublin 1911, published by the Royal Irish Academy in late 2011.

She is Vice-President of the Irish Labour History Society, and a former President of the Women’s History Association. She is Chairperson of the Irish Theatre Institute, which promotes and supports Irish theatre and has created an award-winning website of Irish theatre productions.

I have heard her speak on many occasions and she has a dedication to her subject that is commendable. So if you are near Montreal, and have Irish ancestors, this is a lecture your should not miss. .

The website of the School of Canadian Irish Studies is http://cdnirish.concordia.ca