Sunday, January 19, 2014

Historical Debates of the Parliament of Canada (Hansard) now online!


This week, we received news from the Library and Archives Canada about additional parliamentary debates which have been put online -

The press release says that “This new portal contains the historical debates in both official languages from 1867 to the mid-1990s. This means you can now search and browse all published debates of both the Senate and the House of Commons from Parliament 1, Session 1, until the coverage begins on http://www.parl.gc.ca/Default.aspx?Language=E

As mentioned above, the portal was developed by the Library of Parliament, in collaboration with Canadiana.org, a membership alliance dedicated to building Canada’s digital preservation infrastructure and providing wide-ranging access to Canadian documentary heritage. Library and Archives Canada is pleased to have provided support by producing the digital page images.

You can consult our blog Looking for the Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard) online of June 2012 at http://thediscoverblog.com/2012/06/05/looking-for-the-debates-of-the-house-of-commons-hansard-online/ to help you find information on the House of Commons debates”.

In addition, check the http://parl.canadiana.ca/?usrlang=en

Also, special thanks Gail Dever, Special Correspondent to GenealogyCanada, for the heads-up on this news story.

Saturday, January 18, 2014

WorldWide Genealogy Blog


A new blog has joined us this month, and its WorldWide Genealogy.

And anyone can post on it!

Its founder, Julie Goucher says " It is really quite simple! Each day a blogger from across the genealogy or historical community will post to Worldwide Genealogy. The posts will be about something related to either genealogy, history or local history."

But there isn’t anyone from Canada on the blog as yet. England, Scotland, Wales, Australia and the United States has posted, but no one from Canada has put anything on.

So if you are interested, contact Julie at Worldwide Genealogy

Friday, January 17, 2014

90 schools now in Toronto war memorials database

Gwyneth Pearce. the Secretary of the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society has sent us the following message -

"Volunteers with the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society have added about 3,000 new names since the fall of 2013 to For King and Country – the growing online Branch database of school memorials commemorating Toronto students and staff who volunteered for active service in the two World Wars and other military conflicts.

This searchable collection now contains 90 schools and more than 35,000 names, with transcriptions and photographs of school war memorials, along with historical background and links to other useful school and community websites. The newest schools in the database are Oakridge Public School and Danforth Technical School. Danforth Tech holds the distinction of being the alma mater of a staggering 2,235 volunteers—students, graduates, teachers and other staff—more than any other school in the British Commonwealth—and it maintains an impressive archive of records, housed in its War Memorial Library".

Explore For King and Country now at www.torontofamilyhistory.org/kingandcountry/, and contact co-ordinator Martha Jackson at kingandcountry@torontofamilyhistory.org if you would like to get involved with this project.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Search Your Chinese Roots

The Toronto Family History Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has just announced that they will be holding a special lecture on Chinese Roots on Saturday, March 22, 2014, 2 – 3:30 p.m.

This special lecture will present an overview of how Chinese family history has been recorded over the centuries and what people living today need to know if they want to find information about their ancestors in China and elsewhere in the world. Please note that this lecture will bein Chinese with English explanations as needed.

The instructor will be Grace Chan, and it will be held at North York Memorial Community Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, Toronto.

For further details, visit our website at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/courses.

Their Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/TOFamilyHistory

Chinese-Canadian Genealogy http://www.vpl.ca/ccg/Migration_ON.html

TORONTO ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE

Are you making your plans for St. Patrick’s Day yet? If you live in Toronto, Sunday March 16th is a day to circle on your calendar, because there will be a parade!

TORONTO ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARADE

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day (and the day before)!

On Sunday, March 16, all eyes will be smiling in downtown Toronto for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Enjoy a family friendly celebration of Ireland and St. Patrick with colorful floats, bands, dancers and marching groups. There will be a golden touch at the green celebration with Olympic gold medalist Irish boxer Katie Taylor acting as Grand Marshal.

The procession starts at noon from St. George and Bloor, heading east before turning south along Yonge to Queen where it makes a final turn to finish at Nathan Phillips Square. TTC access and parking are available at several points along the parade route.

For more information, please visit www.topatrick.com.

Monday, January 13, 2014

Canadian Week in Review 13 January 2014

I have come across the following Canadian websites, social media websites, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too

Websites

No new websites this week.

Social Media

Wanted: One Great Canadian history writer http://mauricetougas.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/wanted-one-great-canadian-history-writer/ This blogger says that maybe the history of Canada needs to have a great writer to come along to write good Canadian history books. Do you agree?
News Articles

First Saskatoon council meeting of 2014 http://globalnews.ca/news/1064849/first-saskatoon-council-meeting-of-2014/ The Gardner’s Site in Victoria Park in Saskatoon is up for designation as a municipal heritage property. The city has been asked to pass a bylaw that will designate the property under The Heritage Property Act so that a plaque can be erected, The plague will honour the early settlers who passed through this site where old bison bones were sold and it was called The Old Bone Trail.

You can read about The Old Bone Trail at http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/old_bone_trail.html

Canadian Nature Museum digitizing 3 million specimens: Museum is part of an international movement to put archives online for researchers http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadian-nature-museum-digitizing-3-million-specimens-1.2482826 The museum is part of an international movement of natural history museums that are digitizing their archived collections of plants and animals. So far, they have collection of three million specimens and they have entered a million of them into the database.

W.P. Loggie - a chapter in Fairview’s history http://www.fairviewpost.com/2014/01/07/wp-loggie---a-chapter-in-fairviews-history Craig Baird writes about his father in this lovingly presented tribute.

Historical society celebrates 60 years http://www.trurodaily.com/Opinion/Columns/2014-01-09/article-3570214/Historical-society-celebrates-60-years-/1 Read about how the Colchester Historical Society in Truro, Nova Scotia started in 1954.

Colchester Historical Society site is at http://colchesterhistoreum.ca/

Story of the Week

Sir John A.Macdonald

There have been many histories written about Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minster in 1867, and this year was the 199th anniversary of his birthday on January 11th.

There is a new Heritage Minutes series which feature Canada’s nation-builders, Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir George-Etienne Cartier at http://www.canada.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Heritage+Minutes+series+feature+Canada+nation+builders+John+Macdonald/9368662/story.html, and two reporters from Maclean’s Magazine went to see where he was born in Scotland.

Their article is at http://www2.macleans.ca/2014/01/10/what-would-sir-john-a-say/

Canadian Heritage has a site where there is a biography, a quiz, and his burial site at Kingston, Ontario http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1363182861019/

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 20 January 2014.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Announcing the New FamilySearch Indexing Website

We are starting to get press releases from FamilySearch and other organizers prior to the RootsTech Conference that will be held in Salt Lake City in February. This is the latest from FamilySearch regarding indexing.

They have a newly redesigned indexing website at FamilySearch.org/indexing, and they invite you to come and take a look. This new website integrates indexing with the rest of FamilySearch.org, making it easier for indexers to know how to get started and find the help they need.

They say that “FamilySearch indexing is the volunteer program that has already generated more than a billion freely searchable names on FamilySearch.org. Changes to the indexing program over time have greatly increased the number of records that FamilySearch is able to publish. Projects that used to take years to index can now be completed in a matter of months, and as the indexing program improves, the availability of searchable records will only accelerate”.

Join FamilySearch.org at RootsTech in February to learn more about what's coming. Visit the FamilySearch indexing booth in the exhibit hall, which is free and open to the public, to get a hands-on experience with the new indexing program, or attend the session "Introducing the new FamilySearch indexing tool”.

The RootsTech: Where Families Connect website is at https://rootstech.org/