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Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
Volume 1: Number 5
LIEUX HISTORIQUES NATIONAUX DU CAPE-BRETON
NATIONAL HISTORIC SITES CAPE BRETON
Vol. 1, No. 5, August - Aôut 1999
Heritage Preservation Course
Seven students from across Canada spent an intensive month on Cape Breton Island in July 1999. Six days a week the participants lived, breathed, and worked in the multi-disciplinary world of historic sites and museums. They were students aiming to earn the "Certificate in Heritage Preservation" offered by the University College of Cape Breton. A good portion of their time was spent at the Fortress of Louisbourg.
Course content in the program offers a mix of theoretical and practical approaches to problem-solving in the fields of archaeology, conservation, history, material culture, interpretation and collections management. In addition to the time spent at the Fortress, a range of smaller historic sites and local museums on Cape Breton also form part of the overall package. Program staff are about half UCCB professors and half Fortress specialists.
Anyone interested in learning more about the program scheduled for next year, 2000, should contact Dr. Arthur Tucker, University College of Cape Breton, Box 5300, Sydney, N.S., B1P 6L2, or Dr. T.D. MacLean at (902) 563-1274.
Congratulations! Golf Magazine has just ranked the Highlands Links Golf Course as the 57th best course in the world. It is the only Canadian course to meet their standards. This represents a substantial improvement over the ranking as No. 75, which the same magazine gave the course in 1997.
Congratulations to the team at the Highlands Links for a superb job. has just ranked the Highlands Links Golf Course as the 57th best course in the world. It is the only Canadian course to meet their standards. This represents a substantial improvement over the ranking as No. 75, which the same magazine gave the course in 1997.
Congratulations to the team at the Highlands Links for a superb job.
Equity and Self Identification
Next week you will receive a self-identification questionnaire. The purpose is to identify the equity representation in the field unit. Completing this questionnaire is voluntary, but your co-operation would be appreciated.
A goal for the Cape Breton Field Unit is a workplace that represents all segments of the Cape Breton population. In particular, this means that we reflect a true picture of the women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and visible minorities living on Cape Breton Island.
This is not only fair; it is also the law. The Equity Act (1995) has as its goal, "to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and in the fulfillment of that goal to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities..." Federal departments and agencies will be audited to determine how successfully they are implementing equity involvement in the workplace.
The problem is that we do not know how representative we are now. There is no baseline information.
To help us get some idea of the representation by the various groups, an Employee Self Identification survey questionnaire will be circulated during the week of August 16. It was developed by Canadian Heritage and takes about 10 minutes to complete.
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Completing the questionnaire is entirely voluntary. It is also confidential since you place your form in an envelope, seal it and forward it to Human Resources, through your supervisor. We are asking that all questionnaires be returned whether completed or not.
Your co-operation, in completing the questionnaire is appreciated. If there are any questions please do not hesitate to ask your supervisor or one of the Equity Committee members listed below.
Historic Sites Equity Committee: Paulette Budge, Ann Coleman, Peter Marenick, Bill O'Shea
News of Note from Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, Marconi National Historic Site and
Grassy Island National Historic Site
Regular daily programs on July 28th were nicely supplemented when Edwin Grosvenor, great-grandson of Alexander Graham Bell, gave an evening slide presentation to museum visitors. Mr. Grosvenor recently published a book on his great-grandfather's achievements called Alexander Graham Bell: The Life And Times of the Man Who Invented the Telephone. Hours of research, including many hours in the archival and photographic collection here at AGB, went into this publication. Mr. Grosvenor was also in the fortunate position of having access to family resources at Beinn Bhreagh Hall including the wealth of oral history provided by his aunts, Dr. Mabel Grosvenor (94 years of age) and her sister Carolyn Myers (88 years of age) who are the only surviving members of the family who actually spent time with Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Bell. Visitors who participated were thrilled to be in the presence of Bell family members and found Mr. Grosvenor's presentation well complimented with the anecdotes provided by Mrs. Myers who attended along with other family members.
Plans are well underway for the site's August 15th Aviation Day when we get a chance to celebrate Bell's aviation achievements with music, kite workshops, cake, punch and more.
Centre Bras d'Or Festival of the Arts is presenting its >Bell Series' once again with the museum's Water exhibit area as the performing venue. The acoustics are excellent in this area and performances this year included a youth choir from Vermont, Musique Maison, jazz saxophonist Kirk MacDonald and guitarist Lorne Lofsky, Rhapsody Quintet, soprano Janice Jackson, Elizabeth Patterson and Alberta's Elk Point Choir.
The final performance in the series takes place the evening of our Aviation Day celebrations with Ardyth & Jennifer offering harp and voice.
Since we all take pride in the diversity of Parks Canada on CBI and do appreciate positive feedback on what we do, we'd like to share with you comments made by a visitor to the museum's Discover area. "John-David who is now 20 months old loved the museum. I had to drag him out of the Children's Activity Centre. I thought he may still be a bit young but he loved it. The toys on the tables and shelves kept him very busy...and he never got bored...he also loved Hydrofoil Hall...again I had to drag him out. Obviously he had no understanding of what he was seeing and he can't read B but the exhibits captured his full attention...the sound effects were also something that caught his attention. As a parent I just wanted to tell you that from my newly developed parent's perspective - the Site is great!!" That comment came courtesy of Elizabeth MacDonald. Liz also mentioned she was visiting with her sister and brother-in-law who both loved it and thought the Site was more than worth what they paid.
From mid-August through September, this Site will be the venue for a Thursday evening series of presentations on the history & ecology of the Bras d'Or Lakes. Topics include the history of the Lakes, the natural history of the Bras d'Or watershed, sport fishing in the watershed, eagles along the Bras d'Or and the ecology of the Bras d'Or. The Bras d'Or Preservation Foundation will host these evenings and admission is free.
Marconi NHS was host to the end of an era on Wednesday, July 28th when the Canadian Coast Guard sent its last Morse code message to the site where, in 1902, the world's first wireless message was transmitted. While amateurs will continue to use Morse code, it will no longer be used commercially by mariners, the Canadian Coast Guard, the navy or other organizations. It will be replaced by terrestrial and satellite communications.
If you would like to make a submission to the Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Newsletter, please direct same to Wendy Bryan at 733-2280, Extension 3109 or e-mail at wendy_bryan@pch.gc.ca.