Archive for September, 2010

15 Sep

COMMERCIAL FISHING – BRAS D’OR LAKE

Posted by CAPER in Fishing, General Interest, Sport.

Bras d’Or Lake – Fishing

 

The Bras d’Or Lake

The Bras d’Or Lake comprises an irregular brackish body of water covering 260 km2. The western part of the lake is generally shallow, with the sheltered bays of West Bay, Denys Basin, and Whycocomagh Bay. Three long narrow arms extend to the east: East Bay, St. Andrews Channel, and Great Bras d’Or Channel. Great Bras d’Or Channel connects to the open sea in the Sydney Bight across a depth of at least 8 m. Little Bras d’Or Channel is a 6-m deep, sinuous estuary that connects St. Andrews Channel with the sea. A narrow isthmus at St. Peters separates the southern part of Bras d’Or Lake from St. Peters Bay.

Fishing
The Bras d’Or Lake is one of the areas where the American Oyster is found, owing to warmer water temperatures suitable for growth and reproduction. A significant population of sand shrimp, a southern species, exists here. The polychaete fauna is Virginian in character but also includes some arctic-boreal species. A varied fish fauna includes Blueback Herring, Black-spotted Stickleback, and a southern population of Greenland Cod. A feral population of Rainbow Trout is present in the lake as well. These support strong populations of Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, and Bald Eagle.

Oysters, Lobsters, and other species have been harvested by Mi’kmaq people for hundreds and hundreds of years. In 1995, the band decided to incorporate as a cooperative to begin harvesting oysters and selling them nationally and internationally.

Tagging Lobsters

Between the Chapel Island Band and its residents, they own or lease oyster beds, snow crab quota, and lobster quota.

The Chapel Island First Nation community on the south-eastern shore of the Bras d’Or Lakes is surrounded by a plentiful supply of healthy and marketable seafood. The St. Peter’s canal and locks connects the Bras d’Or Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean which provides great fishing opportunities.The Apaqtukewaq Fisheries Co-op (AFC) offers a quality cold water product and enforces stringent quality control measures to ensure that their own brand of Mntmu’k Bras d’Or Lake Oysters continue to enjoy an excellent reputation in restaurants around the world.

First Nations, DFO collaborate on Bras d’Or Lakes research

Cape Breton’s famed Bras d’Or Lakes combine beauty and commercial importance, and hold cultural significance especially for the five neighbouring First Nations. With modern pressures threatening the delicate ecosystem, Aboriginal and Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) researchers are analyzing how the lakes work, and making plans to protect them.

Partly fresh, partly salt, the Bras d’Or Lakes cover 1,100 square kilometers, in a varied seascape of bays and peninsulas, narrow passages, and many coves, inlets, and islands. The main connection to the sea, the narrow Great Bras d’Or Channel, attenuates the tides and limits water exchange with the Atlantic Ocean.

“The lakes are warmer than the ocean in summer, with limited tidal range; they have a distinct ecosystem; and they’re altogether a special place,” says physical oceanographer Gary Bugden of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Mr. Bugden co-ordinates a coalition of Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) researchers working with other agencies and Native organizations to figure out the Bras d’Or Lakes aquatic system.

Fishing for Smelt

The confined and tranquil waters that attract boaters, visitors, and tourism and other development are ill-equipped to deal with siltation and other threats, including sewage pollution that caused the closure of some shellfish grounds. Aboriginal people, who make up 30 per cent of the surrounding population, called attention to the growing problems, and crystallized the multi-agency effort to protect the lakes.

The Eskasoni First Nation, on the East Bay of the Bras d’Or Lakes, has built up research capability over the last two decades. The Eskasoni Fish and Wildlife Commission (EFWC) stimulated the 1999 establishment, also at Eskasoni, of the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources. The UINR represents all five First Nations in Cape Breton (Unama’ki, in the Mi’kmaq language), and deals with a wide range of resource issues, not just on the lakes but in forestry, plant and animal studies, and other matters.

Deploying green crab traps on the Bras d’Or Lakes. (Photo courtesy Dr. John Tremblay)

The UINR offers training to interns and a natural-resource officer program. Both the UINR and the EFWC rely not only on standard western science but also on traditional ecological knowledge. The twinned approaches foster what one elder has termed “two-eyed seeing.”

The EFWC, which has longstanding links with DFO science and management, in 1996 brought together First Nations, DFO representatives, and others in an Ecological Research and Monitoring Workshop. Efforts begun at that time gelled in 1999, with a program known as SIMBOL (Science for Integrated Management of the Bras d’Or Lakes), co-ordinated by Mr. Bugden. Biologists, oceanographers, and hydrographers from BIO, as well as personnel from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Environment Canada, and private companies, began working with First Nations members on an array of projects.

DFO made available the 65-foot research vessel Navicula. Research started from the bottom up, with sonar surveys of the lake floor and analysis of bottom habitat and sediments. Other studies looked at oceanographic processes, plankton production, and the general ecological web of the lakes.

Lobsters in the lab: DFO’s Ron Duggan with Kara Paul and Shelley Denny, tagging lobsters. (Photo courtesy Dr. John Tremblay)

On the fisheries side, Dr. John Tremblay of BIO has worked with biologists Kara Paul and Shelley Denny and other First Nations personnel to study Bras d’Or lobsters, which are less abundant than those on the outer coast. Possible causes include low salinities, limited food, and a scarcity of suitable habitat.

But in the lakes, even good habitat seems to support fewer lobsters than it should. The research suggested some potential for enhancement, especially in East Bay, by creating more shelter for juveniles. Consequently, the UINR organized the placing of 324 concrete blocks on the bottom, and will monitor the artificial-reef results.

As in many other Canadian waters, invasive species have become a problem. The green crab, which preys on oysters and other bivalves, was already present in waters off mainland Nova Scotia, and moved into the Bras d’Or Lakes by the early 1990’s. Dr. Tremblay and First Nations researchers have studied the distribution and abundance of the green crab. There may be prospects for a commercial fishery that would reduce their numbers.

Collaborative work on oysters has increased in recent years. For example, BIO scientists have worked with the EFWC and UINR to map the DNA of Bras d’Or Lakes oysters, and to develop a broodstock resistant to the MSX parasite, another invasive species. As well, scientist emeritus Dr. René Lavoie, who has long worked with Native collaborators, is taking part in a UINR project to restore oyster habitat in the lakes’ Denys Basin.

Besides working with DFO (which helps support UINR through the Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Ocean Management Program), the First Nations of the Bras d’Or area have formed partnerships with other agencies and groups, including the province of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton University, and municipalities, industry, and non-government organizations.

Projects include Atlantic salmon protection, moose management, and other aspects of conservation and enhancement. One such effort resulted in a Transport Canada decision to forbid sewage discharge from boats on the lakes.

Meanwhile, DFO’s Oceans and Habitat sector and other agencies are working together in a Collaborative Environmental Planning Initiative (CEPI), initiated by First Nations, that will develop an overall management plan, marine and land-based, for the future.

Pitu’paq, the Mi’kmaq name for the Bras d’Or Lakes, means “flowing into oneness,” and the collaborative efforts inspired by the First Nations of Unama’ki are living up to the name.

  

 

Green Crab Fishing

 

Geology and Seabed Morphology
There is no direct information on the bedrock geology beneath the Bras d’Or Lake. Extrapolation of observations along the shoreline and in the adjacent lowlands suggests that the lakes are largely underlain by Carboniferous Windsor Group sedimentary rocks, principally shale, sandstone, gypsum, and salt. A large negative gravity anomaly beneath West Bay suggests the presence of salt.

 

The Bras d’Or Lake occupies a regional lowland that developed in soft Windsor Group rocks before the Quaternary glacial period. Some deepening of the floor of the lake might have resulted from solution collapse of gypsum, but the main excavation of the very deep channels (280 m in St. Andrews Channel, 81 m in East Bay) appears to be a consequence of glacial erosion, probably over hundreds of thousands of years through the Quaternary. The cliffs bordering the lake are unusual because they preserve organic sediments predating the last glaciation that provide a window on earlier environmental conditions.

Crab

The morphology of the lake floor is influenced by the deposition of glacial till and pre-glacial silty muds that occurred during the last retreat of ice. The extensive drumlin field of southern Cape Breton Island extends across much of the central and western parts of the lake. Remaining ice appears to have been centred on the western part of Bras d’Or Lake, and a series of recessional moraines are visible on the floors of East Bay, St. Andrews Channel, and Great Bras d’Or, with pre-glacial silty muds thickening eastward.

Eel Fishing  

Oceanography
Bras D’Or Lake is a fiordal system connected to the sea via two restricted channels. This restricted access causes the tidal amplitude to be reduced and, in combination with high freshwater runoff, results in relatively low salinity. The salinity of surface waters vary from about 29 p.p.t. at the entrance to Great Bras d’Or, to 25-26 in the deep water basins, to 20-21 in surface waters at the east end of East Bay. Lower salinities are found in sheltered bays off the larger rivers that drain into the western part of the lake. A thermocline and halocline develop at 10-20 m during the summer and probably deepen in the winter. Measurements of oxygen and salinity indicate that lake water is a mix of Atlantic water and local runoff, with an insignificant contribution from groundwater. Most of the lake is covered by ice in winter, with temperatures warming by more than 10°C from May to July.

The Bras d’Or Lake shows a typical estuarine circulation, with brackish near-surface waters tending to flow seawards, and deep saline water tending to flow into the lake. Tidal currents in the entrance to Great Bras d’Or are normally 4-5 knots but reach 6 knots or more when the lake level is elevated by up to 30 cm during spring runoff or after northeast gales. Non-tidal flows in the lake proper tend to be very weak but in narrow passages between basins may reach about one knot. The long fetches in the eastern arms of the Bras d’Or Lake allow sizeable waves and swells to develop during northeast gales

Plants
Seaweed species are similar to those of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In both areas, seaweeds usually found in intertidal zones occur only in deeper water as the result of winter ice activity, and the rockweed Ascophyllum nodosum is found subtidally. Sheltered bays have marginal salt to freshwater marsh vegetation

About the Bras d’Or Lakes

  The Bras d’Or Lake comprises an irregular body of water covering 260 square kms. The Bras d’Or Lake offers an ever-changing panorama of woodlands, farms and villages, and are ideal for walking, biking and bird watching. The region is a major nesting area for bald eagles, and these impressive birds can often be seen soaring aloft or perched on shoreline trees.The Bras d’Or Lakes’ unique tidal waters create a rich ecosystem that supports a dazzling array of wildlife. Hundreds of pairs of bald eagles nest along the lakeshore and in the surrounding countryside. White-tailed deer, osprey, fox, and raccoons are also frequently seen.

The Bras d’Or Lakes are a traditional home of Nova Scotia’s native Mi’kmaq, and the Mi’kmaq language and culture are still evident today in the four reserves along its shores including Chapel Island in St. Peter’s inlet.

Beautiful Clothing worn by the Mi’kmag of Cape Breton

Cultural Environment
Most cultural use of the Bras d’Or Lake is related to shore-based activities. The whole area is of high cultural significance to the Mi’kmaq people and is a centre of Scottish heritage in Nova Scotia. The marine area has some natural fisheries, but aquaculture for oysters and salmonids is most important. The area is important for recreational boating.

15 Sep

NORTH SYDNEY DRUG BUST

Posted by CAPER in Crime.

Police make record drug bust

 

Chief Myles Burke, right, and Deputy Chief Peter MacIsaac of the Cape Breton Regional Police talk about the largest single cocaine seizure in the department’s history during a press conference, Tuesday.

( Steve Wadden – Cape Breton Post)

Estimated $1.5M worth of cocaine seized after man arrested on ferry

SYDNEY — A suspected cocaine courier was arrested in North Sydney while attempting to cross the Northumberland Strait en route to Newfoundland and Labrador.

Topics :

Marine Atlantic Caribou , Sydney hotel , Cape Breton Correctional Centre , Manitoba , Sydney , Ontario

William Jack Rogers Reardon, a 28-year-old from Manitoba, had seven kilograms of pure cocaine in his backpack when Cape Breton Regional Police nabbed him at the Marine Atlantic Caribou ferry Monday afternoon.

The drugs he carried have an estimated minimum street value of $1.5 million.

“If this is cut or stepped on several times, the value keeps going up,” said Chief Myles Burke.

“Really, thousands of people this would impact. In terms of the damage and destruction to lives, I mean it is hard to calculate.”

Police displayed the bags cocaine to the media at their headquarters Tuesday while the accused was being charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine in provincial court in downtown Sydney.

“Our initial investigation has indicated the individual in the investigation is connected to a larger criminal organization based in Ontario, but with links in other parts of this country.”

The accused had spent several days in the local area before boarding the ferry.

Police drug and street crime units are now interviewing locals. No other arrests have yet been made.

The $1.5-million value of the seized drugs more than doubles a 2008 bust at a Sydney hotel valued at more than $600,000.

Not only was the seizure the largest in the history of the local force, Burke said it could also be the largest in Atlantic Canada.

“This arrest, this drug seizure has eliminated a substantial amount of drugs destined for the streets in our province or other provinces. This will disrupt organized drug trafficking with organized crime in our province and others.”

Police said the arrest was made without incident in co-operation with Marine Atlantic.

The accused has been remanded to the Cape Breton Correctional Centre until his bail hearing Friday.

(gmcneil@cbpost.com)

15 Sep

OBITS – SEP 15, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 15th, 2010

14 Sep

TODAY – SEP 14, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

September 14

maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1986 JAYS BATS HOTToronto Ontario – Toronto Blue Jays hit 10 home runs against the Baltimore Orioles to set a major league baseball record for most homers in a 9 inning game. The 11 home runs by both teams also set a record.
1535

JAlso On This Day...

Quebec Quebec – Jacques Cartier 1491-1557 reaches the Iroquois village of Stadacona [Quebec] on his second voyage; meets Donnacona again; greeted with Iroquois word ‘Kanata’ or ‘Cantha;’ meaning ‘settlement of huts’; first recorded use of name.
1926

Also On This Day...

Canada – William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 defeats Arthur Meighen in the general election, winning 128 seats to the Conservatives’ 91, with 46.1% of the popular vote. The Progressives win 20 seats; 6 other.
1898

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Floyd Sherman Chalmers 1898-1993
editor, publisher, philanthropist, was born on this day at Chicago, Illinois in 1898; died April 26, 1993 in Toronto. Chalmers’s father was a Canadian; he grew up in Orillia and Toronto, and started his reporting career at 17 with the Toronto News. At 21, he became editor in chief of the Financial Post, and during his lifetime built up a 22% shareholding in Maclean-Hunter, publisher of the Post and Maclean’s. He became President in 1952, and Chairman in 1969. He and his wife Jean were life-long patrons of the arts; they helped set up the Canadian Opera Company and the Stratford Festival, commissioned Harry Somers’ opera Louis Riel as a Centennial project, and set up the Floyd S. Chalmers Foundation to aid the arts, and the Jean A. Chalmers Chair in Canadian Music at the University of Toronto.

Also Frank Amyot 1904-1962
canoeist, was born on this day at Toronto in 1904; died Nov. 21, 1962. From 1924-35, Amyot won six national titles in Canadian single-blade canoeing. In 1936, he coached and managed the Canadian Olympic canoeing team at Berlin, and won Olympic gold in the 1000 Metres Canadian singles canoeing, the first Canadian to do so.
In Other Events….
1992 Victoria BC – Bruce Hutchison d1992 dies at age 91; journalist for 74 years; wrote 16 books, won 3 Governor General’s Awards.
1992 Windsor Ontario – Paul Martin Sr dies at age 89; first elected 1935; Liberal MP 33 years; Senator, High Commissioner in London”; last surviving cabinet minister from Mackenzie King era.
1991 Regina Saskatchewan – Grant Devine 1934- grants $431m to Saskatchewan Indian bands for land entitled under treaty but never handed over; signs deal with Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon.
1990 St. John’s Newfoundland – Jake Epp approves $5.2 billion Hibernia offshore oil project; led by Mobil Oil; 6,000 construction jobs”; Energy Minister.
1990 Ottawa Ontario – Brian Mulroney 1939- sends squadron of F-18 fighter jets, with 450 pilots and flight crew, to Persian Gulf”; raises to $74 million Canadian aid to Kuwaiti refugees.
1990 Ottawa Ontario – Spar Aerospace buys defense contracts of bankrupt Leigh Instruments Ltd. of Ottawa for $10 million.
1979 China – Canada sells China 2 million tonnes of wheat, worth $400 million.
1977 Halifax Nova Scotia – Queen Elizabeth II 1926- starts 5-day trip to Canada for Silver Jubilee ceremonies.
1970 Ottawa Ontario – First Ministers start 2-day Conference; discuss amendment of BNA Act and state of economy.
1960 Quebec – Antonio Barrette 1899-1968 resigns as leader of Union Nationale party.
1936 Vanier Ontario – Dorothea Palmer arrested for distributing birth control information; a nurse; acquitted at subsequent trial which made distribution legal.
1933 Stratford Ontario – furniture workers and meat-packers go on strike in Stratford; troops and armoured cars move in Sept; strike settled peacefully November 4.
1926 Ottawa Ontario – Arthur Meighen 1874-1960 resigns as Conservative leader on defeat in the general election; calls leadership convention; PM since July 7.
1890 Athabasca Alberta – petroleum deposits discovered along Athabasca River.
1890 Ottawa Ontario – Ottawa lumber mill workers go on strike.
1868 Yale BC – Amor de Cosmos calls meeting of Confederation League at Yale; votes for immediate admission into Canada; founder of Victoria’s ‘British Colonist’.
1853 New Brunswick – construction started on European & North American Railroad; crossing New Brunswick from Maine to Nova Scotia.
1814 Baltimore Maryland – British troops end three day attack on Baltimore and Fort McHenry to retaliate for American burning of York (Toronto) and Newark (Niagara); Francis Scott Key writes the Star Spangled Banner during bombardment.
1811 Quebec – George Prevost 1767-1816 administrator of Lower Canada; “until July 15, 1812.
1759 Quebec Quebec – Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm 1712-1759 dies of wounds after battle of the Plains of Abraham.
1758 Fort Duquesne Pennsylvania – James Grant defeated by French at Grant’s Hill near Fort Duquesne, with 800 men.
1699 Quebec Quebec – Louis-Hector de Callieres 1648-1703 becomes Governor of New France on Frontenac’s death; “until May 26, 1703.
1666 Quebec Quebec – Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy c1596-1670 sets out with 1,500 men from Quebec to mount another attack against Mohawks”; with Courcelles.

<!– “Very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen.”
P. J. O’Rourke
American humorist –>


Today in Canadian History is written, compiled, edited and produced by Ottawa Researchers © 1984-2002.

All Rights Reserved.

Please email your comments & suggestions to at: Ottawa Researchers

14 Sep

OBITS – SEP 14, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 14th, 2010

13 Sep

TODAY – SEP 13, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

September 13

maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1981 FIRST TERRY FOX RUNCanada – Eight hundred Canadian communities participate in the first Terry Fox 10k Run to raise money for cancer research. One year earlier, the 23 year old Fox was forced to end his Marathon of Hope in Thunder Bay, when the cancer that took his leg spread to his lungs.
1759

Also On This Day...

Quebec Quebec –
James Wolfe 1727-1759 drifts downstream on the ebb tide at 2 am with Captain William Delaune, commander of The Forlorn Hope, riding in a lead whaleboat with muffled oars; after keeping his plans secret from even his trusted lieutenants, he orders a first team of 24 soldiers to land at l’Anse au Foulon, a cove 3 km west of Quebec; the men quickly climb an overgrown path up the cliff face, with muskets strapped to their backs and surprise a company of Canadian militia under Captain Duchambon de Vergor; most of his men have been sent home to gather in the crops; down below, the Highlanders and light infantry secure the beachhead, helping the remaining transports land with a first wave of troops, artillery, and supplies; a second wave comes across from Lévis, while British frigates from Quebec to Beauport start firing with every gun to direct all French attention to the city. At 5 am, Wolfe reaches the top of the cliff with the remaining light infantry; before him stretches the Plains of Abraham, named for the habitant, Abraham Martin, who had first cleared the land, a broad, flat field leading to the walls of Quebec. At 6:30, Montcalm is told that patrols have spotted the English on the Plains of Abraham; he orders the regular troops to form up outside the walls, militia on the wings, regiments of the line in the center, the Royal Roussillon near the river, then those of Guyenne, Béarn, Languedoc and La Sarre. At 9:30, Wolfe walks along the ranks, talking to his 4,500 troops, and giving his final orders. Canadian and Indian sharpshooters start firing from the woods to the north, and a musket ball shatters Wolfe’s wrist. As the French start to advance he is hit by a shell fragment in the abdomen, but still keeps his feet. The French hold their fire until they are within 25 m of the British lines. At 12 m, Wolfe gives the order to fire, and one great volley rips through the French ranks, mortally wounding the commanders of the La Sarre and Guyenne regiments. The last volleys are fired with the two armies only feet apart, then Wolfe gives the order to charge with bayonet, and the French turn to flee. Wolfe is leading the grenadiers when a bullet hits him in the chest, puncturing both lungs. Someone yells “see how they run”. Wolfe opens his eyes an asked “who runs?”, a soldier replies, ” The French run sir”. With this it is said, Wolfe replies, “Now God be praised, I die in peace”, and closed his eyes forever. Montcalm is then wounded outside the walls, with a fatal bullet in the groin, and one in the thigh. He asks two soldiers to hold him up in the saddle as he goes in the St. Louis Gate, so as not to cause more panic. When the surgeon tells him he has only a few hours to live, Montcalm replies, ‘So much the better, I shall not see the surrender of Quebec’.. He dies early the next morning.

1775

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Laura Secord 1775-1868
loyalist, heroine of Upper Canada, was born Laura Ingersoll on this day in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in 1775; died in Chippewa Oct. 17, 1868. On the night of June 22, 1813, Secord heard two American officers billeted in her house talking about a surprise attack on the British post at Beaver Dams. She walked 30 km through American lines to warn Lt. Fitzgibbon, sometimes leading her cow as a decoy, and the US soldiers were ambushed by Fitzgibbon and some loyal Iroquois.Also Charles Poulett Thomson, Baron Sydenham (of Sydenham and Toronto) 1799-1841
merchant and statesman, was born on this day in 1799 at Wimbledon, Surrey, England; died in Kingston, Ontario Sept. 19, 1841. As Governor General of Canada 1839-41, Sydenham helped develop the institution of Responsible Government.

Also Ralph Connor 1860-1937
pen name of novelist, was born Charles Gordon on this day in Glengarry County near Cornwall, Ontario in 1860; died in Winnipeg, Oct. 31, 1937. Gordon was a Presbyterian minister, and his novels, such as Glengarry School Days (1902) espouse red-blooded Christianity. He became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in 1921, and helped with the creation of the United Church in 1925.

Also Emile Perry ‘Cat’ Francis 1926 –
NHL hockey legend, was born on this day in 1926. Francis was a player, coach and manager with the New York Rangers, the St. Louis Blues and the Hartford Whalers.

Also David Clayton-Thomas 1941-
rock musician, was born on this day in 1941 in Surrey, England. Clayton-Thomas grew up in Toronto, and fronted The Fabulous Sheas, before joining the New York rock band Blood, Sweat and Tears in 1968, and producing such hits as Lucretia MacEvil, Spinning Wheel and You Make Me So Very Happy.
In Other Events….
1995 Ottawa Ontario – Ottawa sells most of its stake in Petro-Canada through a share offering that brings in $1.8-billion.
1991 Montreal Quebec – 35 tonne beam falls from Olympic Stadium when 16 reinforcing rods break; stadium closed for study; falls on public walkway but no one injured.
1986 Winnipeg Manitoba – CKND-TV starts first national telecast of the Canadian Country Music Awards.
1981 Montreal Quebec – The Soviet Union wins its first Canada Cup hockey tournament by defeating Team Canada 8-1 in the final game. They are later caught trying to smuggle the Cup out of the country.
1974 Toronto Ontario – Provincial Premiers start conference in Toronto.
1973 Ottawa Ontario – Ottawa brings in crude oil export tax of 40¢ per barrel.
1971 Ontario – Ontario brings in aid program to help prevent foreign ownership of Ontario-based Canadian publishers.
1971 Ontario – Ontario to give free hospital and medical care for low-income earners and those 65 and over.
1969 Toronto Ontario – John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s band the Plastic Ono Band perform for their album “Live Peace In Toronto”. New cuts include Give Peace A Chance, Cold Turkey, Yer Blues and a 12 minute Yoko piece, plus the oldies Blue Suede Shoes, Money and Dizzy Miss Lizzy.
1967 Nova Scotia – George Isaac Ike Smith 1909- succeeds Robert Stanfield as Conservative Premier of Nova Scotia.
1944 Rimini Italy – Canadians capture Coriano Ridge in fierce fighting south of Rimini.
1943 Ottawa Ontario – Government orders two home-defence divisions disbanded.
1942 Atlantic – German U-Boat torpedoes destroyer ‘Ottawa’; Battle of the Atlantic growing in intensity.
1940 Liverpool England – Luxury liner S.S. City of Benares leaves port with British children being evacuated to Canada to escape World War II. The ship is torpedoed by U-boat during the night about 600 miles out to sea; only 13 of the over 90 children survive.
1915 France – Arthur Currie, then a Brigadier, is appointed General commanding the 1st Division of the new Canadian Corps. It is the first completely Canadian fighting unit in France, and eventually consists of 4 infantry divisions.
1886 Montreal Quebec – Canadian Pacific Telegraph starts operation across Canada.
1882 Ottawa Ontario – John R. Booth opens his own railway, the Canada-Atlantic, running from Coteau Junction into Ottawa; Ottawa Valley timber baron uses line to export lumber to the CPR main line.
1839 Chippewa Ontario – Republican rebels burn Anglican church in Chippewa.
1779 Quebec Quebec – Frederick Haldimand 1718-1791 asks dramatist Richard Cumberland to select books for public library at Quebec.
1762 Torbay Newfoundland – William Colville, Lord Amherst lands at Torbay, north of St. John’s, drives French back into Fort William Henry two days later; with 1,500 troops from Louisbourg.
1759 Quebec Quebec – James Wolfe 1727-1759 shot three times, dies on the battlefield.
1657 Quebec Quebec – Louis d’Ailleboust de Coulonge et d’Argentenay c1612-1660 appointed administrator of New France; “until July 10, 1658.

<!– “The reason Canadian history has never caught on, like sex, for instance, is that it has been hard up for royal mistresses and has suffered from domination by common sense, compromise and a callous favouring of the facts over the juicy bits.”
Eric Nicol
An Uninhihited History of Canada –>


Today in Canadian History is written, compiled, edited and produced by Ottawa Researchers © 1984-2002.

13 Sep

OBITS – SEP 13, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 13th, 2010

12 Sep

REV NORMAN MACLEOD – ST ANN’S

Posted by CAPER in History, Religion.

Rev Norman MacLeod of Stoer, Scotland

‘THEY FOLLOWED HIM TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH’The Story of the Rev Norman MacLeod & the Normanites.At the side of a sand dune about seven miles north of Lochinver, overlooking his beloved Clachtoll Bay, stands the monument to Norman MacLeod. This large white marble rock, erected to his memory, was unveiled on 2nd August 1994.TO THE MEMORY OF
THE REVEREND NORMAN MACLEOD
BORN HERE ON 29TH SEPTEMBER 1780
DIED WAIPU, NEW ZEALAND ON 14TH MARCH 1866
LEADER – MINISTER – TEACHER
He led his people over 14,000 miles of ocean
To Nova Scotia, Australia and New Zealand


 

Born on 29th September 1780, to David and Margaret McLeod of Stoer, Norman spent his childhood days amongst the hills, lochans and peat bogs of remote Assynt. At the age of twenty seven, he went to Aberdeen University to study for a Master of Arts degree. On graduating in 1812, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Moral Philosophy. To enable him to enter the ministry and be guaranteed a presbytery; he had to go to Edinburgh to complete a theology course. Before going to Edinburgh, he married Mary McLeod, who had long been his sweetheart and who would accompany him on his travels.

On completion of the course, Norman and Mary moved to Ullapool, where he had been appointed as teacher at the SPCK school with a stipend of £25 per annum. Teachers with the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge also doubled as lay preachers, and he soon came into conflict with the established minister Dr Ross. Their disagreements were basic, so much so, that when the McLeod’s wished their son John Luther baptised, they took him to Lochcarron, 40 miles to the south. As Norman even refused to attend services taken by Dr Ross, his living was put at risk. His stipend was stopped and in 1815 he went to Wick where he spent a year at the fishing. Planning to emigrate to Canada, it took him until 1817 to find a suitable passage for the family.

July 1817 saw the family boarding the barque ‘Frances Anne” and setting sail for Pictou on the north coast of Nova Scotia. There was already a thriving Highland community there, mostly emigrants from Loch Broom. As the Highland Clearances were under way, Patrick Sellar doing his worst, another 150 followed Norman to Pictou the following year.

As no church had ever been set up in Pictou, although a building had been started in 1804, he found a community waiting on him to establish a church. Here he preached the Word, pure and in corrupted, as God intended. As his fame spread, his followers were dubbed Normanites. By 1820, Pictou was becoming overcrowded, so Norman and his flock moved about a hundred miles, to St Ann’s, Cape Breton Island. They were the first Scots to arrive, but were soon followed by boatloads of others, from the Hebrides as well as the mainland. Soon he was surrounded by Gaelic speaking Presbyterian crofters and fishers, and their modest womenfolk who with their God-fearing ways kept the Sabbath holy and packed his church.

Plaque on Memorial Monument at St. Ann’s

Back in Pictou, the Presbyterian ways were under threat from Anglican and Roman Catholic chapels, but the Normanites remained true to their beliefs. As he had still not been ordained, he travelled to New York State in 1827 to be ordained at a Presbyterian Church there. Thus, at last, he was a sanctioned minister to his flock. In 1829, he built a school, which to this day is the centre of Gaelic learning in Canada. Whilst by the early 1840’s his meeting house with seating for 1200 was overflowing every Sabbath, his home church had been driven apart and the Free Church of Scotland had broken away.

Norman, seeking a community where he could assert his leadership, appealed to his flock to go with him and many decided to go. Legend says the plan was to build a ship, sail down the Atlantic coast and up the Mississippi to Ohio. The building of the ship began and it was dubbed derisively “The Ark” by the people of Pictou. In September of 1819 the 18 ton schooner sailed with Norman and a group of men – planning to settle and prepare homes for their families who would follow. They decided to sail along the Cape Breton coast to test this ship rather than immediately facing the open sea through the Strait of Canso. They stopped on a sunny afternoon to fish near the mouth of St. Ann’s Harbour and decided to anchor overnight in the harbour.

The next day, in the morning sunshine, they sailed through the circle of mountains to the head of the bay. The waters were teeming with fish. They landed, deliberated and decided to stay.

Men selected locations along the shore and began to build cabins for their families before returning to Pictou for the winter, where they sold “The Ark” to a shareholder, Alex Munro, and began building small boats to carry their families to St. Ann’s Bay. Early in May of 1820 seven small ships departed Pictou for St. Ann’s and, although buffeted and separated by storms, the first of the seven small vessels beached on the south shore of the harbour on May 20, 1820, and by night all seven ships were accounted for and this was to form their total settlement for that year.

Memorial Monument at St. Ann’s (see plaque above)

Norman’s choice of land had been the point of land separating the North and South Guts – the present College property – and his followers settled around him as he assumed his role as chief and leader. Their small clearings that year, after arduous labour, yielded good crops of potatoes and along with the bountiful fishing they prepared for winter. As ice closed the harbour, the isolation of the small settlement set in. The nearest store was on the island at Baddeck, Sydney was fort miles away, and the settlement had no trails to either of them.

The following spring Munro’s “Ark” sailed back and forth to Pictou with supplies and settlers. Many friends followed them to St. Ann’s. By the end of 1821 the settlement had ringed the harbour and within a few years St. Ann’s was a flourishing community.

By 1822 Norman had started a school, although he was not licensed to teach until 1827, and a log church was built. In 1823 he was appointed magistrate and in 1826 he travelled to Ohio and spent a number of months there and returned an ordained minister. So now Rev. Norman had become spiritual leader, magistrate and teacher and every sphere of community life was under his control.

Norman and his wife had ten children including two who died young and are buried nearby. They did not have to endure the hardships of pioneer life as volunteer service from the community was available to do their physical labour, and Norman had a three-story sawn lumber house built for them. Tuition for schooling came to Norman through labour of parents whose children he was teaching. Soon a new school house was built and a large church (60’ x 80’ with 20’ walls and a complete balcony) was completed and reported to hold 1200 people.

Norman continued to rule with an autocratic hand and imposed his will and strict religious discipline upon the community. He showed no mercy for breach of discipline and public ridicule was meted out by him abundantly. He was revered and loved by some, hated by other but was respected by all. The abuses inherent in his authoritarian control of the settlement were accepted by many as natural necessities. They knew the tradition of supreme control by clan chiefs, landlords and clergy.

Rev. Norman MacLeod – Minister, Magistrate and Teacher

By 1848 the settlement, over 25 years old, had matured and the business, religious and educational life were well established. But then disaster struck and ruined their potato and grain crops. Relief from government or outsiders was not forthcoming since Norman had alienated himself from other clergy in the area with his scornful analysis of their efforts and preaching’s. Starvation was upon them – seed to put in the ground was ruined or used to sustain life, and cows and calves, and even oxen, were slaughtered for the same reason.

(My grandfather, John R. Fraser, told me that his grandfather, John Fraser, who had married a Roman Catholic woman, a Tulloch MacDonald at Mabou, was then widowed. Before her death his  wife made him promise on her death bed that he raise their nine children as Catholic. He promised and converted to Catholic. He moved from Mabou and headed for St. Ann’s and lived there for a period of about six months. Grampa claims that they “fought and rowed and eventually drove him out of St. Ann’s.” You can imagine in those days what he would have had to put up with as a former Presbyterian who converted to Roman Catholicism with nine baptised Catholic children. He then moved on to the Back Lands of Meat Cove. – CAPER)

Facing as it does North East, St Ann’s Bay suffered the worst of severe winters, and access to the town was frequently blocked by ice, stopping all trade in or out. When potato blight struck in 1847-48, the hardships were too much for many who felt the need to find greener pastures elsewhere. One of Norman’s sons, sailed back to Scotland, and then on to Australia, where he found work as a journalist. His letters describing the wonderful life he had found there unsettled the folk in St Ann’s. So, at the age of 68, Norman decided to pack up and go down under.

The first priority was to build ships and throughout 1850 and into 1851, the skills of the highland boat builders were put to full use. By October 1851, the ‘Margaret’, a barque of 236 tons was afloat, and the smaller ‘Highland Lass’ was nearing completion. In early November, Norman and Mary with seven of their children, and 150 other Normanites set sail. Having called at Cape Town en route, they arrived in Adelaide in April 1852. ‘Highland Lass’, carrying another 155 parishioners, arrived in October.

Adelaide was in the grip of a gold rush. Gold had been found at Ballarat, near Melbourne, and the accompanying greed and violence made Adelaide a misery for the Normanites. As they had sold the ‘Margaret’, they were trapped. When typhus struck and carried off three of his six sons, Norman believed that the old testament prophesy of plague and pestilence as a punishment for the worship of false gods was coming true, so they had to get out of what was becoming a hell-hole.

In early 1853, he wrote to the Governor of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, asking for a grant of land for his people. They purchased a schooner the ‘Gazelle’, and set off. On 21st September 1833, their group is reported to have landed in North Island. They settled on the far North east coast, between Auckland and the Bay of Islands, in the area around the Waipu River and Whangerai Heads. This land was virgin bush and forest, and being coastal, the skills of the Highlanders could be fully employed. The Normanites had found a permanent home. By the end of 1859, four more shiploads had arrived. It is reckoned that by 1860 there were 883 people there representing 19 Scottish clans.

Norman lived happily in Waipu until his death on 14th March 1866. His flock continued in their Normanite ways, but as the years passed and they intermarried and moved away, their Gaelic roots dwindled as they became New Zealanders.

 

Rev Norman MacLeod’s Presbyterian Church at Waipu, N.Z.

 

In St Ann’s his memory is kept alive by a memorial stone, and in Waipu there is a fine timbered Presbyterian church to this day. It is only fitting that now, so long after his death, one of the great Presbyterians should have a memorial where he was born.

The House of Memories in Waipu is a museum to the memory of all the Scots who went along the route taken by Rev Norman McLeod and his Normanites.

(Contributed by Simon Fraser)

(Courtesy of ‘The Gaelic College’ of St. Ann’s and the Internet)

12 Sep

CPL PINKSEN – CORNER BROOK KIA

Posted by CAPER in Military.

N.L. soldier hit by Afghan bomb dies in Germany

Cpl. Brian Pinksen, 21, was victim of roadside bomb

 

CBC News
Brian Pinksen, 21, seen here in a photo from Facebook, died Monday in Germany. He was injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Aug. 22.
CPL Brian Pinksen, 21, seen here in a photo from Facebook, died Monday in Germany.
A 21-year-old soldier from western Newfoundland died Monday morning at a military hospital in Germany, more than a week after he was injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Cpl. Brian Pinksen, from 2nd Battalion, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, based in Corner Brook, western Newfoundland, was serving in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, the Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group.

Pinksen suffered injuries to his limbs and internal organs Aug. 22 when an improvised explosive device detonated near him during a patrol southwest of Kandahar.

He was flown to the U.S. military’s Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for treatment but died at the hospital after his heart failed.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of our fallen comrade during this very difficult time,” said the military in a news release Monday afternoon. “We will not forget Cpl. Pinksen’s sacrifice as we continue to bring security and hope to the people of Kandahar province.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also issued a statement reacting to the death.

“It is with utmost sorrow that I extend the condolences of all Canadians to the family and friends of Cpl. Brian Pinksen, a brave soldier who died due to injuries sustained in Afghanistan,” the statement said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to you at this time of loss. Cpl. Pinksen served Canada valiantly and deserves the gratitude and respect of his nation.”

In total, 152 Canadian soldiers and four civilians have died as part of Canada’s mission in Afghanistan since it began in 2002.

(Another Canadian Hero Gone – God Rest His Soul – CAPER)

12 Sep

DONT RETURN YET – UNEMPLOYMENT AT 14.7%

Posted by CAPER in General Interest.

Cape Breton’s unemployment rate stays pretty much the same as last month

Staff ~ The Cape Breton Post

85.3 % of Cape Breton Work Force Employed

 SYDNEY — Cape Breton’s unemployment rate remained relatively unchanged in August from a month ago.

Statistics Canada , Cape Breton , Atlantic Canada , Nova Scotia

According to the latest numbers released Friday by Statistics Canada, the unemployment rate on the island was 14.7 per cent in August, up just a tenth of a percentage point from July. A year ago the rate was 13.4 per cent.

Cape Breton’s total labour force in August stood at 69,400 — 59,200 employed and 10,200 unemployed.

In Nova Scotia as a whole, the unemployment rate was 9.8, up a full percentage point from just two months ago, when the rate stood at 8.8 per cent in June.

Of the five regions in the province, Cape Breton has the highest unemployment rate while Halifax has the lowest at 6.1 per cent.

Regionally, the unemployment rate in August stood at 11.2 per cent in Prince Edward Island and 9.6 per cent in New Brunswick, while Newfoundland was the only province in Atlantic Canada to see a drop in its unemployment rate, from 15 per cent in July to 14 per cent in August.

Across the country, the unemployment rate stood at 8.1 per cent, up from eight per cent in July.

The monthly employment figures for specific regions of Canada, such as Cape Breton, are determined by a three-month moving average of unemployment rates unadjusted for seasonality, while national and provincial numbers reflect monthly numbers that are seasonally adjusted.

(I continue to marvel at reporters in particular and journalists in general why they report the negative side of the question. Instead of always going on about the unemployment rate being what it is, why in Heaven’s dont they on occasion report on the positive side of the question. For example, Cape Breton has a work force of 70,000 with 60,000 working and 10,000 (14.7%) unemployed and/or looking for work. Same for all of Canada, where 91.9 % of the workforce is working and 8.1% are unemployed and/or looking for employment. If you were looking for a bank loan wouldnt you accentuate the positive side of your situation instead of the negative side? – CAPER)

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