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Gordon Watts Reports Column published: 18 December 2009 By: Gordon A. Watts Biography & Archived Articles 
Topics in this column include:
Canada 150 In the past several decades of this age of electronics, for the most part people have gotten out of the habit of keeping diaries, journals, letters, or other paper documents. With the advent of digital photography individuals may have thousands of photographs on their computers but likely have far fewer hard copy photographs than did our predecessors. Long distance telephone charges, comparatively speaking, are cheap and many find it easier to make a phone call than to write a letter. Hundreds of television channels, movies, video games and other distractions have all contributed to fewer people recording their stories and safely storing them for generations to come. Canada 150 is a national project intended to encourage baby boomers and their children to record their stories and to join together with others to ensure they are safely stored forever in the vaults of Library and Archives Canada. It is felt that doing so will provide an invaluable legacy to our families, communities, and the entire country. My thanks to Paul Jones, from the Toronto Branch, OGS for providing me with the following information (slightly edited) relating to the second organizational meeting of Canada 150 held in Ottawa on November 23. Canada's National History Society hosted the meeting. Canada 150 was the brainchild of Harry van Bommel, who for medical reasons, was unable to attend this meeting himself. Consequently the meeting was chaired by Paul Jones. The goal of Canada 150 is to persuade 150,000 Canadians to prepare and submit their personal or family histories in time for Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017. The end-product of the project will be a resource that will serve as a great asset to future generations of researchers, including local and family historians as well as academic researchers. In addition the execution of the project will do much to foster within Canadian society a widespread sense of excitement about our heritage. The meeting attracted a smaller group than in Toronto earlier in the year - about 25 people in total - but power packed. We were pleased to see representation from two highly relevant government departments: Library and Archives Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. Other attendees included family and local historians, the heads of both of Canada's national history societies, delegates from the Royal Canadian Legion, Scouts Canada, the Professional Writers' Association of Canada and the Ontario Heritage Fairs Association, as well as journalists from The Beaver and Moorshead Publications (Family Chronicle et al) and the president of Arcalife from Vancouver. Two prominent historians also participated: renowned author Charlotte Gray and Professor Margaret Conrad from the University of New Brunswick. The first half of the meeting was given over to brainstorming the idea of Canada 150. Among others, the following themes were considered:
Anyone interested in serving on this interim council is asked to contact Deborah Morrison, president & CEO, Canada's National History Society, which has agreed to provide interim secretariat support to the project. Among those who have volunteered to date are Tom Douglas (professional author), Deborah Morrison, Paul Taylor (president of Arcalife), Peter Taylor (author of A Passion for Canada), Harry van Bommel and Paul Jones. For further information please access the Canada 150 website Merry Christmas 
This column will be the last I write for the year 2009. This year my daughter and I, and her two children, will be having Christmas dinner at my girlfriend's place, along with her family. It promises to be a festive crowd, with the possibility of about 22 of us there. I will miss being in Calgary with my son this year, but he will have his two girls, and his new family with him. I expect to travel there in February, when he and his bride of 1-1/2 years will make me a grandfather once again.Whether you say 'Merry Christmas', 'Happy Hanukkah', or whatever other greeting your tradition or faith might suggest for this time of year, I wish each and every one of you the very best. I wish for you, what you wish for me. If you are traveling to be with family or friends for the Holidays, I urge you to do so safely. Take the time to arrive safely, and to return home the same way. A few minutes, or hours of difference in travel time is not worth the heartache and suffering that could result from being involved in an accident because you are in a hurry. Until next time. Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net Your comments regarding this newsletter, and suggestions for future articles are welcome. Click here to send me a message with a subject line of "Gordon Watts Reports". To view back issues of Gordon Watt's columns, visit Gordon's biography page where all of his archives articles are available. Canadian Genealogy & History Resources from Global Genealogy:
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