Shirt Tales

the Old Order alphabet

2011-12-07T13:01:00.016-05:00

A= Amish to distinguish the Amish from other Old Order groups look for clothing with hooks and eyes and wider-brimmed black hats; beard is worn after first child is born

B= black cars with black bumpers are the distinguishing mark of the Markham Old Order group
C= computers Old Order horse and buggy Mennonites do not allow computers
D= dating as such takes place during Sunday afternoon visits at one of the ten houses after the parents disappear and the young mingle
E= electricity use was approved in 1989 for those under 50 years of age; there is passage from the Doddy house to the telephone for the older generation
F= flower garden is always located between the house and the road and is the one place where the Old Order housewife may indulge her love of beauty
G= green is the traditional colour of Old Order parochial schools Grades 1 to 8; Mennonite farm houses and barns traditionally have green roofs
H= harmonica fits into a pocket quite easily and can later be used for square dances in the barn
I= instruction To become a member of an Old Order congregation requires a believer’s baptism. The young applicant (usually between 17 to 20 years of age) must first apply to join the church and then undergo six Sundays’ of instruction.
J=Joseph as in Joseph Brant who brought the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy to the Grand River Valley in 1785 and put up portions for sale to Pennsylvania Mennonites; one of the first settlers was Joseph Schoerg who homesteaded on the Historic Ridge opposite Doon 1801; Joseph Schneider came with his new bride in 1807 and with his companion Benjamin Eby founded the community of Sandhills aka Ebytown and later renamed Berlin (now Kitchener)
L= last school day a) for students? the last day of schooling is either the end of Grade 8 or the actual day an Old Order pupil turns 14; after that he/she will work for his/her parents until age 20;
b) for teachers? the day the young woman marries is her last teaching day; after that, her job is to take care of her husband
M = Martin (Dave) The Dave Martin Mennonites have cell phones, wear straw hats, allow strollers, and use draft horses to pull their buggies which can be recognized by the steel rims on the wheels; if you see the husband walk ahead of his wife by at least six feet distance, you have spotted a Dave Martin Mennonite couple
N= New Order Mennonite groups are more progressive and allow in their services the following: use of organ and piano, 4 part a Capella singing, Sunday schools and missionaries, and Sunday evening services. In the town of Elmira, Old Order and New Order have their meeting houses side by side and share a common cemetery. Old Order churches use a chant based on 3 notes.
O= offerings To cover all costs associated with the Old Order community life, four offerings are taken each year. The deacon declares "this is what we need" and the offerings always match the declared need. But note, Old Order pay taxes to all government levels as this is "rendering unto Caesar what is his due."
P= paint Nothing is painted in an Old Order meeting house of which there are 10 in the Region of Waterloo (5 are used each Sunday and the other 5 groups take their turns visiting their brethren). Women sit on one side and men on the other.
Q= quilting usually takes place during Sunday visiting after the men head into the parlour, the women set up their quilting projects to prepare for weddings. A girl’s dowry consists of 6 quilts, 3 comforters, 2 chests and one cow. A boy receives 3 quilts, 2 comforters, and one farm – or rather enough financial assistance to purchase one.
R = red verboten (forbidden) in old Menno culture see also Y(ellow) below: the exception is the red schoolhouse on Jig’s Hollow Road near Conestoga built for Nancy, the schoolteacher, who walks to school and lights the stove in the winter. Nancy earns $800/month with no benefits or prep time.
S= salvation the question of spiritual salvation divides Old Order Mennonites from their modern brethren: Old Order believe one is saved by works (example: barn raising) whereas modern Mennonites believe in salvation by Grace
T= tombstones always face east as preparation for meeting the Risen Christ
U= underpass a special buggy underpass was built north of St Jacobs to allow horses and buggies to cross under the heavily travelled highway to Elmira
V= visiting is Sunday tradition. The home church prepares for Sunday visitors who arrive uninvited. After a silent Grace is offered, all dig in to steamed pork sausages, creamed potatoes, bread with apple butter (Lotverk), followed by fruit, pie, and sweets (squares and cakes). Important to save a piece of bread to wipe one’s plate as only one will be used for all four courses.
W= weddings never take place on a Monday which is a washday. They usually are scheduled for Wednesday mornings and take place in the bride’s home. The bride is always dressed in blue: light blue in spring, dark blue in fall. There are no summer weddings.
X = (e)xemption as in Old Order Mennonites and Amish call for exemption from Ontario Drinking Water Rules: the use of chlorinators and monitors in Mennonite one-room schools, which use hand pumps for their drinking water, would require the use of electricity, something that the Old Order communities are against. The Ontario Ministry of the Environment says..it has no exemption clause. And see E above as one of the ten Old Order groups has already allowed electricity to be used.
Y= yellow & youngest Old Order culture prescribes these colours as demonstrating humility: black, brown, blue, purple, and white; note: never red and yellow. The youngest son inherits the home farm and takes care of his parents for the rest of his life. They are housed in a "Doddy" house built on the farmstead immediately adjacent to the son’s house.
Z= Ziegler has many descendants in this Region: Aaron Ziegler, was born December 16th, 1829. On April 11th, 1854, he was married to Anna Rudy who was born October 14th, 1827, and died February 20th, 1862. After her decease he was again married to Esther Lichty who was born May 29th, 1839. They resided two miles south-west of Elmira where he died January 13th, 1885, leaving a family of twelve children.

Notes: this post was originally published 01 May 2005 to Grand River blog which is about to be deleted because of confusion re La Grande Riviere--our local river is just one of thousands named La Grande Riviere by the early French explorers. The alphabet allowed Rambling Rose to summarize notes taken on a bus tour throughout Region of Waterloo Amish countryside. Note that customs observed locally are not observed by Old Order Amish communities elsewhere throughout southwestern Ontario. Photos chosen to illustrate both the variations and the remarkable simplicity of the Amish culture.

Worth a visit: Anna Mae's Bakery & Restaurant, Millbank ON for 1) fabulous pies of all varieties; and 2) the "full meal deal" @ $9.75 or "chicken deal" 4 dine for $35.00. Anna Mae specializes in Mennonite cuisine. True to Mennonite custom, Anna Mae's is closed on Sundays.

Photos L to R top to bottom: 1)Belfast, Huron County farm with stooks;2)Karishea, Bruce County farmstead; 3) Amish couple near Millbank, Perth County who willingly posed for this photo =most unusual;4) this pair of young lads swooshed past Rambling Rose near Wellesley, Wellesley Twp = hence poor photo quality; 5) Newry, Perth County harvesting the grain & the chap taking the break is using a cellphone; 6) Millbank, Perth County typical landscape & do note the absence of hydro poles.

the iconic man's dress shirt?

2011-11-27T12:35:00.011-05:00

Gentle reader, winter's onset finds Rambling Rose reviewing various rambles around town and farther afield.

First photo is of the Arrow Lofts redevelopment in downtown Kitchener i. e. "a new condo project by Auburn Developments currently under construction at 112
Benton St. in Kitchener. The project is scheduled for completion in 2011. Available condos range in price from $243,900 to $661,900. The project has a total of 136 units." (1)

The Auburn website promises prospective buyers "exciting new shirt tales in Kitchener" whereby a factory that once produced "the iconic man's dress shirt" locally now is now trading on an established brand name to market its lofty spaces. However, the brand name only appears in the promotional materials as the iconic Arrow painted signage has been removed from the bricks as part of the overall cleanup of the property.

Next photo is of an antique Arrow clock used to market the iconic man's dress shirt found in at Fay's antique shop in Sebringville, ON this past summer. Quite possibly the wall clock is still available to purchase as RR passed on it in order to emerge with an antique washboard as her rare treasure from that day's rambles.

Found online, the story of the iconic men's shirt as follows:

In 1825. Hannah Lord Montague of Troy, New York came up with the idea of a detachable collar & cuffs as a way to keep a shirt looking fresh and crisp without daily laundering. Soon, several companies in the area began manufacturing the collars, including Maullin & Blanchard acquired by Cluett Peabody & Company in 1885.
In the 1920s, men's styles began changing and the preference for shirts with attached collars
was growing.*
Sanford Cluett, a nephew of the company's founders, began working on a process that would virtually "preshrink" fabric-- a process called Controlled Compressive Shrinking. By 1930, the process was officially registered with the "Sanforized" trademark and the company ceased all collar production in favour of shirts produced with this process.
In 1945, Cluett & Peabody further expanded the Arrow brand to include men's pants, jackets,swimwear as well as dress and casual shirts, especially those with the new button-down collar.
In 1962, the Arrow Company was created as a division of Cluett & Peabody, with the mission to sell the Arrow line of products worldwide**. Arrow remains a registered trademark of Cluett, Peabody & Co., Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation.

Fay's Gift & Garden shop is located on 269 Huron Road in Sebringville and definitely worth browsing-- as there are some incredible treasures to be found there. Fay relocated there from Shakespeare to take advantage of tourist & cottage traffic to and from Lake Huron. The building itself is an historic boomfront commercial structure that Fay and her husband have restored.

Even during the long winter months ahead, it's a short daytrip that RR recommends highly. Just take Erb Street west out of Waterloo to Phillipsburg & cross the intersection to follow the same direction that will take you on the scenic back road through Amulree & just keep going until the Amulree road ends at a T-intersection with signs pointing to Stratford. Once you have arrived in Stratford, take a right turn on Huron Road to Sebringville. A return trip RR would recommend would be to follow Huron Road through downtown Stratford with more interesting shops and restaurants; thence follow Stratford's main street (Highways 7/8) as far as Shakespeare's main intersection, turn left as far as Amulree, and right turn back into Kitchener.

In closing, RR wants to state emphatically that she has nothing to gain financially from either the Arrow redevelopment or Fay's commercial operation. RR just finds both ventures interesting and promising as they further local history.

Notes: * When RR was reviewing the Forsyth family archives & history, she learned that the machinery required to attach a collar to a man's shirt was developed locally. Elsewhere in this blog, there are details as to when which company acquired the other as at the end of this building's use to produce shirts locally, this building was owned by the Forsyth Company. ===> RR's personal connection with the Arrow shirt tale was through her students i.e. the laid off factory workers who vented their anger: at the end, although the Arrow shirts were sold with a label that said "made in Canada," the shirts had actually been manufactured in Mexico, shipped to the local Benton St factory where the label was attached. The women were furious that the famous quality had been sacrificed i.e. cheap thread and not enough stitches to secure buttons.

**The creation of the Arrow Collar Man by artist J.C. Leyendecker became one of the most recognizable brand icons. Arrow collar man with photo and details of marketing campaign here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arrow_Collar_Man

Source: (1) realtor promo link

great moon gathering

2011-04-14T10:29:00.007-04:00

Gentle reader, today's blog has been taken from Time Warp -- a daily journal kept by RR during the 2 1/2 years she worked and lived in Moosonee. This journal entry provides an interesting parallel to Professor Roger Epp's talk at Conrad Grebel University College (see previous blog). RR is offering up this experience of "being in the way" [ Epp's exhortion] in a spirit of gratitude to the Mushkego Cree community whose silent support kept her safe during her wilderness exile. Meegwetch!

Herewith, RR's notes taken during the Curriculum Circle sessions 16-9 February 2000:

We set out in Tom’s truck across the Ice Road to the Island* for this year’s professional development days. This year the James Bay Lowlands Cree Communities were invited to participate.

Our first speaker was Leonard Rickard who got a degree in political science from Western. He first became aware of his “Indianness” and the different colour of his skin when he found himself surrounded by “whiteman culture” at Western. That experience forced him to ask himself “Who? What am I?” He notes that acknowledging his “Indianness” and identity required a decision. He mourns the loss of the Cree language in his community & traces a gradual erosion of language and culture over the past four generations. He notes that those who do not speak their native language are “disconnected from their culture” and feel an emptiness. Therefore, he advocates a) positive images and stories to serve as role models for the young and b) the encouragement of Cree language development within the schools. He concludes by urging his audience to “think like a child and imagine the possibilities.”

The second speaker was Jackie Moore Daigle of the Constance Lake First Nation. Jackie is here from Queen’s ( MED & PhD in education) and tells us that although she understands Cree, she cannot pronounce its words. According to Jackie, language issues are involved in all issues of equity and justice and that Natives still are not on a par with the dominant white society. In order to save the Cree language, she advocates its use in all gatherings. She notes that natives need to enjoy both languages to feel complete and that there is a good chance to save the Cree language in the James Bay Lowlands. In closing, she emphasizes that the issue of language and culture is part of one’s identity.

The next day I opt to attend the elders’ workshop and find myself one of only two women present. The Cree Grand Chief, Lawrence Martin, is part of the panel and eyes me curiously. The chair questions my interest and after I respond satisfactorily proceeds to translate for me from the Cree. Our moderator, Greg, is working on a Cree Language Institute.

Martin announces NAN & DIA have a framework agreement in place at $4.6 million and notes that consultations have begun on the education portfolio. Moosonee is inside Mushkego territory and that 80% native population is in Moosonee, i.e. provincial schools. The native goal is that the Mushkego constitution encompass whole communities as well as their lands and resources. Currently Martin is advocating a regional educational administration under one Nishnawbe Educational Authority. He points out that religion and culture always get mixed up and that there is a conflict between native traditions and the Christian viewpoint. His goal is to strengthen Mushkego Cree teachings and culture by encouraging native teachers in native schools to take over. He pauses to provide a brief
overview of 300 years of James Bay/ Hudson Bay history and traces governance from the HBCo factors to their agents to First Nations chiefs/councils to the present goal of an
overall Mushkego tribal council, which he currently heads.

Martin is followed by John, a Cree elder, who speaks most expressively in Cree and urges all to reclaim the Cree teachings/values from the pre-Contact era as, in his opinion, Christianity has divided the Cree. Jackie speaks in turn to their Vision 2020 and proposes roundtable discussions to set the direction for ab ed (aboriginal teacher education) programs and to answer the question, “ What kind of teachers do you want? “ One elder after the other insists that it is their desire to take control of education back to the Cree community and to promote language and culture development before these are lost to them. Someone points out that there is a need for interpreter service for elders at the Moose Factory Hospital. Someone else notes that the Cree** gave up everything when they signed Treaty 9.

Notes: *The Moose River divides two communities: Moosonee on the mainland & Moose Factory on the island. Moosonee has the liquor store adjacent to the OPP station, the provincial high school whereas Moose Factory Island has the hospital, the Indian reserve, and the native Dolores Echum high school Both communities date historically to the fur trade: Moose Factory was one of the first Hudson Bay Company posts established in the 1600s; Moosonee was established early 20C by Revillon Freres (now Revlon) as fur trading outpost to compete with the Bay. The two communities are connected in summer via freighter canoes (water taxis), the ice road once the Moose River is frozen solid, and during spring break-up and fall-freeze up by helicopter @ $30 for the short flight. RR used both the helicopter and the water taxi service to complete a Trent University course in native studies: the professor arrived by plane from Peterborough and other students arrived from up the Hudson Bay coast by air, water, as well as by train from Cochrane to attend the weekend classes. Amazing how vast distances can be overcome if the desire to learn is there.

** RR actually has read Treaty 9 whereby northern 1/3 of Ontario was given over in exchange for an annual payout of $8; by the time Commissioner Scott returned to Ottawa, the oral agreement of $8 had been reduced to $4. The Cree managed to include two clauses that Trent University Professor Kulchyski calls 1) the schoolhouse and 2) the medicine chest provisions. Thus status Indians (sic as per Indian Act that has yet to be repealed) are entitled to funding for education and health care. However, that has come at a tremendous cost as mineral rights (cf. Attawapiskat diamond mine) belong to the Province of Ontario.

uncommon ground

2011-03-31T15:22:00.005-04:00

Dr. Roger Epp, Professor of Political Studies University of Alberta Augustana Campus, delivered the 2011 Bechtel Lectures in Anabaptist Mennonite Studies at Conrad Grebel Univesity College in Waterloo this month. Gentle reader, what follows is a transcription of notes taken during the two lectures.

Dr. Epp summed up his thesis thus: "It matters what stories we tell. For the descendants of Mennonite settlers in present-day Ontario and in the West, as for all Canadians, historical accounts rarely acknowledge the existence of aboriginal communities regardless of what is often close geographical proximity. The claim I want to advance in these lectures-- that we are all treaty people, by inheritance, by virtue of living where we do--

"...challenges the story that there was "nothing here when we came..."
"..faces up to the 'settler problem'..."
"...suggests real, enduring obligations."

In the first lecture, after he had fully warmed up his audience with stories of his life on Treaty 6 lands in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, Dr. Epp posed the first question, "What is the settler problem?" He then suggested it is time that we look at ourselves. We need to examine our moral indifference and historical ignorance of what Treaty Commissioner Duncan C. Scott labelled "the Indian Problem" during the 1920's. Although the Harper government delivered a frank and unequivocal apology for the abuses of the residential school system in 2008*, that apology has done "little to transform the settlers who still do not know the residential school story". Moreover, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in 2008 continues to work in obscurity.

This "willful amnesia" (sic. Dr. Epp's phrase) can be traced back to the myth of "no one's land"** that existed when the first settlers arrived here and the belief system that insisted that 1) cultivation was the justification for property rights; and 2) the wandering aboriginal tribes had no right to so much land. Thus the settler mythology offers justification for the hard work involved in clearing the land as "there was nothing here; when we came we made something of the land by hard work." Inevitably Mennonite settlement followed closely on displacement of aboriginals. In the discussion that followed, Dr. Epp referred to aboriginal oral history around the treaty-making process that speaks to the concept of "sharing the land"*** and also to new settlers who did not like competition and limited aboriginal access to markets and education.

In his second lecture, Dr. Epp re-emphasized that "we are all treaty people"****by virtue of the history in which we are entangled; thus we exercise treaty rights daily by living where we do. Thus, in our relationships with our aboriginal neighbours, we must be mindful of the following:

recognition of real, enduring differences between aboriginals and settlers
unavoidability of face to face encounters and contact
need to understand and to be a neighbour as opposed to "trying to find solutions/ to fix problems/to defeat or to dismiss"
the courage to stand alongside & to unsettle the settler within all of us.

In our daily lives then, if we are to face up to our own history and do the work of reconciliation, we will find ourselves walking "uncommon ground" where our work awaits us. This work requires:

the gift to be in the way
the willingness to accept the invitation
the openness to reciprocity
the sense of risk i.e. not knowing
listening, not talking
respect for the other's cultural protocols and sacred spaces
refusal to accept that the past is past.

In closing, Dr. Epp appealed to his Mennonite audience that Mennonites have certain advantages: a) the gift of proximity as they are settled all over Canada; b) share the same stories of displacement, sorrow & loss; as well as, c) share similar cultural traditions of giving/receiving hospitality and staging feasts.

Notes: * Somewhere in her mess of papers, RR hopes to find a news clipping of a previous apology made by then Indian Affairs Minister Stewart approx 10 years ago; ** concept of terra nullis; *** Per Dr. Epp: "this act of sharing is almost incomprehensible in its generosity" ****according one law professor it will take approximately 50 years to resolve all land claims that on average take approximately 16 years to resolve; one case filed in 1885 regarding land sold by an Indian agent who pocketed the money was finally resolved 120 years later.

heritage scavenger hunt #1

2011-02-21T14:40:00.003-05:00

Gentle reader, today's photos invite you to take a cyber stroll through downtown Kitchener in a longish block bounded by Francis, Duke, Frederick/Benton and Charles Streets. The vast majority of these heritage gems can be found on King Street. Clues are provided to help you identify each photo. Rambling Rose invites you to use the comments section to provide your best guesses and memories/associations evoked by each photo.

#1 (above)-this mural depicts a designated daylight factory designed by Albert Kahn that has been repurposed into residential lofts; this American architect also was involved in the design of another rubber factory farther west adjacent to the railway tracks.

heritage scavenger hunt # 2 and #3

2011-02-21T14:36:00.004-05:00

#2 (left) represents an artifact salvaged from a civic building demolished during the 1970s in a previous Kitchener attempt at downtown renewal; name the building where this historic artifact can be found currently-- its location also involved the demolition of entire block of historic commercial buildings; #3 (right) the sculpture of Mary of the seven sorrows graces a significant religious structure in downtown Kitchener.

heritage scavenger hunt #4 and #5

2011-02-21T14:32:00.005-05:00

#4 (left) is of the second and third storeys of a building that once upon a time lodged travellers but has been mothballed until the developer secures the financing to convert it into a boutique hotel; #5 (right) is the only pre-Confederation commercial building in downtown Kitchener.

heritage scavenger hunt # 6 and #7

2011-02-21T14:28:00.004-05:00

#6 (left) captures a decorative gargoyle adorning an Art Deco structure dedicated to the founders of Ontario Hydro; #7 (right) provides a detail of a building that throughout its history has been dedicated to academic pursuits.

heritage scavenger hunt # 8, & #9

2011-02-21T14:08:00.006-05:00

#8(left) window detail from oldest bank building still in use as bank at this King Street location--the drip mouldings are utilitarian and serve to redirect pigeon droppings away from the building; #9 (right) this row of buildings was an early adaptive reuse project undertaken by Shawkey Fahel responsible for similar projects in downtown Brantford for Wilfrid Laurier and an upcoming one in Cambridge/Hespeler on the Speed River.

heritage scavenger hunt #10 & #11

2011-02-21T14:02:00.005-05:00

These photos capture two tranquil spots in downtown Kitchener. Your challenge is to identify the buildings in the background: #11 (left)is a federal building whose construction was a stimulus project during the Great Depression; #12 (right) the white building in the background has been repurposed to house offices of major technological firms locally eg. Google etc.

heritage scavenger hunt #12 & #13

2011-02-21T13:57:00.004-05:00

#12 (left) is the exterior of another spiritual institution that provides a reading room where current and past issues of a highly respected newspaper are available; #13 (right) is of a tile mosaic mounted on a side wall of a building that provides multiple services to jobseekers and new immigrants locally.

heritage scavenger hunt #14 & #15

2011-02-21T13:51:00.005-05:00

These photos speak to Kitchener's German heritage: #14 (left) is a Glockenspiel. Challenge is to name the central location where it has been installed. #15 (right) is the oldest church building in Kitchener whose first pastor was nicknamed the "marrying pastor" on account of the great number of marriages he performed.

the curious case of the alien exotic garlic

2011-01-27T09:14:00.016-05:00

Alien garlic, gentle reader? Yes, alien garlic grown elsewhere at huge price differentials. During her latest shopping ramble, RR was searching for garlic to support her culinary adventures. She had two to choose from: the first, imported from China @ $0.49 per lb; the second, imported from the USA @ $3.49 per lb. Before that, the challenge was to find apple juice made from apples grown and processed in Canada after she wondered why, when we grow good apples locally, is she paying farmers elsewhere for their crop?

Then for one brief week last summer, RR was engaged in the debate as to the fat, juicy, flavourful blueberries she had brought home for an indulgent feast: "Here, enjoy, these are British Columbia blueberries that we once took for granted. Marvellous fluke that they have travelled cross-country to us!" An argument ensued to the effect that these blue jewels had come to us from the United States as that was the location of the packer but the label was "grown in Canada." Later last year that conundrum was solved [i.e. were those blueberries actually grown in Richmond, B. C. as RR adamantly continued to assert]. Her hostess explained the process as they were driving through the Lower Mainland blueberry fields. B. C. blueberries are shipped across the border for packing and continental transportation.

Gentle reader, RR would like to crunch some just-released numbers re inflationary pressures as follows:

Inflation of food prices in 2010: +53% corn; +49% wheat; 28% soybeans; +25% sugar. (1)
Fertilizer cost also rising. The same report also noted US ethanol policy requires increase in production; thus 40% of US corn crop diverted to ethanol production. (2)
Energy costs were higher across the board last month. Along with gasoline, natural gas rose 9.2 per cent from last year, electricity 6.2 per cent, and transportation costs, which are heavily influenced by gas prices, rose 4.9 per cent. (3)

Food production is extremely energy intensive; oil @ US $92 per barrel and still rising===> expect gas $1.20/ litre this spring +15-20% over year ago.*Food production is extremely energy intensive; oil @ US $92 per barrel and still rising===> expect gas $1.20/ litre this spring +15-20% over year ago. Each truck passing you on the elephant trail stretching from Windsor to Montreal guzzles $60,000 annual gas cost even though a local trucking company sets max speed @ 96kmh to conserve fuel costs. (1)

That's a pretty dismal picture already without factoring in the impacts of the 2010 wet,cold summer that decimated grain crops in the prairies. Nor does it take into account the extreme weather events such as the lake-effect snow that shut down Highway 403 this January and emptied nearby grocery stores within three days. So much for long-distance just-in-time delivery of basic necessities.

In the short term, RR has options: local farmers and specialty produce markets or to shop directly from regional Mennonite farmers.** As noted in reports dealing with agricultural supply management policies: "Old Order Mennonite farms approx 720 diversified farms with communal ownership of
equipment and frugal lifestyle continue to farm productively."

However, RR's personal culinary choices distract from the crucial issues: 1) this nation's food security; and 2) the ongoing loss of prime industrial farmland. The price differential between the garlic from China and that from US is worrisome. She suspects that China is dumping cheap garlic just as they did with cheap steel earlier this decade (Hamilton's steel industry has been incredibly hard hit). She also suspects that the most costlier US garlic factors in higher transportation and water costs-- both dependent on cheap gas and water flowing south from Canada and not adequately protected under NAFTA. As well, we need to more effectively protect our diminishing supply of prime agricultural land cf. map below
Numbers on map indicate growing areas sandwiched in between the hard rock of the mountains (pink) and Canadian Shield (rust): 1) BC's lower mainland between Vancouver and Hope; 2) the prairies: ranchland (cattle) and flatland (wheat); 3) southwestern Ontario; 4) the St. Lawrence Lowlands; 5) the Maritime valleys (apples); 6) the great Clay belt in northern Ontario and Quebec (very short growing season); 7) the Peace River region in northern Alberta (also extremely short growing season). We need to think of foodland security and protect the little that we have. End of rant!

Notes: * to track gasoline prices go to Www.Gasbuddy.com
The same report noted: “Oil companies are earning absolutely amazing profit margins” (1);
** Farmers markets: (1) Kitchener Market; 2) Waterloo Kitchener Stockyards; (3) St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market; (4) Guelph Farmers market; (5) Cambridge Farmers’ Market. Specialty niche food markets: niche market farmers 1) Organic beef @$1,000 more per animal sold directly to consumer by Baer’s Vibrant Farms ; 2) asparagus grown & sold locally by Peter Barrie, King’s Road Cambridge;
3) Oakridge farms, a cooperative of 32 local farmers.

Sources: (1)Canadian Press, Price at pumps could hit $1.20 per litre by spring, The Record 20 January 2011: (2)Michael Pento, Easy money behind food prices, National Post 22 Jan 2011; (3)Greg Mercer, Flexibility is its own reward, The Record 28 August 2010; (4)Watkins, Melissa & Stewart Hilts, Emily Brockie, Protecting Southern Ontario’s Farmland, University of Guelph Farmland Preservation Research project 2003;

supply management?

2011-01-24T14:09:00.018-05:00

Gentle readers, in its lead editorial ,"“Protectionism by any other name’"The National Post thundered forth: “Our government should ... put a stop to supply management...“Our protectionist agricultural policies, including dairy and poultry marketing boards, which shelter domestic farmers at the expense of consumers and international competitors by imposing heavy duties on foreign products and quotas on domestic production. These duties include tariffs as high as 295% on imported butter and cheese. Apart from raising roadblocks to trade, marketing boards also raise prices at the dinner table.” (1)

The following arguments were advanced to support that position:

A survey of farm-gate prices by the International Dairy Foods Association estimated prices for the past three years at $16.40 in the United States, $19.19 in the European Union, $14.49 in New Zealand and $29.87 in Canada (all prices in U.S. dollars per fixed weight)...Canadians pay twice the world market rate for dairy produce.
“...not only does the policy inflate consumer prices, but also the cost of farming. A farmer's purchase of entry-level quotas for chicken farming, for example, typically represents 75% of start-up costs.”
the average value of a family farm has increased by 74% in the past 15 years, to almost $1.3-million. The average farm income is 15% higher than the average Canadian family income. The average dairy farm in particular makes a 25% profit margin -- an enviable margin for any business, and certainly not one meriting government assistance.

The Post's editorial does present the viewpoint of "protectionists" who would argue: 1) the need to protect an "independent" food supply, which they claim would otherwise be eroded by cheap imported food; 2) the vagaries of farming, a business at the mercy of weather patterns and other forces beyond human control, which makes it difficult to earn a predictable, stable living.(1)

Earlier this past year, The Record's reporter Greg Mercer provided a profile of the local agricultural industry:

In the Region of Waterloo, total farmland @ 226,384 acres divided into 1,444 farms (ave farm @ 155 acres), 3,510 farm employment with average $275,880 gross revenue per farm;
the number of farms regionally is declining as 1) Beef and pig farmers are getting out of business why? Cheap beef imported from U S or South America & switching to growing corn and other crops; and 2) Processing plants are shutting down.

2008 gross revenue regionally? cattle revenue @ $93,000,000; dairy @ $80,000,000 (protected by supply management program); poultry @$ 50,000,000 (protected by supply management program); and hogs @ $ 37,600,000; corn @ $16,000,000. (2)

For another point of view, RR turned to a saved report whose author Wally Secombe writes: “The industrialization of farming[ i.e. larger, more specialized, capital-intensive and productive] would
appear inevitable as dictated by global competition [i.e. long-distance, export-oriented, market reach] is not working for the majority of Ontario’s farmers. It is also undermining [Ontario’s] future food security....52% of Ontario farmers earn less than $100,000 a year.....[resulting in] rural
depopulation....Every year we lose more of Canada’s best farmland to low-density urban sprawl... From 1951 to 2001, the Central Ontario region lost 49% of its farmland to the expansion of Greater Toronto Area...Ontario has 52% of best farmland in Canada;however, only 5% of Canada’s total area is suitable for farming." (3)

Locally there are exceptions to the overall trend to the twin pressures of industrialization and globalization of agriculture:

Mennonite farms approx 720 diversified farms with communal ownership of equipment and frugal lifestyle

niche market farmers: growers of organic beef @$1,000 more per animal sold directly to consumer by Baer’s Vibrant Farms; Asparagus sold locally by Peter Barrie, King’s Road Cambridge; 30 farmers retailing directly to the public via Oakridge farms. (2)

This ongoing loss of our minimal prime agricultural land should concern all of us. We need to guard against:

public policy makers who favour "More lucrative land uses such as residential development in urban-rural fringe area”
the self-interest of farmers forced "to remortgage their properties & rely on second jobs" (2) to supplement marginal farm income who considers selling prime agricultural land to land speculators. “Often far more profitable in the long term for a farmer to sell his or her land knowing that it may be converted to some non-agricultural land use, than to continue farming the land.” (4)

Sources: (1) "Protectionism by any other name," lead editorial National Post, 18 January 2011; (2)Greg Mercer, Stock farmers face the chop, The Record 28 August 2010 (3)Wally Secombe, A Home-Grown Strategy for Ontario Agriculture, Toronto Food Policy Council September 2007; (4) Watkins, Melissa & Stewart Hilts, Emily Brockie, Protecting Southern Ontario’s Farmland, University of Guelph Farmland Preservation Research project 2003.

Photos top to bottom: (1) Wellesley Township mixed farming operation; (2) locally produced dairy and meat products sold at Kitchener Farmers Market; (3) Brant County dairy herd; (4) West Montrose corn fields: (5) Old Order farming near Hawkesville, Ontario; (6) Baden farmer cutting hay; this particular farm no longer exists and has been covered with another suburban subdivision.

RR's diary: why? or why not?

2011-01-19T15:14:00.006-05:00

Gentle readers, today's photo was taken last summer when the City of Brantford was engaged in another heritage war. The buildings reflected in the shop window above were slated for demolition; at the eleventh hour according to one Brantford councillor, heritage advocates rallied to mount a spirited to campaign to ask "Why not save them?" The 46 heritage buildings that once lined Colborne Street have now faded into memory; their loss has been memorialized by the Heritage Canada Foundation as one of the Canada's top heritage losses of 2010.Later this year, RR has high hopes of captioning the photos RR took of what once was.

Time moves on even as history repeats itself. This past week has seen a resumption of old political strategies with the launch of attack ads (aka character assassination)targeting Ignatieff that suggest we might find ourselves embroiled in a possible spring election. James Travers, a veteran of the federal political scene, observes:

“ ...in current pre-election positioning, Conservatives are taking a stand on corporate tax cuts while lunging a second time at party subsidies. They’re not documenting how more breaks for already lightly taxed big business will create jobs, stimulate productivity or boost international competitiveness. They’re not explaining why a feel-good promise to cut the purse strings to federal parties isn’t a slippery-slope step backwards to the bad old days of backroom bagmen, influence pedaling and toll-gating federal contracts for political donations. Missing, too, from the national dialogue are looming challenges that dwarf the importance of the topics Conservatives prefer discussing. Off the table and out of mind are, among many things, the future of universal health care, the complex transition from hewing wood and drawing water to a post-industrial economy, and Canada’s changing place in a rapidly evolving. helter-skelter world."

Travers concludes with the wry observation that Harper is changing the fundamental nature of this country: "Determination and the patience to alter a country’s course, one incremental step at a time, are core characteristics of a prime minister who is changing Canada more fundamentally than friends or foes often recognize. Measuring Harper’s five-year re-alignment of Canada demands no more than deconstructing what the country is — and isn’t — talking about." (1)

Noted in RR's diary are the following:

Viewed: Sisters in the Wilderness ( i.e. Susanna Moodie & Catharine Parr Traill); Next DVD to watch ? A Question of Loyalties 1775-1815 (why? background to Ontario’s motto “loyal she began”) . These two DVD's are part of the excellent series: Canada: A People's History which aired ca 2002 on CBC & available at the local library. RR highly recommends watching them.
RR is currently reading: Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1952) & plans to purchase a copy of this classic @ $12.97 used on Chapters/Indigo website.
RR has also located and plans to purchase: Andrew Jackson Downing, Victorian Cottage Residences @ $5.24 used Chapters Indigo. This book is one of the pattern books used by nineteenth century builders to construct many of our Ontario classic (Gothic) and bracketed (Italianate) houses RR previously blogged about. Incredible that what once was lost has been found again!

Today's photo captures R. F. Kennedy's rallying call to his generation when he quoted G. B. Shaw: "

“There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why...

I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

RR should like to add another memorable RFK quote to counter the cynicism and the skepticism so prevalent now:

“ The answer is to rely on youth -- not a time of life
but a state of mind,
a temper of the will,
a quality of imagination,
a predominance of courage over timidity,
of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.

The cruelties and obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to the obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans.
They cannot be moved by those who cling to a present that is already dying,
who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger
that come with even the most peaceful progress.

It is a revolutionary world we live in,
and this generation at home and around the world has had thrust upon it a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.”-- R. F.Kennedy

Sources: (1) James Travers, Harper is at work patiently changing Canada, The Record 18 January 2011.

blue snow ( tales of survival)

2010-12-29T18:29:00.004-05:00

After recounting amazing tales of survival, Kathryn Blaze Carlson (1) asks her readers:

Could it be that our bodies and brains are capable of far more than we once thought?
Can we now dismiss the so-called Rule of Three -- the survival principle that says a person can survive roughly three minutes without air, three hours without shelter in extreme weather, three days without
water and three weeks without food?

She proceeds to redefine survival according to the latest research:

Those who are going to die from physical trauma, 95% will die within the first three hours of sustaining physical harm that could kill them. If a person lives beyond those three hours, they have a good chance -- strictly physically speaking -- of surviving the physical trauma.
People who will die by psychological trauma will die within three days because they cannot adapt to the new environment. Why? The brain is impaired in a disaster situation for about three days, before it returns to proper function. During that time it may, in fact, start shutting the body down.
psychology to survival: You will face many stressors in a survival environment that ultimately will affect your mind. These stressors can produce thoughts and emotions that, if poorly understood, can transform a confident, well-trained person into an indecisive, ineffective individual with questionable ability to survive.
The trick is to believe you can survive: 'Never give up' . Survival is goal-directed behaviour. Get organized, or die. Build something, count, recite poetry --anything that occupies the rational part of the brain.

An emergency survival kit contains all of the basic items you need to remain comfortable for at least three days immediately after or during an emergency: Flashlight and batteries; Radio and batteries or crank radio; Spare batteries (for radio and flashlight); First-aid kit; Telephone that can work during a power disruption; Candles and matches/lighter; Extra car keys and cash; Important papers (identification); non-perishable food (ready-to-eat items that do not require refrigeration; Manual can opener; Bottled water (4 litres per person per day); Clothing and footwear; Blankets or sleeping bag; Toilet paper and other personal items; Medication; Backpack/duffle bag; Whistle (to attract attention, if needed); Playing cards. (2)

Sources: (1) Kathryn Blaze Carlson, Redefining Survival, National Post 24 December 2010; (2) www.theweathernetwork.com
Photos: blue snow captures last ray's of setting sun in Moosonee (top) ; Cochrane Railway and Pioneer Museum & T&NO (Temiskaming and Northern Ontario) locomotive # 137 and its many artifacts that are housed in the three coaches and two CN cabooses. From steam engine to cabooses, it is a home to an abundance of railway memorabilia. Enjoy the trapper's cabin replica, antique photographs and display of the pioneer life in Cochrane.

2010-12-03T20:25:00.003-05:00

My desire to live is as intense as ever,
and though my heart is broken,
hearts are made to be broken: that is
why God sends sorrow into the
world....

To me, suffering seems now a
sacramental thing,
that makes those whom it touches holy
....
Any materialism in life coarsens the
soul.
–Oscar Wilde

the winter of a year's duration?

2010-05-12T11:05:00.011-04:00

Gentle, faithful readers, who are wondering, "whither spring?" ...be of good cheer as it could be worse cf. this reading from Ontario's early years:

"The spring of 1816...opened with as fair prospects as have appeared at the same season since. But the sunshine of the year's morn was followed by a long night of black despair. Snow commenced falling in June, and until spring came again the whole country was continuously covered by a wintry blanket. Practically nothing was gathered in the way of a crop. Everything rotted in the ground. There was no flour, there were no vegetables; people lived for twelve months on fish and meat--venison, porcupine, and ground-hog being varied with the thin meat of cattle slaughtered because there was no vegetation to sustain them. Hay was sent from Ireland to save the stock of the starving people of Quebec; and some brought here sold for forty-five dollars per ton....in the following year, flour was seventy dollars a barrel at Quebec, potatoes were a penny a pound, and the country was full of stories of the horrors endured during the winter of a year's duration.

"Happily the year 1817 was as prolific as the year before had been barren. Happily, too. there was a considerable migration in 1817 from Nova Scotia, which had escaped an affliction that appears to have been confined to Ontario, Quebec, and the Eastern States. The newcomers from Nova Scotia brought with them potatoes, that provided seed not only for themselves but for neighbours in Ontario who were without seed. These potatoes had a blue point and our Ontario people gave the name of 'blue-noses.' From the potatoes the name passed to Nova Scotians themselves. I am told that the people of Nova Scotia do not like the title. They should be proud of it. The name recalls the time when help from that province by the sea proved the salvation of sorely stricken Ontario.

.... "About 1833, army worms came in countless millions....literally covered the ground and trees were bare of foliage as in midwinter....About the same time a deluge of frogs fell upon the land. In the blazing heat of noonday sun these rotted and filled the air with poisonous vapors. For a time this province was cursed with a West Indian climate; cholera* developed and people died by hundreds. Some ten years before this... a tornado swept over a section about half a mile wide about Milton...There was one humorous episode during the storm...A young woman, named Eliza Harrison, was hanging out a washing as the storm broke. The next thing her mother saw as Eliza and the line of clothes whirling in the air above the tree-tops amid a cloud of branches and dust. Strange to say the girl landed in a field several hundred yards away, very little hurt. Eliza was the pioneer in aerial navigation in America."-- Source: W. L. Smith, The Pioneers of Old Ontario, Toronto 1923

Photos top to bottom, L to R: 1) Spring arrives in the Ottawa Valley; 2) & 3) Bluenose schooner anchored in Halifax harbour; this schooner is featured on the Canadian dime; 4) & 5) potatoes growing in Prince Edward Island--note the red soil in the last photo: the now obsolete $2 bill was printed in the exact colour of this fertile spud-growing soil.

Notes: the cholera of 1832-3 saw the arrival of Berlin's first physician: Dr. Scott, for whom Scott Street in downtown Kitchener has been named.

flying solo: high winds

2010-04-10T17:21:00.014-04:00

Friday 30 September 2005, Gulf of St. Lawrence

This is turning out to be a very rocky ride indeed but I am pleased to be heading home. Real told me the wind hit gale force of 80 kmh at 2 in the morning. It was still very windy and raining hard when I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for ferry
departure. I stayed outside for at least an hour to photograph Les Iles fading into memory before going down for breakfast. Another passenger told me about a house that
had been destroyed during the overnight gale.

map above shows Route 199 aka le Chemin Principal which links the seven islands with almost constant ocean and beach views. ... Per Ann Wallace, "don't leave the islands on your wish list for too long: about two feet of coastline are being lost to erosion and rising sea levels each season." Ann's wonderful overview of Les Iles with specific links to transportation and accommodation, etc. can be found here: www.whattravelwriterssay.com/ilesdelamadeleinepq.html

Friday 30 September 2005, Charlottetown

I am hobbling my way slowly through Charlottetown’s main street– one park bench after the other as I fell on the boat. The rocking had stopped, the floor appeared smooth under my feet as the ship crested another wave. When the boat came down, so did I– on my posterior with two anxious men in attendance– one was insisting I had hit my head. Not so, my poor aching back keeps telling me.

Blair was convinced the boat would not sail today and thus was not at the dock
to pick me up. Nonetheless he drove to Souris to pick me up. Upon arrival at Nora’s, a note and my keys were waiting for me. Yesterday’s photographer from Michigan found me on the boat and chatted me up. The ship’s crew gladly posed for photos; one
explained the intricacies as to which coiled rope was used to secure the boat.

Blair and I traded notes on the Magdalen Islands on the ride here from Souris. He detoured to have me photograph a splendid church. Nora’s welcome has been to give me Room #1 with extra amenities.* Bus leaves early in the morning for Moncton airport & I shall cross the Confederation Bridge by daylight.
This has been the experience I’d gone looking for and more. I can hardly wait to
see my photographs. Perhaps when I have stopped moving I shall be able to sift all the
impressions flooding my brain, for example, Charlottetown has some fabulous heritage
buildings.
So, I’ve done it–realized another impossible dream albeit alone. Also survived
the culture shock when I realized I was isolated on a chain of rainy windswept islands
and force to speak French. I suppose the woman who makes dolls will use me as her
inspiration for la touriste anglaise – the one with a camera around her neck, dictionary in
one hand, and cigarette in the other.

flying solo: the arms of Venus

2010-04-10T16:08:00.027-04:00

"Perhaps the Creator said, 'Let us take some MicMacs, some French and Acadians, some Basques and some Bretons, and some English for good measure... And let us place them on a few windswept sand bars in the mouth of a great river where the winters are harsh...The sea and land provide in abundance: fish and seafood, rich cream and cheese. Most of the residents are bilingual and --it seems--all welcome visitors with open arms. There are wonderful places to stay, delicious food, arts and crafts galore, music everywhere and spectacular walks. And then there are the colours : the azure sea and sky. the deep red cliffs, the green valleys and fields, the abundant wild flowers and those houses-- all seemingly painted in different colour combinations. It really is unique and magical."-- Ann Wallace, Discovering Iles de la Madeleine

Wednesday 28 September 2005, Havre Aubert Les Iles

A beautiful sunny day: thanks to rental of Real’s van, I managed to drive the entire length of the archipelago today. The sand dunes on either side of the highway are incredible – as I suppose the beaches are.
Left photo: Ile de la Grande Entree landscape

I shall focus on the beach near the B& B in Havre Aubert tomorrow as I shall make my way a pied (on foot) through the boutiques, the fishing harbour, and the beaches.

Photo top right: East Point Wildlife Reserve is composed primarily of sand. The landscape is characterized by stunted forests of spruce and fir, salt and fresh water marshes, and many active dunes and lagoons.

Real tells me I must go to Café Le Grave to hear the local Madelinots perform and sing. I suppose I am over culture shock now: the constant rain and necessity of speaking only French for three days set me back some plus sore throat and sinus infection. Would I return? Would I recommend Les Iles? Yes, to both questions. Now that finally seen all of the islands, I am satisfied to have experience this unique landscape and culture.
Right photo: Baie de Gross Ile. Close nearby is the Saleine salt mine that supplies most of Quebec's salt requirements. The islands are famous for the salt domes created by the salt pushing up the rocky overlayer.

The Madelinots are a kind decent hospitable people and make excellent hosts. No wonder tourism is the #2 industry here. The greatest gift has been Blandine, who in spite of the language barrier, is a kindred spirit. This sense of becoming friends in the space of two days and three nights has been amazing. When we parted, she told me, “you must stay with me again if you do come back.”

Right photo: note the eroding red sandstone cliff. This is sedimentary rock, 99% quartz covered with thin layer of iron oxide, which gives the stone its reddish colour. Baie Seacow, Grande Entree

Thursday 29 September 2005 Havre Aubert

A very windy day: I have discovered there is no place to hide from the winds that blow constantly here. Even inside when I lie down for a brief nap and am buffeted by the constant windsong against the walls of this house. Nonetheless, I’ve had a fabulous day: La Grave, the historical site located right here, afforded a fascinating photo shoot as did the rocky beach, the Demoiselles (two conical hills) and Cap Grindley. Toured several boutiques but most were busy shutting down for this tourist season. Most memorable was one artist’s studio that featured haunting charcoal studies; later I encountered another photographer from Michigan who plan to turn his images into a book. Stopped at Bar Brophy for bowl of creme de carottes soup and icky sweet dessert with enticing name “the arms of Venus”. The Sandy Hook beach where they hold a building sand castles competition is much too far to walk; I choose to continue with Le Chemin Principal, the main drag through the Island. Long conversation with store owner who tells me that cedar shingles are best against salt spray; earlier Louise had told me the deep saturated exterior colours are stain (not paint). After I praised the red front owner, the store owner invited me to the back of the house to tour his private dwelling. We discussed historical restoration and constructions according to Quebec roles; I learn that the province makes grants available to assist homeowners in meeting the strict requirements. All in all, this was a most fascinating conversation as this historical site is not a living museum but rather provides a background and the historical context for an active fishing harbour, a commercial street with boutiques and tourist accommodation. There are two museums and interpretative signs and maritime artifacts everywhere. There are 12,000 people living here who every summer host 50,000 tourists primarily from Quebec. Tomorrow’s cruise ship from Montreal will bring another 400 visitors – in all likelihood for some business convention. It all makes sense now as this archipelago of island (90 km from end to end) has more sandy beaches than our Great Lakes– perhaps an exaggeration? The dunes are amazing: learned that Les Sillons are the walking dunes.
Sunset finds me back inside the B & B. The wind screams now: I asked about
wind speed and was told 39 km. If by tomorrow morning, the wind speed reaches 80 kmh, the ferry crossing will be cancelled and I shall be stuck here. I spent the last two hours on the beach watching sea water surge over the rocks and the gulls in flight. Then I walked to Café de la Grave to find standing room only as the café was hosting an opening reception with canapes and wine for photographic exhibit. Although the café owner asked me to wait until he could seat me, I slipped and hope to try later to experience the Madelinot ambience. Am currently snacking on a baquette with pate and beer. The room I am in is taking the full burst of this wind and will be an experience I shall long remember. No wonder Real has the table and chairs on the upstairs balcony secured with wire to the porch railings!

flying solo: a maritime welcome

2010-03-02T13:45:00.017-05:00

Tuesday 26 September 2005, Fatima Les Iles de la Madeleine

I sit on Blandine’s porch now that the rain has stopped. She will drive me to Havre Aubert this afternoon as there are no tours possible and no rental cars available. It rained all night and I woke up in a panic that I would be unable to return to the mainland by ferry. I have settled down some as spent this rainy morning watching two videos of Les Iles courtesy Blandine who kept checking weather forecasts throughout this morning. After lunch with Blandine and learning how to make croissants, we set out for Havre Aubert where we toured an artist studio as well as the La Musee de Mer.

We stopped to visit Real and Louise Pinchaud where I shall spend my next two days on Les Iles. That visit was fun as my hosts know each other very well and Real/Louise are fluent in English and were able to assist with translations. Louise asked Blandine how we were able to communicate. Blandine’s reply? avec le dictionnaire tout le temps.

Over tea I asked Louise to recommend a restaurant with good cakes and tea where I could take Blandine on our way back to Fatima. She recommended Le Flaneur, a tea room and artist studio. Louise’s recommendation turned out to be a fabulous experience as the whimsical dolls created by the artist-owner were exceptional as was the incomparable selection of specialty teas and assortment of gateaux. Together we discussed how the cheesecake with kiwi coulis had been assembled. I experienced a rare warm hospitality in spite of the biting cold wind coming at me from all sides of Havre Aubert.

Later tonight I shall walk to a restaurant nearby in Fatima. Blandine has assured me “just call for a ride as it will be dark by when you come back. I shall also need to study my tour guides as tomorrow I shall have Real’s van to tour all of the islands and take pictures.

Today’s highlights: 1. Artisans du Sable: http://www.artisansdusable.com/fr/nous/boutique 2. La Musee de Mer: http://www.bonjourquebec.com/qc-en/attractions-directory/museum-inte rpretation-centre-historic-site/musee-de-la-mer_1172925.html 3. Le Flaneur galerie d’art-boutique-salon de the: http://www.leflaneur.com/arthure.html

"As for the people of Vancouver and British Columbia, they were superlative hosts."--Record editorial this date: high praise indeed! applies equally to Les Madelinots who hosted RR by the other shining sea!

Memory supplies the details missing in the narrative mailed home: after a sleepless night listening to the keening wind rattling Blandine's B & B, RR over breakfast suggested she would prefer to take ferry back to PEI as she feared being stranded on Les Iles; Blandine refused to hear of it and suggested checking the weather reports and after a few more cups of coffee offered to give RR the guided tour described above. The few photos showing blue skies and sunshine in this blog were taken later that week; it rained for the entire day!

Photos reading top to bottom, L to R: 1) La Musee de Mer scale models of herring smokehouse and fishing boat; 2) Les Demoiselles, Havre Aubert: the typical landform here are rounded conical hills that are underlain by more resistant rock types; the intervening softer rock has been eroded away; 3) Artisans du Sable, adjacent to Baie de Plaisance: collective of artisans who produce sculpture, urns, etc. from sand from the islands; to do this they use an exclusive process that solidifies the sand and makes it extremely durable; cf. sand sculpture of 4)sand castle in shop window, 5) bull and 6) people sculpture adjacent to studio entrance; 7) front entrance Chez Charles Pinchaud, Havre Aubert. This heritage home has been lovingly restored by its present owners; 8) another maquillage (wood model) of historical structure incorporating wooden figures; 9) display of all lighthouses on Les Iles-- interpretative panels document all countless shipwrecks-- en route to La Musee de Mer, Blandine took RR past a church that had been constructed entirely from wood salvaged from shipwrecks.

flying solo: a mare usque ad mare*

2010-03-01T15:07:00.016-05:00

“an epic, unforgettable journey of discovery - across a land visually blessed - rich
in history -- and profoundly human"
--John Furlong, CEO Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games

Monday 26 September 05 12:30 p.m. Tim Horton’s, Cap aux Meules (Grindstone Island, Les Iles de la Madeleine, P. Q.)

The heavy overcast skies have not stopped me from photographing fishing boats in the harbour here. Blandine dropped me off at the Tourist Centre @ $6.00 to cover cost of her gas. I have walked and stopped my way here for my first pitstop of this day. Chose to come to Tim Horton’s for the relative anonymity and chance to sort my thoughts i.e. to rent a car or to keep walking? I am back at Tim Horton’s again: to rest my feet, use washroom, and shelter from the rain. No car available until 7:00 p.m. when
the cruise from Montreal leaves the harbour. -- Have just ordered my next coffee entirely in French. The woman was pleased with my speaking French to her.-- I struggle with the constant need to speak French and to search for words with everyone I meet. Je suis arrive a un pays etrangere.

Tomorrow will be sunny-–too bad that both tours were sold out. Going on my own allows me to stop and chat: this morning with woman tourist who had left her husband and aging parents behind at the motel in order to do her walkabout. She asked
me, “Why go on vacation to spend it in a motel?” and encouraged my discovery of the Harbour Area. The economy of the islands depends heavily on tourism in July & August. The marketing (publicite) done by Nancy is brilliant as are the photography, website, and official tourist brochures.

Am I disappointed? Not really as I am always fascinated by
the interplay between illusion and reality. Blandine agreed when I observed, “winters are
difficult for les Madelinots”** but said they don’t have too much snow. Will there be relief
from today’s rain? Likely not as spoke with young girl in English who gives me the scoop:
it always rains here, lucky to get two days of sunshine back to back.

Went on wild goose chase to L’Etang du Nord where all is shut down. Had I taken the train to Quebec City, I could find lots to do no matter what the weather. Next stop: Le bistro Les Pas Perdus conceived and run by a couple of twenty-somethings who are fluently bilingual. I admire the funky interior painted in saturated orange/umber contrasting with a deep cobalt blue. On the walls, works of art by local artists are for sale. I have linguine carbonara with the local cheese– tasty but quite rich.

The conversations en francais I have with Blandine are rather amazing. She picked me up at Les Perdues and then detoured to show me La Dune du Nord & the red cliffs. Always up here at Blandine’s there is the north wind blowing through the blue spruce. Is this then my real voyage of discovery to converse in a foreign language with a stranger–she la francoise and I the anglais?

Vignettes of this day: • the cook from the Coast Guard vessel ashore to pick up groceries and anxious to get back to ship to prepare the crew’s supper for tonight;
• the young girl who moved here with her mom nine years ago tells me, “That’s what my Mom says. When I’m 18, she’ll start travelling and going places;”
• I ask Steve, “how far do you go out to catch herring?” He tells me, “8 to 9 hours
by boat and we begin fishing at 5:00 a.m.”
• I ask Nancy about the gas exploration here and she says “they keep it secret”: I
appear to know more than Les Madelinots. I compare this to my experience re
the search for diamonds in the James Bay Lowlands at Attawapiskat; there I
waited until at last a student whose father worked there gave me the info. The
Sierra Club is now challenging the development there on the grounds the natural
habitat i.e. the muskeg will be destroyed forever. ===> DeBeers has transformed Attawapiskat and the Lowlands since RR wrote the above. RR fears the same will happen to Les Iles eventually. Corridor Resources holds exploration licenses to 1,450,000 acres in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; initial drilling program at "Old Harry" prospect with potential of several billion barrels of recoerable oil and/or trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, and is one of the largest undrilled structures in eastern Canada. At time of RR's trip to Les Iles, Corridor was to have drilled a second initial exploration well at Cap aux Meules (Grindstone Island). Cf also the potential environmental costs at this link to Environment Canada re risks to migratory birds of oil spills.

Notes: * a mare usque ad mare=from sea to sea i.e. Canada's motto, was derived from Psalm 72:8 which reads "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." cf the other sea: "All this [i.e. Olympics Vancouver 2010] happened in the middle of a breathtakingly beautiful and wet city on the edge of the sea.*** The sea was part of the show too, the importance of that sea and what is in it." --Ian Brown, The idea of Canada, on display The Globe and Mail February 14, 2010

** the islands have until very recently been cut off from the mainland; today's research reveals that now a winter ferry connects les Madelinots to the mainland-- crucial to access essential services-- although there is an airport on the islands.

***RR's home for one glorious decade: when the eastern media descended upon Lotusland by the sea, they made much of the fact that the first Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies to be held indoors; a bit later RR thought to herself, "well, of course, winter in Vancouver is all about the constant rain."

“We’re more than just hockey and fishing lines / off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes /
and some say what defines us / is something as simple as please and thank you / and as
for you’re welcome / well we say that too / but we are more / than genteel or civilized.
We are an idea in the process of being realized/we are young/we are cultures strung
together then woven into a tapestry/and the design is what makes us more than the sum
total of our history/we are an experiment going right for a change/with influences that
range from a to zed/ and yes we say zed instead of zee/we are the true north /strong
and free/and what’s more /is that we didn’t just say it/we made it be.”-- Shane Koyczan, Vancouver 2010 opening ceremonies

Photos top to bottom, reading L to R: 1) Entry Island is accessible only by boat; 2) Madelinot fisherman at work; 3) Gros cap and the cliffs of Cap aux Meules (Grinstone Island) are dominated by the Irving monopoly in the Maritimes; 4) fishing trawler berthed in Cap aux Meules Harbour; 5) & 6) colourful boutique and shop window located on Chemin Principale, Grindstone's main commercial artery; 7) the sea arches at Belle Anse/Fatima: crevices and arches are being eroded in the red sandstone bedrock along weaknesses caused by fractures in the bedrock; 8) map of Les Iles: pink highlight indicates RR's route of discovery through these islands.

flying solo: getting there

2010-02-23T11:35:00.030-05:00

Globe and Mail columnist Lysiane Gagnon opines that "the opening ceremonies [of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics] ... were a blatant insult to francophones." Ms Gagnon proceeds to offer up the following: 1) "the show virtually excluded any reference to Canada's French culture"*; 2) "Not a word of French was spoken apart from a song written years ago by Jean-Pierre Ferland"; 3) "there was not a single French Canadian in the five-person team of athletes chosen to carry the Olympic flame to the cauldron." The column concludes: "Quebeckers... watched the opening ceremonies with anticipation and pride as Canadians and Quebeckers. And then they realized they weren't invited to the party."

One of the more fortunate outcomes of the non-stop media coverage of the Olympics has been the marked upswing in provincial tourism advertising. Perhaps many who are visiting the Games will invite their new friends to visit their home provinces? For the duration of the Games, RR has prorogued serious blogging activities and invites her gentle readers to become armchair travellers and fly with her to Les Iles de la Madeleine, Province de Quebec cf. map below:
Les Iles de la Madeleine (the Magdalen Islands) are located in the Gulf of St Lawrence; the chain of islands forms a visually and geologically stunning archipelago @ 180 square km size. The 13,500 French-speaking Madelinots are primarily engaged in fishing and seal-hunt occupations and/or tourism. Up to 40,000 tourists visit these islands annually--arriving there either on a CTMA cruise ship from Montreal (@ $2,500 minimum cost) or by car on a ferry from Souris, Prince Edward Island.
Photos L to R: Cap aux Meules harbour's fishing fleet; commercial catch in order of importance: lobster, snow crab, mackerel, herring, scallopas and ground fish. Right photo with CTMA cruise ship (owned and operated by Les Madelinots) in the background. Tourism is the second most important industry on the islands.

RR's predilection for off-the-beaten-path travel necessitated that she become her own travel agent as well as flying solo during the off-season. Getting there proved challenging but immensely rewarding: WestJet Hamilton to Moncton, taxi to Moncton downtown bus terminal, Acadian bus trip to Charlottetown, PEI with overnight stay at a tourist home, the East Connection passenger shuttle from Charlottetown to Souris, PEI, the CTMA car and passenger ferry crossing @ 5 hours to Cap aux Meules harbour where she was picked up by her B & B hostess. All in all, two days travelling time to cover a distance of 2,009.6 km during the best of times.

Discovering and making the local connections in advance of her trip were but the first hurdle; next was the flight cancellation by WestJet that necessitated returning home overnight; after that, inclement weather i.e. gale warnings made the ferry crossings iffy and tentative at best. As RR noted in a letter home, "For now this trip is dicey as gale warning in Gulf is in effect– oh well, all of life is such a gamble; travelling disrupts the comforts of home and is a form of eustress and a hedge against entropy."

Further notes from her quasi-trip diary**:

Sat 24 Sept 05 @ 5:35 p.m./Main Street Moncton:

blue skies and sunshine prevail; excellent light for photos and I pause to eat pita before shooting the Main Street scape & buildings before shadows deepen; I have chatted with store owner doing restoration of heritage building who tells me that the main competition for the downtown here as at home are the power centres. He believes that niche quality boutiques will bring folks downtown.*** Cf. the Gallic colour influence in Moncton's historical downtown (next photos): the saturated red and blue shop window, the maroon cornice of heritage building repeated in the photo of a deer sculpture and a public square. Graphics are from snake and ladders placemat purloined from Moncton restaurant to be used as stationery.

Sunday 25 September 2005, 9:00 p.m.

I have arrived in Les Iles and am upstairs in my room Chez Blandine and Thomas. Blandine is busy in the kitchen downstairs-–after having attempted to arrange my tours for me. No success as they are fully booked. Les Iles continues a prime vacation destination for Les Quebecois and apparently a tour group arrived today. All of the above I learn in French as Blandine speaks no English. Needless to say my head hurts just now from the hard work of polishing my French.

Shot one roll of the ferry’s departure from Souris & the approach to the Magdalen Islands. Captain announced in barely intelligible English that our temperature was 15C . I met a young fiddler who posed for photo. He was absolutely amazing: used both feet to achieve percussion effects & all of his body, soul, heart were engaged with his fiddling. What a wonderful first taste of Madelinot culture.

I just told Blandine: “”I am still in Canada but I have travelled to another country.” Ah yes, she agreed. There’s an island culture at work here. Visually the houses nestled against the hillsides remind me of northern mining towns–Kirkland Lake in particular but without the hardness of the Precambrian rock. They’re rather amazing really– set out as they are and surrounded on all sides by the Gulf of St. Lawrence. And so different in atmosphere and culture from PEI.
I went through Morell, PEI this morning on my way to Souris. Blair, my driver, spoke constantly of KC Irving and sons who appear to own and control most of the Maritime economy (including Cavendish potatoes).

Next group of photos L to R clockwise: approach to Les Iles de la Madeleine at dusk; ferry crew at work preparing to secure the massive ship upon arrival; the young fiddler who entertained the ferry's passengers for two hours in the ship's lounge; the ferry in its Cap aux Meules berth; note colour and texture of the ropes.

Am certainly disoriented today. The ferry ride was smooth sailing but my legs felt wobbly, was all thumbs inserting film into my camera, my speech (especially in French) is halting and yet look at the distance I have travelled in 48 hours & what I have already seen: the clay red Petitcodiac river, the forests and lakes/rivers of Maine & New Brunswick laid out as an embroidered tablecloth beneath the aeroplane, crossed over on the longest bridge anywhere i.e. the Confederation Bridge over Northumberland Strait, talked to couple from Victoria, B. C. who are off next to visit Newfoundland. Had bowl of seafood chowder for brunch in Souris cf. last photos of historical Souris main street and the Souris harbour. Blair's precautionary move to have me in Souris hours ahead of the ferry's scheduled departure (that could be advanced because of inclement weather) provided time for a leisurely stroll of this community.

Notes: * Now you see it, now you don't: today's version of the Gagnon column has been drastically pruned i.e. the first online version contained a rant that the First Nations of British Columbia had been given a starring role; statistics are used to magnify the supposed slight i.e. aboriginals account for only 3% of Canada's population whereas Quebeckers make up 23% of Canada's population. Ah yes, we Canucks are one big happy quarrelling family as always.
** RR had jettisoned her journal to make room for a paperback French-English dictionary; thus, the Les Iles trip diary was recorded on the back of paper placemats mailed home and now being transcribed into a more permanent record as she checks scans and photo captions; the Moncton placemat foreshadowed the following scribble: how to cope when you don’t speak the language first try: I ask, “Do you speak English?” She replies, “ A little. Parlez vous Francais?” I reply: “Non, tres peu.” Nonetheless, we discuss lodgings and my arrival there ½ English and ½ Francais. I conclude a stress card may be needed for the hostess and the tourist to swap!
***RR's trip afforded her brief walkabouts in two provincial capitals: Moncton and Charlottetown; in both cities, the historical downtowns were filled with pedestrians enjoying a night on the town; perhaps local planners need to visit and share tips re urban renewal and revitalization?

(1) Sources: Lysiane Gagnon,The big snub tarnishes Quebec gold, Globe and Mail February 19, 2010 accessed Feb 19, 2010 and Feb 23, 2010

pro-(rogue)-nation?

2010-02-04T14:03:00.010-05:00

Gentle readers, the prompt for this blog is an editorial cartoon by MacKay of the Hamilton Spectator. At the top of the staircase we find our current prime minister asking, “Laureen, did you unpack my grand doctrine on enlightened sovereignty since I got back from Davos?” The power behind the throne appears only as a bubble with her reply: “Yeah, I put it in the second drawer between your blue sweater vest and your hidden agenda.” Rather fitting as a year ago this time, RR had resolved to waste no further energies deconstructing political spins, image makeovers, and/or hidden agendas. However, the time has come to take stock as quite possibly we may have another federal election as early as 10th April according to one pundit. (1)

According to James Travers, we have reached a tipping point: “By arbitrarily closing Parliament for the second time in 13 months [Harper] unwittingly drew unexpected and unwanted attention to what happens here when it’s nominally open....Parliament is dark because the prime minister is tired of being embarrassed by rivals shining their little lights into Afghanistan shadows...Harper’s great unintentional gift to Canadians is a wake-up call.” (2)

In a lead editorial, The Globe and Mail warns: "A new struggle for parliamentary rights is under way, and this time it is the prime minister who is wielding potentially autocratic powers....Twice in a year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has demonstrated that Canada's head of government can act unilaterally, although lawfully, to suspend a legislature....A basic requirement for responsible government in the parliamentary system, where the executive and legislative branches are partly fused, is for the executive to be answerable for its actions to an elected legislature....Without the ability to vote its confidence, or not, in the government, Parliament was denied its chief weapon against prime ministerial power. It is time the rules governing prorogation changed. Canada's Parliament has shown itself vulnerable to an excessive concentration of power, and hence is hampered in fulfilling its role as the ultimate sovereign body. The prorogation of 2008 has now been followed by another, this time simply for partisan tactical convenience. The Prime Minister is misusing the power to shut down Parliament, and in the process destabilizing Canada's democracy." (3)

In a letter to the editor, local resident Paul Marrow rightly observes that "government is a very different entity than Parliament." Marrow notes that our current Conservative government

represents 38 per cent of the voters (5.2 million Canadians)
governs with a minority of seats (46 per cent)
and answers to its leader and his partisan agenda.

Parliament, on the other hand, represents 13.8 million voters, and indeed all 33.5 million Canadians. Parliament bears the responsibility of bringing citizen concerns to government’s attention and more critically holding government to account. Under prorogation Parliament essentially ceases to exist. (4)"The prime minister derives his right to govern from Parliament, yet his authority is vastly strengthened by the unwritten part of the constitution, powers accrued by the prime minister from an accumulation of royal prerogatives, including powers to effectively suspend or dissolve parliament and even to declare war. The prime minister has acquired further powers by rules of the House of Commons, including, in practice, the authority to pick (and thereby control) most parliamentary committee chairs. The cumulative result is that the prime minister in this country now threatens to subsume the legislature. The Canadian prime minister wields more power in his or her own right, unchecked by cabinet or Parliament, than the prime ministers of the other major Westminster-style democracies." (3)

Thus, one can only hope for a spring election and an informed electorate mindful of this government's track record (first elected in 2006). Political scientist and commentator Geoffrey Stevens tracks how the promises to reform the political system to ensure greater transparency and accountability have disappeared from the Harper agenda. The Harper government has:

“Issued a manual to its members instructing them how to sabotage the Commons committees they chair”
“Refused to abide by an order, passed by majority vote in the Commons, to procure documents for a parliamentary committee studying the Afghan detainee issue?”
“[broke]” its own fixed-election law”
“[prorogued] Parliament: first “ to avoid a dangerous non-confidence vote”; second, [to avoid] “answering embarrassing questions about the Afghan detainees”
“[ignored] rulings of the Supreme Court [unanimous] ruling re Omar Khadr i.e. [The government of Canada] violated his constitutional rights by participating in illegal, coercive interrogations of the young Canadian at the U. S. prison for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.”

“Gained effective control of the Senate on Friday when it filled five vacancies*...[thus far] has appointed 33 new senators to the 105-seat house. Everyone has been a certified Conservative pledged to support the Harper agenda." 5)
James Travers adds further abuses he describes as "”ways and means so dark and Machiavellian”: “ Imagine directly challenging the independence and objectivity of the
- chief electoral officer, sacking the nuclear safety watchdog for dutiful barking and then systematically choking counterparts probing issues as diverse and seminal as timely access to information, complaints against the RCMP." (2)

Nonetheless, the spin continues: A statement from the Prime Minister's Office called the appointments "another step toward implementing the government's tackling-crime agenda and respecting the will of the democratically-elected House of Commons. Our government is serious about getting tough on crime. Since we were first elected, we have made it one of our highest priorities. The Liberals have abused their Senate majority by obstructing and eviscerating law-and-order measures that are urgently needed and strongly supported by Canadians." (7) Oh, really? By shutting down Parliament, the following bills related to crime have been scrapped: BILL C-15 Amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act; allows judges to impose harsh sentences on drug traffickers; Third reading in Senate 62 hours, 3 minutes; c. BILL C-46 Gives police power to look for online predators @Second reading in House 5 hours, 10 minutes; BILL C-58 Requires Internet service providers to report tips about child pornography Second reading in House 4 hours, 39 minutes. (8)

Harper's rationale for shutting down Parliament earlier was that his government needed time to focus on the economy and to prepare this year's budget--perhaps to allow for the following wasted monies? cf." Last year, the cost of running the House of Commons was $417-million, with the equivalent of 1,871 full-time employees overseeing things like maintenance, computer networks, security and payroll...Using government budget estimates, the Liberal Party has calculated that the average cost of running Parliament is about $2-million per sitting day. Given that prorogation cut 22 such days from the previous schedule, the opposition calculates that the Harper government is wasting $48-million out of Parliament's annual budget." (8)

How many ordinary Canadians have been given 22 paid holidays this winter? For the rest of us, we can console ourselves with repeat commercials advertising Canada's economic action plan promoting all of the tax credits that we can magically pull off the federal financial tree. Ah yes, even those tax credits come with a worm at their very core....Increased taxes for years to come as we pay down another colossal deficit.

Notes: *“Filling Senate vacancies and reconstituting Senate committees to reflect the new
Conservative numbers was one of the driving forces behind Harper’s controversial
decision to prorogue Parliament.” (6)

Sources: (1) unknown-- entire article was bookmarked but the link was lost when the motherboard was replaced; time will tell que sera sera; (2)James Travers, Canadians are waking up to Harper’s parliamentary abuses, The Record 28 January 2010; (3)Time to stand up for Parliament, editorial The Globe and Mail, 23 January 2010; (4)Paul Marrow, We need leaders , not partisan politicians, letter to editor The Record 28Jan 2010; (5)Geoffrey Stevens, Harper mantra shifts from reform to control, The Record 2 Feb 2010; (6)Canadian Press, Five new senators named by Prime Minister Harper, The Record accessed 29
January 2010; (7)Stephen Thorne, Five new senators named by Prime Minister Harper, Canadian Press January 29, 2010; Daniel Leblanc, What Parliament looks like running at half speed, The Globe and Mail 22 Jan 2010

fantasyland

2009-11-24T13:17:00.025-05:00

Gentle reader, today's first photo of Element night club's pent roof with Spanish tiles contrasting strongly with the bracketed cornice of its neighbouring commercial building has long puzzled Rambling Rose.

These red-hued tiles are an anomaly in the remaining nineteenth-century Berlin streetscape of downtown Kitchener (pop. 224,000). The tiles are original to this building's first use: Capitol Theatre 1921 with 1200 seats (architect:J. M. Jefferies); the building is listed on City of Kitchener Heritage Register and is the city's last remaining vintage theatre building. Hidden behind the metal siding (next photo) is the original facade; inside there still exist a pressed tin ceiling with original ceiling medallion and second floor balcony.

Third photo is of Prince Rupert, B. C. Capitol Theatre 1928-1981 architects W. Dodd and Company. This theatre opened as a combined vaudeville theatre and movie house but has since been converted to a mini mall to tap into the cruise ship market.

Both buildings share a common architectural history and are representative of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style of the 1920s to 1940s. This style was chosen to evoke an air of fantasy and associations with Hollywood, California. Architectural features include: smooth stucco walls;gently pitched red tile or pseudo-tile roofs; arched doorways and window openings; covered porches and curvilinear gables.(1)

Within the Canadian context, these two Spanish Colonial Revival theatre buildings are quite rare as world-wide only 175 were ever built. The most spendid surviving example nationally would appear to be Vancouver's Orpheum Theatre 1927 (architect B. Marcus Priteca) which is currently home to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra & has begun screenings of silent film classics, accompanied by the theatre's organ.

Architecturally, the building was constructed in a "flamboyant Spanish Baroque style (also referred to as Moorish) with exuberant arches, tiered columns and interlaced mouldings executed in marble, travertine, cast stone and plaster. The Orpheum originally seated 2,800 theatre-goers on two levels and was constructed of reinforced concrete and structural steel, with the largest balcony girder weighing in at 28 tons." In its glory days, patrons were greeted by a manager who wore a tuxedo.

Fourth photo: King Street W north side with Elements (L) and the pre-Confederation Georgian Canadian Block (R)

Other communities have undertaken restoration projects and converted these obsolete movie palaces** into venues for the performing arts:

Brantford, ON's Capitol Theatre (originally Temple Theatre 1919 architect Thomas Lamb***)has become the City of Brantford’s Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts; the 1989 restoration was recipient of the Prestigious “Theatre Preservation Award” presented by the League of Historic American Theatres.
Moncton, New Brunswick's The Empress Theatre 1908 & the Capitol Theatre 1922 @ 1400 seats have become Moncton’s Performing Arts Centre @ cost of $3.5 million restoration costs.
Chatham, ON is doing likewise: "The Chatham Capitol Theatre Coalition made a proposal to save the theatre and restore it as an entertainment venue. $7.7 million= cost of construction to
date to structurally complete approximately 50% of the Capitol Theatre; $23 million economic impact from the project to date – for every dollar spent on construction there is a spin-off of three dollars in the community at large.

Paired photos above: partial nineteenth century Berlin-era streetscape; the post modern Canada Trust skyscraper required demolition of several historic structures in downtown Kitchener; Prince Rupert's early twentieth century streetscape is seen as prized asset to promote cultural tourism.

However, some of these architecturally splendid buildings are slated for demolition:

London ON's Capitol theatre was sold to local developer Shmuel Farhi to be turned into a parking lot;(2) however, London City Council will be spending $5.6 M to save the Capitol's facade (arched windows, decorative columns, intricate stonework) in order to to keep historic character of the downtown and avoid having a gap-toothed streetscape. Nancy Tausky, heritage consultant, pointed out: “ You see somebody with a big gap and you don’t notice the other teeth. You notice the gap and I think the same thing happens when you interrupt a historic streetscape.” (3)
Not so locally as the City of Kitchener purchased and then demolished the Lyric theatre, located a few steps west of the still extant Capitol/ Club Elements to prevent a porn theatre from opening up shop downtown. In its role as vice-cop, this City's Council spent approx $9.7 M to create a gap-toothed streetscape and a huge parking lot still awaiting redevelopment. Cf. line drawings & photos adjacent.

"During the late 1920s it became fashionable to design atmospheric theatres. These were most prominently characterized by their sky-like covered ceilings on which moving images of clouds and stars, and sometimes of moons and airplanes, were projected. Pastiches of building facades or garden walls at the sides gave the illusion of open-air town squares or courtyards, often in a Spanish or other ethnic theme. The most fully developed example remaining in Canada is the Granada at Sherbrooke, Québec (D.J. Crighton, 1929). Here, 2-storey house fronts with ceramic-tiled roofs give glimpses of a night-time landscape beyond, through their columned loggias typical of southern Spain." (4)

Port Hope Ontario former Capitol 1930/ now Cameco Capital Arts Centre (1993 restoration @ $6 million dollars bills itself as "one of only two surviving operational "atmospheric" theatres in Canada. The building's "fantasy decor, designed to divert the audience away from everyday cares and set the stage for the show to come on stage and screen." Building features included:

Front facade adopts the character of a Norman castle, complete with leaded glass, diamond-paned windows, and a marquee which emulates a drawbridge, supported by heavy iron chains;
foyer is 15 feet wide: walls were painted in art deco colours, and the beams on the ceiling bore stencilled motifs of Cornish roses, Scottish thistles, and Fleur-de-lys;
to evoke the illusion that patrons were seated outdoors, use of brenograph to project images of stars and moving clouds onto a grey painted, seamless ceiling.

Unique to Ontario is Toronto's Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre centre (architect Thomas W.Lamb of New York) that is billed as the only one built in Canada and the last one operating in the world; completethat foreshadows the 21st century multiplex "movie palaces" ****Both theatres have undergone a complete restoration in the mid 1980s by the Ontario Heritage Foundation:

Lower Elgin /Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre 1913: gilded plaster details, faux marble finishes, damask wall fabrics;
Upper Winter Garden 1914: hand-painted with garden scenes, columns disguised as tree trunks, ceiling and balcony hung with real beech leaves*****, cotton blossoms, and garden lanterns. (4)

whither summer?

2009-11-24T12:33:00.005-05:00

Gentle readers and new visitors,

For most of the past twelve months, Rambling Rose has been literally camping out in her older home. Plumbing issues prompted renovation and repair projects that have consumed the greater part of her time and energies.

Computer time spent on research and writing blogs were a welcome break from the filling, sanding, painting, repairing and refinishing tasks that are now nearing completion.

The time has come to go offline and to disassemble the computer work station to be moved into her new home office. This is a task that she does not relish as computer maintenance comes fraught with technical glitches. For starters, RR is wondering whether she will need Bell to come in again to install new phone wires to the new office location. Even experienced technicians complain as to how much time is consumed by maintenance and upgrading of computer equipment.

However, if RR is to finish the entire reno project in time for Christmas she will have to take leave from blogging but will return in the New Year 2010. With best wishes to all until then.

Photo above is of a plighting stone located at Teeterville Museum: this province's earliest settlers would reach through the hole to join hands to pledge their troth that a promise, an oath, or a contract would be honoured. Ah, that's how it was done before lawyers and written documents were near at hand!

Along the line of smoky hills
The crimson forest stands,
And all the day the blue-jay calls

Throughout the autumn lands.

Now by the brook the maple leans,
With all his glory spread;
And all the sumachs on the hills
Have turned their green to red.

Now, by great marshes wrapt in midst,
Or past some river's mouth,
Throughout the long still autumn day

Wild birds are flying south.

-- William Wilfred Campbell (1860-1919)

winter-patience

2009-10-28T12:10:00.008-04:00

"Only with winter-patience can we bring the deep-desired, long-awaited spring."
-–Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and
like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers that cannot be given you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, lie along some distant day into the answer."
-–Rainer Maria
Rilke

"Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man
that would have lain dormant in its absence."
-–Herodutus

"Out of the depths of mankind's darkness emerge inspiring messages from individuals
who had every reason not to have hope.
These extraordinary individuals are bright beacons for all humanity,
and their stories rekindle
the human spirit in each of us.
These inspiring examples also underscore important values that have begun to fade,
but which need to be embraced again by all ...
regardless of age, religious beliefs, or social and ethnic origin."
--Nick Del Calzo, photographer

"Whether we rise to the challenge of adversity
or
are devastated by it is largely a matter of choice.
Ultimately,
we are responsible for that choice."
— Carl Hiebert

the doctor's house

2009-10-05T18:59:00.015-04:00

Earlier this year when dear hearts were yearning for spring's warm promises even as they were tasting the dregs of a miserable winter that just refused to depart, Rambling Rose started preparing itineraries for this summer's rambles. For starters, she hoped to finish up the Grand River watershed rambles put on hold when gasoline prices rocketed. Thus, she added to her list of places to check out the doctor's house south of Mt. Pleasant as described by another rambler:

“Dr. David Duncombe was one of three Duncombe brothers who became pioneer doctors in southwest Ontario. He had practised medicine in the area for many years before building this house/surgery in 1867.

The house is a classic Canadian Farmer house: T-shaped with a rear section that contained a kitchen and some living areas. The main house had bedrooms and a study upstairs and the doctor's surgery downstairs. Patients would come to the front door and ring the bell (which still works). On being let into the hall, the patient would go into the waiting room on the left. From there, the patient would go through sliding doors to the surgery to consult the doctor. Afterward, the patient would leave by another door that opened into the hall and from there would leave by the front door.”

RR had never heard tell of the Canadian Farmer architectural style & persisted trying to locate the house. When she finally did, she realized she had driven past it several times as it is screened from passersby by a row of towering fir trees. In the meantime, she had picked up a flyer promoting a living history play, The Duncombe Rebellion 1837
& began merrily researching that particular Dr. Duncombe and mentally attached that historical figure to the house she finally photographed (above).

Months later, RR can finally distinguish between the three Duncombe physicians who settled in Upper Canada in the early nineteenth century: 1) Dr. Charles who emigrated first and brought the rest of his family north* 2) brother David came with Dr. Charles in 1819 as his medical apprentice & settled in the Mount Pleasant area (cf. photo above); 3) Dr. Elijah who settled in St. Thomas whereas Dr. Charles eventually moved to Bishopsgate, Burford Twp.** There are as well two other Duncombe houses: Dr. Charles house where with a Dr. Rolph he set up Upper Canada's first medical school & Dr. Elijah's --both are located in St. Thomas with the relevant historical plaques affixed thereto and both are now Elgin County museums: Elgin County Pioneer Museum & Elgin Military Museum 30 Talbot Street, St. Thomas.

RR found the "Canadian Farmer" label equally frustrating until she completed a cyber-ramble to a definitive website about Ontario architecture **** where she learned that this building style is essentially Italianate:

"Unique to Ontario is a design for a two storey square residence with projecting eaves and ornate cornice brackets promoted by The Canada Farmer journal in 1865. This residence provided a classical alternative to the Gothic Cottage. Trademark features of this style include deeply round arches, overhanging eaves and robust eave brackets, shallow roofs, corner quoins and asymmetrical square towers...People wanted a large, many-bedroomed house that had some interesting detailing. A two story rectangular building with a mild hip roof, a projecting frontispiece, and generous eaves with ornate cornice brackets was the basis of the style."

McIlwraith confirms this opinion in Looking for Old Ontario (Toronto 1997):“Two-storey houses became the backbone of the late-nineteenth-century construction boom. Though it was promoted in rural areas, the Canada Farmer model is essentially an urban type...Happy the merchant or doctor who could build such an edifice on a big lot on main street, just beyond the end of the business section; happier still if the site was a corner lot offering maximum visibility....By the 1870s town mansions were overtaking court-houses and Anglican churches as the stylish structures.”

However, only Katherine Ashenburg touched on the stylistic conundrum that so frustrated RR as she was trying to define the Canadian Farmer (aka bracketed Italianate) house: “Ontario towns in the main were the creation of builders, not architects. And those builders could be stubbornly conservative, constructing a Gothic villa forty years after the style’s peak in the U.S. or Britain. Next door to the villa the same builder might build an up-to-the minute Queen Anne house, based on the latest pattern book from Britain or the U.S. Next door to that he might concoct a patchwork of a house from two or three styles. Just because a new style was à la mode was no reason to jettison an old favourite, and the builders’ reliance on pattern books left them free to mix, match, and improvise when they saw fit. All of which makes Ontario buildings maddening to date, bewildering for the purist, and diverting for the walker.”

Gentle reader, RR would like to leave you with a question to ponder:

If this building style is " Unique to Ontario" & if, in the opinion of another expert, this style became "the backbone of the late-nineteenth-century construction boom", then surely this particular style deserves to have its own name? ****

Notes: * because of his part in the Rebellion of 1837 Dr. Charles took up exile in the States; ** to confuse the historical record even further, there is a fourth Dr. Duncombe, son of one these three brothers; ***RR is currently reading a very elegant slim volume A Guide to Canadian Architectural Styles by Leslie Maitland, Jacqueline Hucker & Shannon Ricketts that shines a brilliant light on the evolution of Canadian architecture; **** where once we did not have Canadian literature to speak of, we are now recognized internationally for the quality of our literature; can we abandon stylistic elitism to recognize our indigenous architecture that adapted international stylistic trends to this particular climate?

the bracketed (Italianate?) house

2009-10-03T13:41:00.013-04:00

“When you first savour an Ontario town, its particularity is striking. Frequently it’s a result of the available building material, which in the nineteenth century was difficult to transport even short distances...The terrain, the settlers’ social and geographical origins, the date of settlement also determine a town’s character...The individual distinctiveness of the towns impresses a visitor first, a deeper acquaintance unmasks the common elements. There remains something very Ontario about Ontario towns, most obviously a plainness in the buildings that ranges from elegant to dour. The prevailing Scottish ethos, which distrusted display and prized straightforwardness, was influential here; so was the settlers’ poverty and the dearth of easily workable stone. Using the repertoire of nineteenth-century styles common to Britain and the United States, Ontarians built more simply (and often smaller, because of the cold and relative lack of servants). Compared with those of Australia, a sister colony with workable stone, abundant convict labour, and a certain national joie de vivre, Ontario’s Gothic Revival and Italianate buildings can look downright severe. Commodity and firmness were in good supply...[as were] ...proportion and restraint." --Katherine Ashenburg, How to Read an Ontario Town

Thomas McIlwraith in Looking for Old Ontario traces the evolution of Ontario houses from the 1 1/2 storey Ontario classic Gothic preference in the province's early settlement stage to the full two storey bracketed Italianate version that become the design preference in the late nineteenth century (1850-1900) cf. the Ancaster limestone house above.

A version of a two-storey square residence suited for a big lot in an urban setting appeared in 1865 in the Canada Farmer publication. The gable roof has now been replaced by a shallow pitched roof with deep overhanging eaves that shelter oversized decorative brackets. McIlwraith notes this basic house design underwent several adaptations: 1) a Tuscan version with towers and brackets; 2) an Italianate version with long windows; and 3) a Second Empire version featured a mansard roof.

Those variations are just a beginning as, according to McIlwraith, "Ontarians have gradually developed an affection for eclecticism i.e. a carefree mixing of whatever stylistic elements one preferred." Thus, high art architecture moves into the vernacular phase. Wherever one travels throughout this province, this basic design can be found in a variety of local adaptations that reflect a particular locality's culture, climate, building materials, economy and available technology.

Note how the warm limestone cut from the Niagara Escarpment in the house just southwest of Hamilton (1st photo) has been adapted with gray & black field stones gathered from the Paris Moraine in the Brant County farmhouse (next three photos).

Note the different porch and window styles. Other than the basic square shape, central front entrance, and similar roofs, how similar are the two residences above? are they both equally Italianate? RR is not certain and would prefer to label these two Ontario variations on a basic plan: the classic Ontario bracketed house. Note as well, the evolution of architectural styles as revealed in the three photos of the Brant County house: at the back, the original Gothic gabled cottage superseded much later by the Italianate residence that now faces the original Talbot Road (now old Highway 24). The current structure raises an interesting question: has the road alignment changed since the first structure was built?

radical uncertainty

2009-09-28T22:32:00.005-04:00

Dianne Dumanoski, The End of the Long Summer ( New York 2009) deals with the planetary
crisis now facing all of us:

“Amid the danger and uncertainty of the planetary era, how does one choose life? Choosing life begins with courage, the courage to confront the complexity and contingency of this world and let go of the modern illusion that we can bring it under human control. The absence of control is itself a terrifying thought, especially for anyone who has been nurtured on the dreams and promises of our current civilization.

A sober look at the radical uncertainty of the human future, moreover, gives reason for real fear, the kind of primal fear that drives to the bone. But fear can be, must be, faced down rather than repressed or denied. The times are too dangerous to do otherwise. Though life for now continues with a sense of normality, the current order is no longer viable and hasn’t been for some time. The deep change that lies ahead threatens to shake the foundations of natural systems and human societies alike.

Courage, as Martin Luther King Jr. observed, is the “the power of mind to overcome fear.” It
requires “the exercise of a creative will” to challenge “the forces that threaten to negate life.”
Fear is an emotion; courage is a mental discipline long counted as one of the supreme human
virtues.”

Photo of the Lake Erie sand bluffs taken at Sand Hills Park, Norfolk County Ontario.

the emigrant

2009-09-17T09:26:00.019-04:00

Gentle reader, today's blog is a juxtaposition of photos and text to illustrate the emigrant theme in early Canadian history. Photos of a remarkable collection of dioramas were taken at the Delhi Tobacco Museum, Delhi Ontario. Text consists of observations made by the British writer Mrs. Anna Jameson in the journal she kept of her journeys through Upper Canada 1836-37. Thanks to modern technology her published journals Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, New York 1839 are readily available for download at The Internet Archive.

Anna Jameson is a remarkable woman who set out to join her husband who had been posted to serve in the colonial government of Upper Canada at York. Apparently rebuffed by a frosty reception in the provincial capital, she set out alone to explore the wilds of Upper Canada. Her journal records her observations and it is she who speaks of the emigrants she met in this journey; thus, the word emigrant illustrates the plight of those who had left the mother country behind and looked back with longing and nostalgia even as daily they struggled to establish themselves in this new land. Mrs. Jameson notes that the generation born here were much happier and considered this new land their country and homeland.

Note also that this juxtaposition of text and photos is anachronistic as the dioramas illustrate a much later chapter in Canada's history. The second and third photos illustrate the Canadian Pacific Railway's role in the settlement of Canada in the late nineteenth century as by that time the CPR had acquired steamships cf. S. S. Palatia-Hamburg and actively advertised in Europe for settlers to come to Canada. Rapid settlement of the western provinces resulted as newly arrived immigrants could be transported by rail to the prairie provinces. Long gone were the frustrations of stage-coach travel over corduroy roads* experienced by Anna Jameson!

Nonetheless, the stages in an emigrant's experience illustrated so beautifully in the dioramas apply and continue to apply to the immigrant's story. As well, the dioramas illustrate the realization of Anna Jameson's vision for this young nation in the making:

“I paused and meditated till...the present fell like a film from my eyes:
the future was before me,
with its towns and cities, fields of waving rain, green lawns and villas, and churches, and temples–turret crowned; and meadows tracked by the frequent foot-path; and railroads, with trains of rich merchandise streaming along: –for all this will be!”

1. The departure (the push factor):

Jameson relates tale of young emigrant whose father in the old country was a weaver who ”at last couldn’t get no work, and trade was dull, and we were nigh starving. I remember I was always hungry then–always.”...family of 8 emigrated but at last minute his eldest brother “on the way to the ship, he got frightened and turned back and wouldn’t come. My poor mother cried very much, and begged him hard. Now the last we hear of him is, that he is very badly off, and can’t get no work at all.”
Jameson speaks as well of an English emigrant who "had come to Canada in his own behalf and that of several others of his own class – men who had each a large family and a small capital, who found it difficult to get on and settle their children in England. In his own case, he had been some years ago the only one of his trade in a flourishing country town, where he
now had fourteen competitors. Six families, in a similar position, had delegate him on a voyage of discovery: it was left to him to decide whether they should settle in the United States or the Canadas...”
Charles Clarke in his memoirs tells us that he had been indentured as apprentice at 14 years
of age for three years in Lincoln, UK; near end of apprenticeship, his widowed mother remarried
& moved to Canada in 1843 with her new husband; son wanted to follow his mother & applied
for release from contract and remaining wages; claim denied & so resolved to run away to
Canada with uncle to join his mother in Canada. (1)

2. The ocean crossing:

Anna Jameson's young emigrant’s mother “died of the cholera, coming over,.. The cholera broke out in the ship, and fifty-three people died, one after t’other, and were thrown into the sea. My mother died, and they threw her into the sea. And then my little sister, only nine months old, died, because there was nobody to take care of me, and they threw her into the sea– poor little thing!....one got used to it–it was nothing but splash, splash, all day long–first one, then another.”
Charles Clarke who had only£ 10 to pay for his trip to Canada journeyed alone: “The first ship to leave Liverpool was the Superb, a timber and cotton ship which landed him safely in New York six weeks after he had left Liverpool: “

In the meantime we had run before a tremendous gale in the Sargasso Sea, been in close proximity to the West Indies, sailed under frozen rigging in the Northern Atlantic, and had opportunities to study the possible length and height of an Atlantic wave. We had been served with ship dog-biscuits and sprouting potatoes as means of keeping body and soul together, until many were suffering from diarrhea. We had medical remedies in the form of Epsom salts and castor oil, without a doctor to prescribe even them..

3. the arrival (Quebec or New York):

By the time Anna Jameson's young emigrant and his family landed at Quebec the young emigrant had cholera and family was detained there for five weeks... after that his father sold his silver watch to purchase their fare to York [now Toronto] where "there was a schooner provided by government....rations provided that brought us to Port Stanley; ...we had to find...and pay our way to Delaware [near London, ON] where our lot of land was...and then we had nothing left—nothing at all.”
Charles Clarke had a more fortunate experience:" ortune favoured me. Upon the day the Superb cast anchor, the Hottinger arrived from Liverpool, having amongst her passengers my uncle and his family. I again became a capitalist by effecting a necessary loan, and on the following day started afresh for Canada. Going up the Hudson in a “tow” for Albany, we took passage in a mixed freight and passenger canal boat, transferred to steamer at Buffalo, and landed at Port Robinson, on the Welland Canal, on the 23rd of June 1844.” **

4. Settling in
Anna Jameson's heart goes out to the early settlers in the backwoods of Upper Canada:

“The poor emigrants who have not been long gone from the old country, round whose hearts tender remembrances of parents, and home, and home friends, yet cling in all the strength of fresh regret and unsubdued longing, sometimes present themselves at the post-offices, and on finding that their letters cost three shilling and four pences, or perhaps five or six shillings, turn away in despair.....At Brandtford [sic] I saw forty-eight such letters, and an advertisement from the postmaster, setting forth that these letters, if not claimed and paid for by such a time, would be sent to the dead-letter office.”
“The case of this poor fellow with his discontented wife is of no unfrequent occurrences in Canada....I never met with so many repining and discontented women as in Canada. I never met with one woman recently settled here, who considered herself happy in her new home and country.”
“I am perishing and deteriorating, head and heart, for want of a companion– a wife, in short. I am becoming as rude and course as my own labourers, and as hard as my own axe. If I wait five years long, no woman will be able to endure such a fellow as I shall be
by that time – now woman, I mean, whom I could marry–for in this lies my utter unreasonableness: habituated to seek in women those graces and refinements which I have always have associated with her idea, I must have them here in the forest, or
dispense with all female society whatever. With some one to sympathize with me–to talk to–to embellish the home I return to at night.”

5. A brave new world on the horizon:

Elsewhere in her journal Anna Jameson notes how much the settlers hoped for schools to educate their children although during her travels she was disappointed to find:

“I passed in these journeys some school-houses built by the wayside: of these, several were shut up for want of schoolmaster; and who that could earn a subsistence in any other way, would be a schoolmaster in the wilds of Upper Canada? Ill fed, ill clothed, ill paid, or not paid at all–boarded at the houses of the different farmers in turn, I found indeed some few men, poor creatures! always either Scotch or Americans and totally unfit for the office they had undertaken. Of female teachers I found non whatever, except in the towns. ...Here, without means of instruction, of social amusement, of healthy and innocent excitements–can we wonder that whiskey*** and camp-meetings assume their place, and ‘season toil’ which is unseasoned by anything better?”
Jameson provides the following footnote reference to Schoolcraft's Travels : "the erection of a church or chapel generally precedes that of a school-house in Upper Canada, but the mill and the tavern invariably precede both. In the United States, the first public edifice is a court-house****; then a jail; then a school-house-- perhaps an academy, where religious exercises may be occasionally held; but a house of public worship is the result of a more mature state of settlement. If we have sometimes been branded as litigious, it is not altogether without foundation; and, not withstanding the very humble estimate in which foreign reviewers have been pleased to make of our literary character and attainments, there is more likelihood of our earning the reputation of a learned than a pious people."

“This land of Upper Canada is in truth the very paradise of hope...
It would be possible,looking at things under one aspect,
to draw such a picture of
the mistakes of the government,
the corruption of its petty agents,
the social backwardness and moral destitution of the people,
as would shock you, and tempt you to regard Canada as a
place of exile for convicts.
On the other hand, I could,
without deviating from the sober and literal truth,
give you such vivid pictures of the beauty and fertility of this land of the
west, of its glorious capabilities for agriculture and commerce, of the goodness and
kindliness and resources of poor, much-abused human nature, as developed amid all the
crushing influences of oppression, ignorance, and prejudice; and of the gratitude and
self-complacency of those who have exchanged want, servitude, and hopeless toil at
home, for plenty and independence and liberty here,
-- as would transport you in fancy
into an earthly elysium.” --Anna Jameson

Notes: *“What can the settler of today, in any section of old Upper Canada, tell of corduroys, log crossways and culverts, jolting mud-holes, wide and deep, of ditches absent where most needed, of huge stumps round which wagon wheels or sled runners slipped or bumped, of sticky clay piled into yawning chasms, or of big boulders dumped into a hole only make jumping, groaning, creaking, squeaking wheels work a wider margin of sloppy, slushy, indescribable confusion.” (1)

** Per Anna Jameson: "the usual route of emigrants to the New Western States is through the State of New York, by the Erie Canal, passing the Niagara River at Queenston, and then through the finest parts of Upper Canada to Detroit, in Michigan [i.e. the Detroit path, using the Old Stage Road cf. previous blogs]. the number of the emigrants and settlers who passed through Canada to the Western States, in 1835 and 1836, has been estimated at 200,000." Mrs. Jameson attended session of Upper Canada's legislature where she heard an elected representative observe: 'Everyone knows well...that countless numbers of German, Swiss , and even British emigrants passed, during the summer of 1836, through Canada to the western parts of the United States, and that none could be prevailed on to stop and settle in this province, though the fertility of the lands, and all other natural advantages are confessedly greater here, and the distance save from five to seven hundred miles. We profess to desire emigration, yet we prohibit virtually nine-tenths of the world from settling their foot on our shores; and why? Because these foreigners, naturally republicans, would naturally overture our institutions. Now all foreigners are not republicans; the Swiss, Prussians and other Germans, who pass through our country in multitudes, and cannot be persuaded to set up their rest here, are more friendly to our British institutions than to those of the United States."

*** It would appear that alcoholism was rampant in Upper Canada as whiskey was a ready by-product of the grist mills that were grinding wheat for export.

**** Is there an historical basis for the differences between Canada and the United States i.e. that Canada is still a much safer, less-violent society than that of our neighbour?

Sources: primarily unless otherwise noted: Anna Jameson, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, New York 1839 & (1)Charles Clarke, Sixty Years in Upper Canada, Toronto 1908;

heirloom lace

2009-09-04T18:05:00.014-04:00

We drink from wells we did not find;
We eat from farmland we did not develop;
We enjoy freedoms we have not earned,
We worship in churches we did not build;
We live in communities we did not establish.
For this day, make us grateful for our heritage. (1)

Photo: Port Rowan pier and lighthouse set against the Inner Bay, Long Point Biosphere Reserve.

Cherished: the Armstrong Mill 1829-1950 /Ken Danby Estate (1960-2009):

"John S. Armstrong built this "massive limestone [mill] into the bedrock beside the Speed River using stone quarried from the site. A water wheel powered three pairs of stones for grinding flour and one pair for feed. The mill was known for its high-quality flour and Mr. Armstrong's business prospered. The mill housed the post office and a stage coach stop. Farmers would deliver their grain and stay overnight at an inn across the road before returning to pick up the flour or feed the next day. The Armstrong family operated the mill until 1903. It changed hands a few times before George Parkinson purchased it in 1931. The vibrating machinery and severe weather had caused the structure to deteriorate over the years, and Mr. Parkinson removed the top 11/2 storeys, reducing the mill to its current proportions. Work at the mill came to an end in the spring of 1950 after the dam burst in heavy flooding." (2)
" The late Ken Danby's (1940-2007) sprawling 47-acre property, with its undulating hills, a stream and walking trails located at the corner of Mill Road and Jones Baseline, just northeast of Guelph, is listed at $3.7 million. The land includes 2,000 feet of river frontage, walking trails and woods." (3)
"When Danby bought the property in 1960, he was 27 years old and the former 19th Century Armstrong Mill situated on the land's riverbank was slated for demolition. The mill's roof collapsed during Danby's first year of ownership. But the legendary artist converted the mill into a five-bedroom, five-bathroom family home. The miller's house is still standing firm and Danby converted the barn into an art studio and arena, which houses Gillian's [his wife/widow] horses." (4)....[Mrs.] Danby says she thinks of the refurbished mill as the embodiment of Mr. Danby's artistry. “He was a man with a vision at 27 years old. It's his creation...the limestone required extensive repair. He had a full-time stone mason here for 10 years. Inside, Mr. Danby had massive beams taken down, numbered, refinished and reinstalled. The room that serves as a large living room today consisted of four crumbling stone walls open to the sky when Mr. Danby started his overhaul. Throughout the house, Mr. Danby incorporated as much of the wood, stone and machinery from the historic mill as possible into the new design. Wide floorboards are built into the kitchen island, for example, while another artifact was used as the newel post in a stairway. In the garden, Mr. Danby created a sculpture
from the mill's grinding gear." (2)

Abandoned: 2 storey red brick (farm?) house ca 1880's , Front Road Port Royal est 1793

Port Royal was established by the first United Empire Loyalists to arrive in Upper Canada and became an important harbour for exporting the white pine lumber that grew on the lands surrounding Big Creek. In the mid nineteenth century a canal was opened through the Long Point Peninsula to allow lake boats to reach Port Royal for the lumber that was floated down Big Creek. Today there are several houses and a sign to indicate the village that once was. (5) The house in the photos is surrounded on all sides by agricultural lands. Was this abandoned house part of a farmstead or part of the original Port Royal settlement?

the Italianate window detailing and the lacey woodwork on the front porches would place this building in the late 1880's. There are many such abandoned farm houses as 21st
century intensive agricultural practices require larger and larger landholdings. Once it's no longer profitable or feasible to rent the building out, the farmer just leaves it standing until of its own accord the building collapses into a big rubble pile that can be scooped up and hauled elsewhere on the farm acreage.
After viewing a flickr portfolio of 450+ images of abandoned houses in Ontario, RR forswore ever photographing another abandoned, ghostly building until she fell in love with the lacey treillage on this particular porch.

neglected: Barra Castle 1930 Scottish Baronial is now awaiting demolition!

This beloved Kitchener landmark has been frequently photographed and blogged about as per this post by compassrose: "Barra Castle is a Neo-Gothic apartment building built in the 1930s by a woman named Molly Marquette, who apparently modelled it after her childhood home in Russia. That must have been some home. Her interpretation has towering parapets, beautiful detailing on the outside trim and arched doorways, generous windows, heavy wooden doors. Inside, rumour has it, are sunrooms and Moorish archways and tiled bathrooms. Naturally, of course, it's been a squat for years, owned by a series of slumlords, its occupants moving down the social scale from artists and musicians to crackheads.......Anyway, last fall the city inspectors shut it down for a list of violations (copies of which were helpfully stapled to all the
doors, sheathed in plastic page protectors), and cut off power and gas. It's sat (officially) empty all winter, and is visibly falling into an even more ramshackle state of disrepair. The current owners claim they were just—really!—making some repairs and getting loans to make more when evil inspectors shut them down, but who knows? In the meantime, there it sits."
Neglected for decades by a succession of owners more focussed on the ROI's of their real estate investment portfolios, rejected by multiple suitors who took one look and headed for the nearest arched exit door, Barra Castle has of this date found one enchanted suitor: the power of sale purchase price is right and this castle is handsomely endowed with 0.61 ha of prime lands in downtown Kitchener. Prince Charming has proposed that he will gladly give her a facelift provided that all of her appendages are removed pdq.
The purchaser is taking his proposal to City of Kitchener Development and Technical Services Committee on 14 September and hoping for consummation of this match at the 22 September full City Council meeting.
All those who signed the facebook petition to save Barra Castle have two chances to speak up, or forever hold their peace. For full details see the latest news report by the man in black. (6)

Gentle reader, do note the drooping eyebrow above the left window as decay exposes much to view. Stucco has flaked from this window to expose the reddish brick of the original MacKay house that Molly Barra Marquette purchased and remodelled into 11 stylish apartment units (each with fireplaces, oak hardwood floors, large windows and other intricate details). RR is postulating that this could be Kitchener's first successful adaptive reuse project. Was Mrs. Molly Barra Marquette of Marquette Realty indulging in personal nostalgia for a childhood home she once lived in and barely remembered? or was this one-legged woman who arrived here with one son to raise a shrewd marketer pitching wish fulfillment to every woman who has harboured a secret princess fantasy?

Certainly the architect who will be masterminding the 21st century facelift of the remnant building post-demolition thinks likewise. He has been quoted thus: "The original Barra Castle is an important feature that will sell the rest of the place." (6)

Three buildings built by others and passed down to our generation to have, to hold, and cherish forever? The fates of each building reveal so much about those who were entrusted with their stewardship and what they could or would not do with the trust bestowed upon them: Cherish, Abandon, or Neglect.

Sources: (1) variously attributed but found in a sermon here: (2) Carolyn Ireland, Danby's digs: Old mill home was an artist's landscape, Globe and Mail Jul. 09, 2009; (3)GREG LAYSON, Danby's often-painted 47-acre mill property for sale GUELPH MERCURY July 02, 2009: (4)Canadian painter Ken Danby dies at 67 CBC News September 24, 2007; (5) Unterman McPhail Associates, Norfolk County Lakeshore CHL and Built Heritage Study 1 March 2007; (6) Terry Pender, Barra Castle will restore original building, demolish additions, The Record 2 September 2009.

heritage at risk?

2009-08-20T19:17:00.016-04:00

Gentle reader, this rather weighty summer 09 sequence of blogs devoted to built heritage had its genesis in the early summer. A sequence of events prodded the related research: the last City of Kitchener Council meet before summer recess, a news article in the local rag, and an e-mail request from an acquaintance.

First, the Council meet that RR hoped would be a quick 30 minute session turned out much longer and more interesting than she had expected. RR had gone to hear out a property owner who was opposing the listing of his property on the City's Heritage Register and Councillors' responses. She expected to hear the usual argument that such a listing would limit his development/property rights; instead most of the interchange between Council and delegate concerned the legal issues re demolition of a barn. Free legal advice ensued i.e. that as long as the barn was in agricultural use, no demolition permit would be required.

Next, a local natural heritage advocate whom I shall call Lady Green was allowed to speak to the sale of city-owned parklands issue. Although Council had committed itself to not sell off two parks (Kiwanis and Lakeside), Lady Green wanted to know what kind of contract Council would be willing to sign to ensure these parks would remain public parks in perpetuity. Much fudging and persistent questioning ensued until Council turned to staff for advice. Well, Council's decision re city-owned lands was not appealable and hence not legally binding ( ah yes, municipal elections around the corner in 2010; next Council safely elected could opt to sell off these same lands.

To give the degree of certainty Lady Green required, staff advised that Council would have to 1) amend the official plan; and 2) pass a by-law to change the zoning in the affected lands. Both those actions are appealable and have legal force. Both issues were deferred to Monday 24 August 2009 Council meet. Agenda and related staff reports are posted to the City's website the previous Friday after noon. *

Those gentle readers who have chewed on the Port Dalhousie related blogs will recall the OMB response to a political decision made by Council even when that decision comes dressed up in the phrase "a moral contract" with its citizens. What the issues have in common are that they deal with valid land uses. The pressure on publicly-owned parklands or privately-owned farmsteads results from legislative changes made in 2005 and 2006 directing growth towards the City of Kitchener and calling for intensification of built-up settled areas -- the very same issues at the crux of the Port Dalhousie OMB hearing.

Next? the local rag picked up the Port Dalhousie OMB decision the day Heritage Canada Foundation released its list of Canada's 10 most endangered heritage places and put all of Ontario's 90+ Heritage Conservation Districts on its nationally endangered sites list. The story was headlined, "Heritage Districts made vulnerable by board ruling," and featured local comment by Heritage Kitchener citizen co-chair who opined, "That’s outrageous. To go ahead and put a high rise up, I would argue that up, down, left, right and centre." (1)

The next day RR received an e-mail from a leading spokesperson from the local heritage community urging all on his mailing list: "I urge you to communicate with your Member of the Provincial Parliament to urge her/him to bring to the cabinet's attention the need for overturning this dangerous precedent." Ah yes, RR owed this gentleman one as back in 2005 when RR was actively lobbying for prompt passage of Bill 60 to amend the Ontario Heritage Act the same chap cheerfully endorsed and forwarded her request to his voluminous mailing list. What to do? as sending a signed letter to her MPP would require that she be absolutely certain of such a position and not merely joining a growing chorus of voices.

Thus, it was time to actually read all about an issue that she knew about but had conveniently avoided in spite of the continuous stream of updates re the Port Dalhousie OMB hearing. Time to drop all those self-justifying excuses that what happened over there could not affect what could happen here. Do understand that Rambling Rose has 1) absolutely no legal training; and 2) has never had the remotest desire to deal with lawyers or legal issues. However, in all fairness she owed Mr. Local History a return favour; but beyond that, her personal integrity required she inform herself as best she could before offering up an opinion to her elected representative.

The past six weeks spent digesting four highly complex legal documents are comparable to have double-booked dental sessions every other day for the entire summer. You must know that feeling, gentle, reader,...the patient is prone on her back with the dentist drawing closer with a drill and a soft, seductive tone insisting, "this really is for your own good, you know."

Well, it has been. Highly instructive. Thus, RR found herself deluded when she, as did others within the local heritage (natural & built) community-- as did PROUD in Port Dalhousie-- pointed to the specific Provincial Policy Statement 2005 that assured her that "significant built heritage [or natural heritage] resources shall be conserved." Ah yes, why read the entire PPS 2005 when one was already munching on such a satisfying morsel?

During her first reading of the Campbell decision, RR was heard to mutter, "really splitting hairs, aren't we now, Ms. Campbell?" as Ms. Campbell proceeded to offer up a grammar lesson on the function of the "significant" modifier in legal terms. RR has reconsidered in light of some of her summer rambles-- latest one through several blocks of downtown Hamilton filled to the brim with significant built heritage resources, followed by a photoshoot of the Ancaster Old Mill ( near the original Willson's Mill where Governor Simcoe spent a night on his Detroit walk), and then to the rather insignificant Burford buildings as listed by County of Brant. Already HD documents are grouping buildings according to significance into categories A B C--a sign of future losses and more overheated OMB hearings as all urban downtowns must comply with the 40% provincial intensification target?

In the end, RR has decided not to ask the Minister of Culture to overturn the OMB ruling? How, in all conscience, could this Minister do so as the Campbell OMB ruling is a masterpiece in terms of showing the hierarchy of legislation that must be adhered to in land use planning. All things considered, Ms. Campbell arrived at a fair, balanced ruling.**

Changes, big changes, are coming to all of our downtowns. Just consider this: City of Kitchener is expected to grow at rate of 5,000 pop per year over next 20 years; 2,000 new residents will have to be accommodated in the currently built-up areas = 40,000 (approximately size of Woodstock) will have to find places to live on lots that already have buildings on them. There will be more towers and more demolitions. For now, RR can set aside legal issues to those who earn big bucks appearing before the OMB. Summer is quickly fading into autumn and time to ramble on!

I leave you, gentle reader, with a miscellany of heritage-related quotes to ponder:

“The concept of heritage is both contested and problematic...Heritage designations almost by default arise out of selection criteria which are conflict-prone, value-laden, and emerge from unexamined points of reference....Heritage is always at some level a contested concept....Issues of heritage interpretation and designation fracture along the regular fault lines of ideology, ethnicity, gender and class...." (2)
"The present creates the heritage it requires and manages it for a range of contemporary
purposes."(3)
"The Port Dalhousie Commercial Core...is threatened by the deteriorating economic and social
conditions that make it unsustainable and by those who oppose change...If the businesses that
occupy the heritage buildings are not sustainable, then the buildings themselves are threatened.
They are old buildings that require constant maintenance. If the owners can't afford to fix them
up, they will deteriorate and ultimately be condemned.” -- David Serafino, editor of Dalhousie Pier
Magazine
“Generally, neither the municipalities nor the development industry have seen any point in
retaining or reusing the past as it advanced into the future, and the weak voices of LACACs (Local
Architectural Conservation Advisory Committees), local citizens, and heritage groups have carried
little to no weight in the decision-making process...The emphasis has been on developmentrather than conservation.” (4) <==== written in 1997; OHA 2005 marks significant changes that are only now being implemented; the Campbell decision will become the standard over the next decade
" Pepino [i.e. PROUD lawyer at OMB hearing] stressed that District Plans are going to need much more discussion of both principle and detail, and that it will take highly qualified experts to draft them. Everything of significance needs to be recorded in the Plan, which buildings, landscape elements are to be protected." (5)
Recommended reading and links:

Heritage Resource Centre on heritage conservation districts etc.
Ontario Heritage Act 2005
Ontario Ministry of Culture toolkit explaining how to make it all work together
Heritage Districts Work! study of province's HCD just released

Notes: * selling off city-owned lands could be highly tempting as per today's news item in local community paper: Councillor Gazzola informs his ward that City of Kitchener is expected to run $4,000,000 deficit this year; RR believes Ministry of Municipal Affairs requires city councils to balance their budgets;

** were PROUD & the developer to drop their adversarial positions with the ruling in place in order to agree to work together to enhance the last publicly-owned waterfront on Lake Ontario, they could begin negotiating a better site for the oldest tiniest jail in Ontario that all are committed to preserve. Why not try working together-- initial architectural drawings show this tiny building dwarfed by the tower....just moving it into another location in the public Hogan's Court could prove to be a win-win for all on the waterfront.

Photos: with one exception, all images are representative of built heritage resources to be found in City of Kitchener heritage conservation districts & one cultural heritage landscape (2nd last photo: Sims Estate) currently protected; the misfit? the tobacco stick kilns from outside of Burford speak to the Nortolk Sand Plain's significant built heritage resources but are not mentioned at all in the Brant County heritage driving tour. Will these iconic structures disappear as rapidly as our nineteenth century barns have?

Sources: (1) Terry Pender, Heritage districts made vulnerable by board ruling, The Record 9 July 2009; (2)Robert Feagan, Links Across a Grand Heritage Landscape, address to 4th Canadian River Heritage Conference June 2004; (3)–Graham et al. A Geography of Heritage–Power, Culture and Economy. New York 2000; (4)John N. Jackson, The Welland Canals and their Communities, 1997; (5) Catherine Nasmith, The Road Ahead for Ontario's Heritage Conservation Districts, Built Heritage Newsletter May 6, 2009

the rule of law

2009-08-20T17:55:00.010-04:00

Gentle reader, the following notes have been taken verbatim from Patrick J. Devine & Mark A. Piel, Zoning versus heritage –who Wins? Do the Old Rules still apply? Fraser Milner Casgrain L.L.P. May 2009 This report has been prepared by lawyers for lawyers and reviews heritage preservation issues, the Ontario Heritage Act, and the various OMB rulings & in particular the Denhez and Campbell decisions that are the subject of previous posts to this blog and labelled as such. Please note that this is a partial summary re points that RR found relevant for herself; RR would recommend reading the report in its entirety as it sheds considerable insight into complex planning and heritage issues. Photos of City of Kitchener's historic Governor's House and Gaol dating to the 1850's & the starting point for Berlin/Kitchener's growth into regional administrative centre in the Region of Waterloo.

“No doubt due to portrayals in the popular media, words like “development” are presented as
contrary to “heritage; the former term conjures images of dynamite, wrecking balls and
demolition, while the latter term suggests the perfectly just preservation of buildings and sites of
shared historical significance and value....”development is often considered a vice while” heritage”
–preserving the built landscape...is a virtue.”
2. “Making clear the rights and entitlements of landowners...helps us avoid conflict and helps
resolve disputes in the event of conflict....Zoning provisions provide certainty about associated
levels of risk because they have the characteristics of legislation and the rule of law; ...[whereas]
official plans....are imprecise “statements of intent” to perform a subsequent legislative act and
lack the precise characteristics associated with zoning by-laws.
3. The idea of the “public good”: “Planning goals as diverse as ....efficient land use patterns, the
management of heritage resources both natural and cultural, and protection of health and
safety...are identified in the 2005 Provincial Policy Statement as integral to the long-term
prosperity and social well-being of all Ontarians....
4. A complex regulatory environment, “the notion that development and heritage preservation are
mutually exclusive goals may very well misrepresent their relationship in the regulation of land
uses in Ontario......"
5. 2005 amendments to Building Code Act (BCA), Ontario Building Code (OBC),. And Ontario Heritage Act (OHA) defines applicable law & now includes section of OHA; for example, applicable
law includes municipal zoning by-laws but does not include official plans or heritage district
guidelines; applicable law now includes OHA sections 30(2); 33; 34; 34.5; 34.7(2); 42; 27 (3);
40.1 & Planning Act section 34 or 38; However, bylaws made under OHA sec 41.1 dealing with
HCD designation and adoption of HCD plan are not considered applicable law for purposes of OBC
6. OHA property designation per Ontario Regulation 9/06: “in order to be designated a property
must meet only of the nine criteria listed in the regulations (in three groups: design or physical
value; historical or associative value; and contextual value
7. HCD plans and guidelines: “Because the designation of HCD potentially modifies rights held by
owners of real property within the designated district, the creation of any plan must take into
account the elements of procedural fairness associated with the rule of law.” ====> right of
appeal to OMB
8. However, right of appeal re “double designated” properties (cf. Previous blog re Denhez decision)
“in light of conflicting decisions by the [OMB], it is likely that either further litigation or legislative
amendments will be necessary to achieve greater clarity as to the meaning of these provisions,
and ultimately, greater legal certainty for owners of heritage properties.”
9. Per OMB member: “The Provincial Policy statement, which deals with all of these matters [i.e. “A
myriad of worthy, but often competing, interests] specifically directs the reader to consider the entirety of the PPS and not isolate one area from another.”
10. Intensification may not leave a heritage property in the exact state it was prior to development, but such circumstances beg the question of what becomes of the heritage property if it is not financially viable to invest in its conservation or restoration?
11. Re Port Dalhousie: “the new council met in camera with the city solicitor to review its options with
respect to the appeals. But rather than follow the city solicitor’s advice and recognize the appeals as valid, conduct a public hearing on the repeal of the by-laws, and repeal the by-laws by vote,
council instructed the city solicitor to appear before the Board and communicate that the new
council no longer supported the previous council’s decision and required PDVC to initiate a
concurrent application under the OHA.
a. “This reliance on balance [i.e. conserve significant heritage resources & intensification in
built-up areas] which contributed to the Board’s ultimate findings which did not view
economic prosperity and heritage conservation as competing interests but mutually reinforcing and interdependent.... Port Dalhousie was ....not sustainable, and if the
district was not economically viable, valuable heritage resources or attributes would be
threatened.”
12. “Perhaps an indicator that ‘heritage trumps zoning’ is found at section 68.1 of the OHA. Prior to
Bill 60, section 43 of the Ontario Municipal Board Act provided the Board the power to rehear any
application or to review any order previously made by the Board. However, with the 2005
amendments to the OHA, the legislature expressed its clear intention at sec 68.1 that the powers
of the Board granted under sec. 43 would not apply in cases of applications made to the Board
under the OHA (...with one exception].

Postscript: FYI
The Ontario Government’s Standing Committee on Government Agencies is meeting to review
the operation of The Ontario Municipal Board, (as well as the Ontario Power Generation Inc. and
the Royal Ontario Museum). Many in the heritage community are deeply concerned about the
services and mandate of the Ontario Municipal Board. We have all had heated discussions about
the failures of the OMB. Now is our chance to act, and all our members are encouraged to file
their views. Meetings are to be held September 8, 9 and 10, 2009. Written comments are to be
delivered by Thursday, September 10, to: Douglas Arnott, Committee Clerk,
Room 1405, Whitney Block, Queen’’s Park,
Toronto, ON M7A 1A2
Phone: 416-325-3506 Fax: 416-325-3505 TTY: 415-325-3538

economic stimulus* ( the Hubbard review)

2009-08-17T10:26:00.010-04:00

Although the Ontario Municipal Board delivered its final ruling as summarized in the previous blog, PROUD continued its fight to save its heritage Welland Canal port village by submitting sec. 43 requests for a review of OMB member Campbell's decision. They were supported in this fight by the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, a provincial association who actively lobby for heritage preservation. On 29 March 2009, ACO stated its position in a hand-delivered letter to Marie Hubbard, Chair OMB:

“We are particularly concerned about the variation in interpretation of the OHA between Member Denhez (OMB PL060606) and Member Campbell (Port Dalhousie). It is critically important that there be consistency from the OMB in how it interprets HCD’s in existence prior to the 2005 changes in the Ontario Heritage Act....We have members and branches across Ontario alarmed by the Port Dalhousie decision.
They do not know what level of protection is available for their HCD’s...in particular what status the OMB will give to District Plans for the vast majority of HCD’s implemented prior to the 2005 changes to the OHA (Bill 60). The fear is that the Port Dalhousie decision puts the vast majority of Ontario’s HCD’s at risk of out of scale development or fragmented development.”

Herewith, a summary of OMB Chair Hubbard's response to PROUD per e-mail of 4 May 2009: “The Board is not a court...and is not bound by its decisions when considering new matters. Board decisions are not precedents, and a decision of one panel cannot bind or compel a future Board panel.” However, Chair Hubbard stated: “I acknowledge that the PROUD request correctly points out that two errors are found in the Decision (the interpretation of OHA sec 41.2 (1) (b)**and the transitional provisions to the Growth Plan. However, I do not find that these errors....would have affected the final result.”

1. “The issues raised in the PDVC proposal involved the complex interrelationship between heritage conservation and land use planning. [the OMB] decision characterizes the central issue as one of
determining whether the .. proposal achieves the policy imperatives of heritage conservation and long term economic prosperity of the community of Port Dalhousie.....These policy objectives are
compatible....and need not be viewed as conflicting goals. Economic growth or revitalization in an HCD is certainly not limited to construction of new buildings. Heritage conservation also recognized the importance of rehabilitation, renovation or conversion of existing uses.”
2. PROUD assertion that Campbell interpretation of OHA sec. 41.2(1) (b) conflicted with an earlier OMB interpretation by Board Member Denhez and is incorrect. Per OMB Chair Hubbard: “the correct interpretation of OHA sec. 41.2 (1) (b) is set out in the Decision of Member Denhez.However, .....the Board determined that the PDVC development proposal complies with Port Dalhousie HCD Plan and guidelines... that [were] incorporated into the Local Official Plan.”
3. “HCD plans are not meant to offer determinative checklists of heritage features, such that items that are not mentioned are assumed to be excluded from the list of heritage attributes or reasons for designation....study documents or guidelines need not include a specific reference to each heritage attribute.”
4. Provincial Growth Plan Reg. 311/06 directs “that applications filed prior to June 16, 2006 be disposed of as if the Growth Plan had not come into effect.....Further, the policies of the Growth Plan that were considered are not materially different from the objectives of PPS, respecting intensification of land uses or the promotion of long term economic prosperity and economic vitality.”
5. “The Board determines that this proposal will provide an economic stimulus to this community that will serve to protect the Port Dalhousie HCD in the long term. The previous municipal council at the City arrived at the same conclusion. The current municipal council does not share this view, although this Council too no steps to repeal the official plan amendment and zoning by-law adopted by the previous Council.”
6. “I am satisfied that the Board carefully considered all of the evidence presented and I am in agreement with the Decision... per Marie Hubbard, OMB chair e-mail 4 May 2009

Notes: *phrase" economic stimulus' cf. #5 above is analogous to "catalytic spending" concept employed by City of Kitchener. Thus, City of Kitchener Economic Development Investment Fund @ $110,000,000 over is this city's gamble that public investment into downtown revitalization will prompt matching private investment. This appears to be working as Cadan Inc. of Toronto (private firm) made two major investments locally: a) City of Kitchener investments per EDIF: 1) former St. Jerome's building now Wilfred Laurier University School of Social Work; 2) former Epton site now University of Waterloo School of Pharmacy with adjacent McMaster School of Medicine under construction;====> prompted the following private investments: b) Andrin Development's converstion of the former Kaufmann factory to loft residential condominiums; and c) the Lang Factory complex to be transformed into a multi0use Tannery District Cf. Toronto's Distillery District also done by Cadan; and the Palisades apartment building on Queen Street; Cadan cited City of Kitchener's significant investment into the downtown as rationale for choosing to invest in the City of Kitchener downtown.

**the economic stimulus benefits to City of St. Catherine's/ Port Dalhousie of the now OMB approved development proposal :

Port Dalhousie Vitalization Corp (PDVC): Planning Report Executive Summary prepared by BLS Planning Associates: request for inclusion in Community Improvement Plan (CIP) area to utilize incentives to "undertake significant public works within the public lands associated with Lakeside Park and the [Welland] canal:

a. Improvements to enclosure building for the carousel
b. Assistance in building the skating path (winter ice-skating, summer in-line skating)
c. Provision of water feature to commemorate the first Welland Canal
d. Reconstruction of existing public parking area within the park
e. Maintenance of historic jail

Economic Development Effects:

1. construction jobs over two years: 309-374; of which 231 direct new jobs with 131 employees on
site at busiest time
2. New businesses: 885 new jobs
“This development should serve as a catalyst for other developments in the City and the Region.

Photos top to bottom: 1) Wilfrid Laurier School of Social Work; 2) university of Waterloo School of Pharmacy; 3) Kaufmann Lofts; and 4) Lang Factory Complex currently undergoing restoration/conversion. Rambling Rose has been to Port Dalhousie once-- to ride the carousel at 5 cents per ride and never paused that day's adventure to take photographs of Port Dalhousie. Tomorrow's another day!

the Rum Jungle & Hogan's Alley (the Campbell decision)

2009-08-01T09:03:00.013-04:00

Gentle readers, friends of built heritage, the Heritage Canada Foundation put all of this province's Heritage Conservation Districts on its top ten list of nationally most endangered places.

The Foundation's bulletin reads: 'OMB DECLARES OPEN SEASON": [the OMB ruling"....threatens the integrity of all heritage conservation district designations in the province, and sets a dangerous precedent for heritage districts across Canada."

Herewith, a summary of the relevant decision set out in a 69 page document after 71 days of hearings into the issue.

For anyone interested in preserving our built heritage, this document is tough, weighty, but highly essential reading as it shows the interrelationship of a wide variety of legal instruments that are involved in resolving heritage issues in the public interest.

At this point, Rambling Rose is not sure whether she agrees with the Heritage Canada Foundation stance or not. Thus far, she has completed two readings of two OMB decisions; still waiting for perusal OMB Chair Marie Hubbard's response to PROUD concerns with the Campbell decision.

What is clear is that the revised Heritage Act 2005 & the Places to Grow Act 2006 are linked by the Provincial Policy Statements issued under the Planning Act & that targeted growth areas such as the Region of Waterloo will need to absorb the lessons in the Port Dalhousie decision. Herewith, RR's "shortened" ??? notes of the Campbell decision and two maps of the subject area. Links will follow later this weekend. Hogan's Alley & the Rum Jungle are to be replaced with an open air public space & hopefully, the City of St. Catherine's will regain control over this popular summer drinking destination---cf. Kitchener's King Street brawling bar scene during the 1990's & we still have a parking lot in Centre Block???

OMB decision PL 060850 issued 26 February 2009 by Susan B. Campbell, Vice Chair

1. The legal framework:
a. Planning Act sections 2.1; 17(36); 34 (19); 41.9(12); 42.1(6); sec 31;
b. Provincial Policy Statement 2005 (in its entirety)
c. Ontario Heritage Act 2005 sections 41.1 (2); 41.1(3); 41.1(4); 41.1(6)
d. Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe 2006 reg 311/06; sec 2.2.2; sec 4.2.4(1)(e)

2. The dispute before the OMB:

PROUD Port Dalhousie (Port Realizing our Unique Distinction), City of St. Catherine’s (newly-elected council that opposes a development approved by previous Council)<===link provides access to OMB decisions, the ongoing petition and overview of this historic 5 year struggle that saw $500,000 by the community to support the PROUD case before the OMB

vs

PDVC Port Vitalization Corp & Region of Niagara, St. Catherine's-Thorold Chamber of Commerce, Port Dalhousie BIA) <=== link provides scale models of proposed development re Port Dalhousie Heritage Conservation District (HCD) in City of St Catherine's /Regional Municipality of Niagara, a unique “Welland Canal port lakeside community” designated in 2003 (link provides HD description in national Historic Places register:

At stake is a .46 ha commercial site with heritage buildings ===> 17 storey condo, hotel, theatre, mixed use, underground parking, public open plaza (2004 proposal for 30 storey condo withdrawn, current proposal submitted 2006)=approved by previous council; however, new council does not support this proposal

3. Status of Port Dalhousie Heritage District Conservation Plan & Design Guidelines: a. cf PROUD: “ public interest expressed in last election that gave mandate to current Council to oppose approval of development” ===> OMB “the public interest...is expressed through planning documents (PPS, Growth Plan for Greater Golden Horseshoe, municipal official plans and secondary plan and regional official plans. These documents result from a thoughtful and comprehensive consideration... Public opinion as expressed in the heat of municipal elections or passionately contested board hearings is not necessarily synonymous with the public interest.”

b. cf PROUD: “flawed process” [re previous Council]===>OMB: current Council waived City’s Procedural By-law, did not repeal the By-laws passed by previous Council, met in camera and thus avoided “mandatory public meeting in which all voices could have been heard” = “not a process giving rise to a decision to which the Board will have much regard”

c. City St Catherines 2003 designating by-law appealed & dismissed ====>OMB: “designation ....as HD represents good planning and will not have any undue adverse impacts”; reviewed in 2009, per this OMB: 2003 OMB ruling did not consider merits of that document per OHA since before OHA 2005 did not require heritage conservation district plans; however OHA 2005 requires such plans cf. OHA 41.2(1) and 41.2(2) & such plans to prevail if there is conflict with another by-law===>PDVC: per OHA 2005: “the process must be followed by a municipality to be afforded elevated status; since that 2005 process was not followed for the HD guidelines, they are not a district plan under OHA 2005"===>per OMB: sec41.1(4) provides the same process for the adoption of a post-2005 district plan must be followed for the adoption of a pre-2005 district plan” & sec 41.1(5) sets out the required public consultation process NB sec 41.1(2) reads “if on or before the day the OHA 2005 received Royal Assent, the council ....may pass a by-law adopting a heritage conservation district plan for any of the designated districts”: “the enactment of a by-law adopting a HD plan is appealable to the Board” In this instance, District Guidelines are not a district plan per OHA:

cf. Dan Schneider, ON Ministry of Culture: “[post 2005 HD plans] will prevail over zoning and other by-laws to the extent of a conflict-–while existing plans will not have the enhancements referred to above, they will represent the municipality’s stated objectives and policies with respect to development of the district and should be respected”

ii. City: “the process set out in section 41.1(2) for adopting pre-2005 guidelines as a district plan is not mandatory...”Note: PROUD: “one must accept that HCD plans or guidelines only obtained legal status through the 2005 amendments to OHA. This interpretation has the potential to render ineffective and useless every heritage district plan or guideline adopted prior to Bill 60" ===>OMB: Port Dalhousie HD plans lack “status [i.e. for protection] the City did not follow the process, clearly set out in the statute, to assure the elevated status....[Although process is not mandatory] ....if [the municipality] does not pass such a by-law after following the requisite process set out in sec 41.1, pre-2005 guidelines or district plans will not be district plans for the purpose of sec 41.2(1).

(i) A process, involving the preparation of a plan with specific content, public consultation and the right of appeal has been set out in the statute....[This] process for adopting a pre-2005 district plan...affords substantive right to owners of property in a HCD. The preservation of built heritage is vitally important in this province. Because of that the new Heritage Act, allowing for district designation and the adoption of a district plan can result in the loss of property rights. That loss of rights is justifiable as the preservation of built heritage is of such consequence. However, the loss of such property rights can only happen after a transparent public process has taken place.

Section 41.1 guarantees such a process...the required fair public process must be followed i.e. guidelines require by-law of Council & public process

4. “In a case involving Planning Act instruments and Heritage Act permit, the matters are inextricably linked.” How? the Provincial Policy Statement OMB: “the Board cannot dismiss or disregard the considerable emphasis and priority the Province has placed on intensification in built-up areas. The challenge...is to determine if the provincial goal of intensification can be achieved while meeting the provincial goal of heritage conservation.” ===>the need to read the PPS as a whole

PPS 1.1.1: “promoting efficient development and land use patterns which sustain financial well- being....”
PPS 1.1.3.1 “settlement* areas shall be the focus of growth and their vitality and regeneration shall be promoted” (*”built up areas where development is concentrated and which have a mix of land uses”)
PPS 2.6.1 : “significant...resources are valued for the important contribution they make to our understanding of the history of a place, an event, or a people” cf. PDVC: PPS 2.6.1 “does not require the preservation of everything in the HD–only heritage values, attributes and integrity need to be examined....[and winnowed down] to those elements that are significant and stand out” ===> OMB: “As with a heritage structure, not every element of a heritage district is of equal significance. The significant attributes of the HD should be identified in the district plan or in...the District Guidelines....The PPS implicitly acknowledges that there may be built heritage resources and cultural heritage landscapes which are not significant and which do not warrant conservation. Such an interpretation allows for the balancing of variety of provincial interests as mandated by the PPS... [According to PPS, significant cultural heritage landscapes] ...significant as modifier...must mean that not all elements of a cultural heritage landscape as included in a designated HD are by definition significant.” (P.23)
Growth Plan sec 2.2.2 directs a significant portion of new growth to the built-up areas of a community through intensification;
Growth Plan sec 4.2.4(1)(e): cultural heritage conservation, including conservation of cultural heritage and archaeological resources where feasible, as built up areas are intensified”;

However, Port Dalhousie is not designated as an “urban growth centre” cf City & PROUD: [the development is “intensification in the wrong location” ===>OMB: development application is subject to Growth Plan; therefore, OMB “must engage in a balancing exercise”

5. Niagara Policy Plan 5.5; 3.2; 4: sec 4.A.3: “to assist in development of Welland Canal corridor [includes Port Dalhousie]==>OMB: Region wants to assist such development.”Key nodes should see opportunities for compatible and appropriate commercial development” (Region continues to support development proposal)

6. City St Catharine’s Official Plan sec 16 The Port Dalhousie Neighbourhood Plan cf Friends of Eden Mills v Eramosa Twp 1998 decision: “the policy objectives of an official plan are not restricted to heritage concerns; thus...there must be a weighing and balancing of various interests where there is no detailed and specific direction in the Official Plan”

sec. 4.2(a): continued growth, expansion and revitalization of a diversified commercial land use mix
sec. 4.2.5.1 Design criteria: zoning by-laws are to reflect the built form [in historic commercial areas including Port Dalhousie] to ensure new construction will be compatible”
sec 7.10.7; “City will be guided by applicable HCD plan cf. sec 16 neighbourhood plan purpose “to provide a framework for the development and redevelopment of the Port Dalhousie Neighbourhood but note sec.16.90: “The HCD designation shall not be considered to be a freeze on development in the designated area... Notwithstanding that a HCD shall be undertaken....the municipality shall support the revitalization of this historically significant area by ....encouraging the development of the commercial core for regional (tourism) oriented facilities in order to enhance the economic viability of this historic area” ===>OMB: “must weigh and balance interests” and “harmonize and rationalize (them) in a reasonable way”

7. Port Dalhousie HCD guidelines provides this description: “A compact settlement perched on the table lands of a small peninsula that separates Lake Ontario to the north from Martindale Pond to the South; the distinctive commercial core: centred on Lakeport Road; Hogan’s Alley and Lock Street is distinguished by its nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture of two- and three storey terrace blocks and individual hotels...built primarily of red and buff brick in the Italianate style ===>OMB notes that 1) no mention is made of one-storey, mid- twentieth century buildings (Erskine’s Pharmacy, Hydro Building) or open area behind Lock Street (currently occupied by the Rum Jungle and associated drinking “ ”terraces”==> OMB: a) “post-1950 buildings may form part of HD character or heritage fabric, but only if the Guidelines address them as such”; b) lack of clarity about heritage fabric (streetscapes, landscape features, views, vistas and open spaces)==> Studies and guidelines must speak for themselves. c) no mention made of Main Street or street with no name: thus, the Jail House has not been included in the HD; d) sec 7.4 height; Guidelines recommended that Council amend the zoning bylaw to restrict building height to 9 m. City Council did not follow this recommendation. e) HCD guidelines “are not prescriptive in determining specific design solutions for each building or lot”; f) “boundary edges” of entire district are “emphasized by the significant height of table land and steep banks that separate land from water”

8. Port Dalhousie revitalization objective?
a. “the [Commercial] Core has become centre for the consumption of alcohol especially between Victoria Day and labour Day”
b. expanded tourism with focus on attracting an “upscale clientele”==> thus PDVC proposal of mix of commercial uses to meet needs of tourist market ( boutique hotel, retail and restaurant space, theatre and large public open air space)
c. per OMB: “the commercial core is located in a “settlement area” (per PPS) and “built-up area” (per Growth Plan) & growth is directed to such an area;
d. per OMB: “the HCD designation [does not] render all elements of the district equally significant and requiring conservation at the same level” i. “Either the Study and the Guidelines contain the content required by section 41.1(5) or they “capture an essence.” The Board finds that they cannot do both.”

significant attributes of the commercial core: nineteenth and early twentieth century Lock and Lakeport streetscapes & OMB adds two not mentioned in HD plan: the Austin Hotel & the Port Dalhousie jail, perhaps the oldest in Ontario; however, “to suggest that [the Rum Jungle has heritage value] strains credulity”; today’s Port Mansion has been so extensively renovated that all heritage attributes were gutted
“The Board can only conclude that Port Mansion, like the Hydro Building, Erskine’s Pharmacy and the backside of Lock and Lakeport were not considered by community consensus to be significant heritage attributes until the PDVC proposal appeared.”
“The Board finds that the evidence of Messrs. Chapman and McClelland, witnesses working in the public interest and not for a proponent or opponent is convincing in this matter...As an expert in heritage conservation matters, Mr. McClelland testified that such economic viability is a necessary precondition to conserving heritage resources successfully...The Board finds that Mr. McClelland’s work was one part of the exemplary foundation upon which City Council based its decision on June 2006. It performs the same function for this Board. Mr. McClelland’s work was nuanced and even-handed, something vital to the cause of heritage conservation in this Province.” Cf also Per Mr. Chapman, City of St. Catherine’s staff: “the Official Plan recognized that the more intensive use of land and buildings is inevitable in a maturing urban area.”

OMB decision approves the PDVC site plan & directs a heritage permit issue for demolition, alteration and new construction proposed in PDVC’s heritage permit application subject to the Heritage Conservation Strategy and Heritage Easement Agreements with the City.-–Susan B. Campbell, OMB Vice Chair

the heritage gateway (the Denhez decision)

2009-07-20T15:00:00.013-04:00

Today's photos feature this region's Mennonite Georgian heritage architecture (top to bottom): 1. the Ruby-Snyder fieldstone house in Waterloo; 2) the (Eby) Hammermuller house, Kitchener before being moved and restored; this house was reputed to have been located on the second highest ridge in the Region of Waterloo; 3) stone mason cleaning and repairing the mortar in 2007-- the house appears completely restored with addition of new verandah and can be seen in its new location in the Eby Estates subdivision on Bleams Road, Kitchener; and 4) the fieldstone Becker farmhouse that too will be retained and restored by the developer of the proposed Becker Estates subdivision in Kitchener.

These houses illustrate the heritage gateway concept: the retention of heritage houses to act as a gateway to a new subdivision and to establish the design concepts. City of Kitchener has enacted design guidelines for new neighbourhoods that maximize this City's built heritage resources.

Today's blog deals with a gateway development in the City of Vaughan that involved some controversy re the design of the new construction proposed as an addition to an existing heritage home as well as an attached new development on an adjacent vacant lot. Both properties are located in an existing heritage district established in 2003 but subject to provisions in the revised Ontario Heritage Act 2005. Apparently the City of Vaughan could not impose its heritage district design guidelines as they were never made official through a city by-law. Rambling Rose has summarized the OMB decision as this particular decision has implications for local heritage districts as well. It would be a shame for a community to lose control because of a "technical omission."

Per OMB decision PL060606 by M C Denhez as of 18 February 2009 regarding new construction within the Kleinburg-Nashville HCD, City of Vaughan ON regarding proposed 5 storey post-modern mixed-use addition to the OHA Part IV designated Martin-Smith house (addition to existing house & construction on adjacent vacant lot). Council refused to allow construction as did not meet the Design Guidelines for this HCD & thus appealed to OMB.

Ontario Heritage Act 2005 (OHA) regulates three kinds of designated properties:

individually designated OHA 2005 sec 29
those in an Heritage Conservation District (HCD): "all new construction is regulated with reference to the HCD plan" cf OHA 2005 sec. 41.2 (1) (b); 41.2 (2); 42 (1) & 42 (2)
double-designated-- individually OHA IV and part of HCD OHA V sec 41. (2.2)

however, sec 41.1 only came into effect on 28 April 2005; this particular HD was designated in 2003. In 2005, HCD plans became on OHA requirement; the Kleinburg-Nashville District Plan predates sec. 41.1 & there is "no evidence of an update" = a technical omission by the City.

If updated plan exists, the HCD plan prevails; if not, then OHA Part IV sec. 30 cf. #2 below apply

therefore, this new construction is regulated under sec. 30 & sec. 33to 34.4 (these sections referred to Conservation Review Board) & N. B. 41 (1.2) (b) which reads "if no heritage conservation district plan has been adopted by council of the municipality....."

Ontario Municipal Board Act regulation 20/02: "if OMB considers two or more matters are related to each other by common facts, issues, questions of law or for any other reasons," OMB can consolidate separate appeals.
"Pragmatically, it is manifestly undesirable to draw a line through a building, with one set of standards applying on one side, and different standards applyong on the other. Such a confused outcome is to be avoided."-- M C Denhez

Conclusion? the entire project (restoration of heritage house and new construction) subject to HCD plan.
This particular ruling was cited by PROUD'S appeal of the OMB decision earlier this year. OMB chair Marie Hubbard affirmed "that the correct interpretation of s.41.2 (1) (b) of the OHA is set out in the Decision of Member Denhez." cf source M. Hubbard e-mail dated 4 May 2009 re s.43 requests for review decision ...issued 26 Feb 3009 OMB Case No. PL060850.

heritage fabric

2009-07-20T10:54:00.007-04:00

"The intent of heritage designation at the community level is not just about protecting one, two, or three unique properties of outstanding historical or architectural significance, but also includes protecting the general heritage fabric of the community which gives its distinct character. This character is expressed in the built environment through a collection of individual buildings, streetscapes and areas which reflect different times, materials, styles and uses. Of course, for each individual property which is proposed for designation, the city must be able to demonstrate its historical or architectural importance....Under the Ontario Heritage Act (OHA), a Municipal Council can proceed to designate without the consent of the owner and it uses this power when required in the interests of the public good." (1)

Property owner opposed City of London designation of Ontario Cottage (doorway, distinctive chimneys, bargeboard) in City of London nineteenth century streetscape with high concentration of listed and designated heritage buildings. The property owner "felt that designation had a negative effect on property values since 4 out of 4 real estate appraisals of the property had come to this conclusion; the owner stated "that the value of the building as a residence was $50,000 less than as an office." (1)

Conservation Review Board recommendations*:
1. designation of property because of architectural significance;
2. City develop "a framework for dialogue with owners of heritage property" and that the City "strive for precision and thoroughness in its presentation on heritage significance and processes of evaluation." (1)

Notes: * Conservation Review Board recommends to municipal Council; Council makes the final decision.

Photos: Governor's House and Gaol designated ONA Part IV property: yellow brick and fieldstone construction are characteristic of the Berlin/Kitchener built heritage fabric.

Source: (1) Robert Bowes, Chair Conservation Review Board hearing report "in respect of the intended designation of 308 Richmond Street, London

push and pull

2009-07-17T18:17:00.028-04:00

One fine summer's day, Rambling Rose gave in to the urge to wander and set out to find and follow the Old Stage Road (successor to the Detroit path.

Mile 0 was at the intersection of the mythical Indian Road with the old Waterloo Township boundary. From thence an easy drive south to the intersection with the Governor's Road/Highway 2 west past fields ripe with strawberries to be had for a mere pittance. Our first Lieutenant- Governor who dreamed the military road to connect Burlington Bay with the city of London had ordered Augustus Jones to survey the route in 1793 and named it the Dundas Road. However, Simcoe never lived to see that dream or to even hear the first settler's disparage those lofty ambitions with the phrase, "ah, the governor's road" set with a certain tone of voice. Ah yes, RR well knows how frontier societies use a biting humour to bring about levelling of unrealisitic aspirations. A profoundly Canadian characteristic indeed. (RR has juxtaposed the photos: the Governor's (government) road that failed to materialize & the Old Stage Road built by settler hands and toil.)

Nonetheless, two centuries later Simcoe's influence can still be felt. First, there was the matter of those military roads to defend this fledgling wilderness against invasion: we still follow the Yonge Street route into the northern hinterland (Highway 11) -- this province's longest road right up the US border; likewise, Highway 2 (Kingston-Toronto-Niagara & west to Windsor). The garrison towns of Kingston, Toronto, and Niagara have grown considerably since Simcoe first had them mapped out and settled. York (now Toronto) demonstrates Simcoe, the original urban planner cf. previous blog "gothic verticality" for link to video of Fort York.

Near Woodstock, RR zigzagged left and right and at last found the gravel road leading west that a provincial plaque confirmed to be the Old Stage Road aka the "Detroit Path." Today the road takes the traveller through primarily agricultural lands and some forested areas; closer to Woodstock the road winds through the hamlet of Oxford Centre-- thriving as a bedroom community to Woodstock and Ingersoll. In spite of the plaque's claim, the Old Stage Road deadends before arriving in Ingersoll -- cut off by the 401.

While driving the still-forested portions of the Detroit path (left photo), RR reviewed for herself Simcoe's settlement scheme (we now call these development applications):

British soldiers who had served in the American Revolutionary war were to be rewarded with free grants of land -- as were ordinary folks who had demonstrated their loyalty to the British crown & who would have the initials U. E. appended to their names; he extended his offer of 200 acres of free land to anyone who take the oath of allegiance
immigrants to Upper Canada who would bring in another 40 settler families would be rewarded with townships (the basic land survey unit--comparable to a subdivision now; counties were organized as political units to send reps to the legislative assembly, to organize the militia, to deliver various government functions (courts, jails, etc)
to sweeten the pot, he opened the border to pacifists who could avoid military service by paying an annual fee: thus commenced waves of Amish, Mennonite, Tunker and Quaker immigrations.

Settlement of Norwich Township began with the Otterville Mill (left photo) on the banks of Big Otter Creek (right photo)--
a most pleasant village to live in: quiet streets, beautiful buildings and town park, but unfortunately the museum and mill were closed. A bit more sleuthing was required to locate another strand of the Simcoe legacy to us cf. next photo left.

How many know that Simcoe was the first to propose the outright abolition of slavery? He had to compromise that ideal as many Loyalists had brought slaves with them to Canada -- and yes, Abraham Erb, the esteemed founder of Waterloo, came with a black slave to settle here; and yes, for a while the log structure that was Waterloo's first schoolhouse served as the residence of a black settler in nearby Kitchener. Simcoe's Anti-Slavery Act of 1793 spelled out these terms: slaves already brought into Canada would remain enslaved until death; no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada; children born to female slaves would be freed at age 25. RR recalls reading somewhere that by 1810 there were no slaves in Upper Canada.

Next stop on this trip was the town of Norwich--and first on the list? the Norwich & District Museum housed in a former Quaker church where RR wanted to examine a rare saltbox house built by that town's first settler Peter Lossing, a Quaker.

In 1810, Peter Lossing and his brother-in-law DeLong, both Quakers in Dutchess County, New York purchased 10,000 acres of land in Norwich Township @ 50 cents per acre to be paid off as settlers took up land. They and their families plus a contingent of other settlers arrived in 1811 to begin clearing the land and farm.
The Lossing story brought to mind the push and pull theory used to explain patterns of immigration to Canada. Basically newcomers arrive as they are pushed out of their countires of origin and pulled to Canada by various factors.

In the Lossing story, the pull of vast tracts of land to be acquired on generous terms was the "pull" factor: apparently he wanted to found an agricultural settlement to advance his fortunes. (cf. the surveyor Augustus Jones' motives-- he asked for payment in land rather than cash to increase his land holdings). The push factor? According to Dictionary of Canadian Biography: "In 1806, the [Oswego Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends] disowned [Lossing] "claiming that Lossing had been neglectful in the attendance of Meetings & married a woman out of the unity of friends after being guilty of fornication with her."-- We are also told that "on the eve of his departure for Upper Canada, Lossing acknowledged his errors and applied, successfully, for readmission to the society. -- Shrewd operator-- he had future customers for all the land he proposed to sell, meetings were initially conducted in his house, acted as surveyor of the township, and became its first postmaster. Photos: 1) the Peter Lossing 1811 clapboard saltbox house-- restored by South Norwich Historical Society: 2) the migration story & Conestoga wagon display inside the museum.

Even as RR paused to enjoy the graceful simplicity of the Lossing home in the wilderness, Governor Simcoe was never far from her mind. In rereading this province's early history, RR has been trying to determine who constituted the "Family Compact" historians frequently referred to. Simcoe, the idealist, dreamed of creating here in this land a better England and hoped to found an enlightened aristocracy here in the persons of the founders of each of the townships as they were surveyed and settled here. However, many of the original landholders accepted their free land holdings and then retired to the home country to watch their colonial real estate portfolio grow-- never bothering to even fulfill the basic settlement duty of clearing the roadway in front of their property ( a lot like not clearing snow and ice off the public sidewalk in winter now).

During the war of 1812-14, Quakers and other pacifists found themselves harrassed for not having served in the war. Resentments started growing among the populace and were targeted against the wealthy, powerful, and well-connected members of the "Family Compact." Thus, RR learned that Norwich had become a "hotbed of treason" and many here had taken an active role in the 1837 Rebellion under the leadership of a local physician, Dr. Charles Duncombe (photo on right).

The museum's closing indicated time to head home but RR chose to detour to Scotland, the site of Duncombe's unsuccessful uprising (cf. plaque photo left).

All in all, an interesting day as RR gathered together the vestiges of various minds and personalities at work in dreaming a new country/land into being. RR continues to marvel at the complexities of Simcoe's mind who devised our transportation system by reading maps sketched in for him on birch bark, who needed to attract settlers to feed the troops at his garrison towns, and then opened up settlement to those whose pacifist ideas were diametrically opposed to his--the career soldier and aristocrat & so put in place a fundamental Canadian trait of tolerance and freedom.

To close, an observation RR found in an early history of this province: “The Canadian immigrant, be he, English, Irish, or Scotch, or even German, or French, will, as time give lines to his face, and gray hair to his head, insensibly lose many of the peculiarities of his race, and in the end sensibly approximate to the character and appearance of the people among whom he has settled. The children of the emigrant, no matter what pains the parents may take to preserve in their children what belongs to their own native country, will grow up quite unlike the parents...The fact at which it is desired to get is that emigrants to Canada, no matter how heterogenous, are gradually moulded into a whole more or less homogenous.That this is observable somewhat in the emigrant himself, but decidedly so in the children.”--William Canniff, History of Upper Canada

the classic Ontario House

2009-07-09T17:15:00.035-04:00

According to ERA Heritage architect Scott Weir, "The Gothic cottage is a small, perfect gem...an architectural type that could be called “great Upper Canadian”....the very archetype of what a house should look like." (1) He goes on to list the basic characteristics of this architectural style:
a. Symmetrical storey and a half facade;
b. Small gable centred above the main entrance;
c. Size? From very small (single storey with three rooms) to large (two storeys, grandly scaled interiors and high ceilings): usually two bedroom houses + living room & kitchen @ 700 sq ft;
d. A simple end-gabled box: pitched roof, centre door balanced by single window either side, and one chimney + centre gable whose peak directed snow away from the entrance stoop & had either a vent or a window.

Photos L to R: updated brick with bargeboarding and finials; vinyl siding covers original finish; original fieldstone with new roof and porch; Port Rowan lacey gingerbread; original limestone.

Architectural historians Kim Ondaatje & Lois Mackenzie prefer to call this style The Ontario House, a classic feature of Ontario landscape from 1824 to 1850's. This was the successor to the one-and-a-half storey log cabin that “hid its upper storey from the taxman* behind its heightened walls.” By the end of the nineteenth century, the walls became higher and the roof pitch became steeper to provide more
head room in the bedroom storey. (2) There are a variety of reasons given for the popularity of this style: 1) tax laws; 2) ease of construction; and 3) availability of plans in pattern books.

Thomas F. McIlwraith provides the best overview of 19C tax laws: Upper Canada law 1807 to 1853 taxed houses according to height: i. One storey (round log, square timber, brick or stone) @ $30**; ii. Two storeys (square timber and brick, stone or framed) i.e. full storeys; square timber @ $30 but brick, stone or framed eg UEL Georgian house @ $60; iii. One (framed) is less than two storeys & refers to the storey-and-a-half which appears to be one storey high viewed from front but has two usable storeys when viewed from end wall–the half storey has sloping ceilings; taxed @ $35. Such houses could be made more economical by rasing the roof & addition of gables and dormers. (3)

19C North America had high levels of immigration requiring shelter to be built quickly by an uneducated construction trade. (1) Pine & cedar were readily available and after lumber stocks diminished, the houses were built of fieldstone or brick. This basic structure could be constructed easily without carpentry and masonry skills. As time went on, the basic structure was added to with summer kitchens, verandahs/porches. (3) ***

Plans were readily available at the local Mechanic's Institute i.e. American architect Downing’s manuals on house construction; this particular design by architect Downing had won an award at 1851 Great Exhibition in London; architect James Smith modified the design which was published in The Canadian Farmer magazine in 1865 with two versions: Gothic cottage**** and Gothic farmhouse; constructed of local materials readily available (wood, stone. Brick or roughcast (i.e.unpainted stucco). (1) The style applied to the cottage was influenced by its location. In Ontario, with many immigrants from Britain, the style leaned to gothic, with details such as finials, bargeboarding (gingerbread) and window trim carrying the gothic elements. ..These houses were intended to be simple, efficient, economical and
beautiful.(4) *****
Photos L to R and counterclockwise: updated with stylistic changes; City of Kitchener's oldest house dates to 1816 ---with original timber framing restored--note that this structure could have started as simple log cabin and then had roof raised at a later date; abandoned farmhouse left to decay; one of Downing's illustrations; immaculate fieldstone at Speedsville, Wellington County.

Downing explained his approach to residential construction thus:

"This simple design is given to show how a very small cottage, built of wood, may bemade to look well at very trifling cost." (4)
"...the greatest charm of this cottage[ i.e. A Symmetrical Bracketed Cottage] to our eyes, is the expression of simple but refined home beauty which it conveys. No person would build such a quaint yet modest porch as this, no one would give this simple character of beauty to the windows, and no one would reach this exact height of tasteful simplicity in the whole exterior character, unless he had a real appreciation of the beautiful and truthful in cottage life, rather than that false ambition which leads men to make small cottages ape great villas...Altogether, this cottage evinces much of absolute and relative beauty - the universal beauty of form, and the relative beauty of refined purposes." (4)

This classic Ontario House has evolved and endured over time. In the 1850's the basic model was followed by the picturesque Gothic Revival cottage that featured a liberal use of decorative bargeboard (verge board) according to rules of British architect A. W. Pugin in 1841 and the upstairs window became more decorative; the verandah attaches house visually and functionally to its setting. Further variations included pinnacles or small spires rising from peaks; an asymmetric floor plan; and vertical board and batten replaced horizontal clapboard of earlier styles. (2)

Photos: architect Scott Weir's drawing to illustrate terms; architect Adamson's illustrations showing the basic layout; red brick with later addition in Gorrie-- this village has wonderful brick buildings; Cedar Hill original Ontario house with later additions that provide a fabulous study of changing architectural styles-- this house just kept on growing.

As co-author Marion Macrae noted that she gave architectural, heritage activist guru Anthony Adamson the first and last word, RR shall do likewise:

“A true vernacular, shaped by the people and the climate from the land itself... the functional form of dwelling for the North American woodlands, where conservation of heat is the major consideration for nine months of the year, and the greatest nuisance for the other three...The Upper Canadian began life in the colony as the last Georgian. The lineal ancestor of the Upper Canadian vernacular style is the smaller Georgian house, a storey and a half in height, in plan a long rectangle bisected by a centre hall. This little
house kept growing with the addition of working tail: summer kitchen, a laundry, a smoke-house, a wood-shed, privies and carriage-shed...The little vernacular house, still stubbornly Georgian in form, and wearing its little gable with brave gaiety, became the abiding image of the province. It was to be the Ontario Classic style.” (5)

Notes: *Excellent photos and discussion board here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=4330098
** RR is using $ symbol as can't locate the symbol for British pound as that was currency in effect at that time; *** there are some structures with a "suicide door"--an upstairs door leading to a non-existent upper porch; **** aka "the working man's cottage"; ***** The American architect Downing was a student of the British architect John C. Loudon, who had published in 1830 his influential An Encyclopaedia of cottage, Farm, and Village Architecture: containing numerous designs for dwellings...(full title can not be twittered) in which he demonstrated farm improvements and building construction. (5)

Sources: (1) Scott Weir,The tiny, perfect home, The National Post 24 February 2007; (2) Kim Ondaatje & Lois Mackenzie, Old Ontario Houses, Toronto 1977; (3) Thomas McIlwraith, Looking for Old Ontario,Toronto 1997; (5) Marion Macrae in constant consultation with, and sometimes in spite of Anthony Adamson, who
wrote the first word and the last word and made the drawings, The Ancestral Roof: Domestic Architecture in Upper Canada, Toronto 1963 rev 1967 (4) http://www.cabbagetownpa.ca/Pages/11Workers.html

the detroit path

2009-06-26T18:42:00.034-04:00

Gentle reader, and one in particular whom we shall address as snowbird, what follows is a work in progress-- an exploration of a variety of maps, photos, and texts in an attempt to uncover vestiges of our past.

Shall we begin with the first map first introduced in the post, "blow sands 21 June 2008, wherein Rambling Rose opined that this province's first lieutenant governor John Graves Simcoe either canoed or portaged 600 miles round trip between Niagara and Detroit? Not so, as he either walked overland or on ice and sometimes in moccasins most of this winter journey; however, he managed to hitch a ride in a cariole (a sleigh pulled by horses) for a partion of the trip either way. The diarist Littlehales who recorded this trip and drew the map tells us that the distance from Niagara to Detroit was 270 miles going, but would have been a bit longer going back as Simcoe detoured to the forks of the La Tranche (now Thames River) to dream Upper Canada's new capital-- variously called Georgina, New London, and now London. Here's Littlehale's map with the Detroit path highlighted in pink.

Maps and backroads excite RR's imagination and itchy feet as there are always new landscapes to be explored and stories to uncover as one by one the narrative questions are answered: who? did what? where? when? why? how?

First portrait is of Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe (in whose honour, we take our annual Civic holiday). Historians tell us: " Simcoe decided to make a journey overland to Detroit. He left Navy Hall on the 4th February, 1793, and returned on the 10th March. His travelling companions were Capt. Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Smith...Lieutenants Talbot, Gray, Givens and Major Littlehales."--oops, there's something missing here....names of their native guides as 1) there were no roads overland at that time and 2) this was Simcoe's first trip cross country---without roads or signposts? someone had to guide him. Photo on the right was taken at Battlefield House National Historic Site during this year's Battle of Stoney Creek re-enactment. RR is wondering if the Governor and his soldiers wore full battle dress--those wonderfully brilliant scarlet uniforms for a hike in the backwoods? She's not certain as having read more of Simcoe's accomplishments she learned that as a commander of British forces during the American Revolution Simcoe was the first to have soldiers wear green camouflage.

But on with the story: the where? question awaits us: "The journey was made partly in sleighs, but chiefly on foot. Littlehales kept a diary of the occurrences on the way. The route was by Ten-mile Creek, Nelles' house at the Grand River, the Mohawk Indian village (a little below Brantford), the portage route to the Forks of the Thames (London), and then down or along the River to Detroit." Two maps then to accompany this trip diary: The first map from Newark (now Niagara) to 40 mile Creek (now Grimsby) & for a closer look just click with your mouse and the map opens up in greater detail as every creek they crossed & friends they stayed with & date are noted on the map. This particular map is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it has been drawn by none other than the power behind the big man--Mrs. Elizabeth Simcoe who accompanied her husband frequently on such trips & who served as his secretary and with her skills as an artist left us visual images of this province at that time. The second? the route this band of men followed is sometimes called the Iroquois trail and connects across the Niagara River with the Mohawk (Iroquois) trail from Albany to Niagara and was used by many settlers to immigrate to Upper Canada. Today that aboriginal trail has been covered over by old Highway 8 (now regional road 81) between Hamilton and Niagara & is named King or Queenston Street within municipalities.

Next map (courtesy Mrs. Simcoe) shows the route between Burlington overland to Detroit. RR highlighted for herself settlements as of 1793.
As far as RR has been able to ascertain the historic Iroquois trail would have traversed Cootes Paradise, the Dundas Valley, and climbed the Escarpment to arrive at Ancaster (not Highway 8 as that highway heads towards Galt) & Simcoe's party was headed towards Brant's Ford (now Brantford) in order to cross the Grand River.

In her diary, Mrs. Simcoe provides us with a sketch of Her Majesty's Royal Chapel of the Mohawks as it appeared in 1793--noteworthy as this was the very first Protestant church built in Upper Canada. At the Village of the Mohawks, Simcoe's party grew larger:
"Joseph Brant (photo of Thayendaga/Joseph Brant memorial in City of Brantford) with about a dozen of his Indians accompanied the party from the Mohawk Village to Delaware, doubtless to furnish them with game and guide them over the long portage." ===> Possible route? Brantford to Paris via the Governor's Road that skirts along the high banks of the Nith River? from thence following Highway 2 via the Old Stage Road south of Woodstock? cf. map-- a very pleasant drive that RR highly recommends and escape from the elephant trail (the 401)-- and thence to the Longwoods Road from London to Delaware and points west? --formerly Highway 2 but thanks to
to the Harris government has been downloaded and downgraded from provincial highway status. That's ok too as RR frequently uses Old Highway 2 for a stress-free jaunt to Windsor & smiles when she observes all those trucks on the 401 passing her by.

After saying goodbye to Brant and his Mohawks at Delaware, the party soldiers on: "In proceeding down the river the Indians discovered a spring of an oily nature, which upon examination proved to be a kind of petroleum. On the 17th, after a journey of four or five miles, they passed the Moravian Village which had been begun in May,1792. The Delaware Indians were....making progress towards civilization [sic--that phrase would have to be excised now}, and already had corn fields and were being instructed in different branches of agriculture. "At this place every respect was paid to the Governor, and we procured a seasonable refreshment of eggs, milk and butter."....Before this, the Governor and his lads considered porcupine flesh a fine feast indeed.

Next photos: Fairfield Oil & Gas Museum and the powerhouse at Bothwell; Tecumseh memorial at roadside park just past Bothwell but before Thamesford. Great rest area--just remember to take picnic lunch. Take note that petroleum was discovered and produced right here in Ontario long before Alberta cashed in on black gold.
Littlehales' trip diary continues: "3rd.—We were glad to leave our wigwam early this morning, it having rained incessantly the whole night; besides, the hemlock branches on which we slept were wet before they were gathered for our use.—We first ascended the height at least 120 feet into a continuation of the pinery already mentioned; quitting that, we came to a beautiful plain with detached clumps of white oak, and open woods; then crossing a creek running into the south branch of the
Thames, we entered a thick swampy wood, where we were at a loss to discover any track; but in a few minutes we were released from this dilemma by the Indians, who making a cast, soon descried our old path to Detroit. Descending a hill and crossing a brook, we came at noon to the encampment we left on the 14th of February, and were agreeably surprised by meeting Captain Brant and a numerous retinue; among them were four of the Indians we had despatched to him when we first altered our course for the forks of the River Thames."

Per historian: "At this period the overland route from Detroit to Niagara was apparently well known. There was an annual "Winter-express" each way, which Simcoe met on his westward journey on the 12th February and on his homeward route on the 5th March. Littlehales mentions a Mr. Clarke as being with it on each occasion. On their first meeting, the express was accompanied by a Wyandot and a Chippawa Indian. The second time, Mr. Augustus Jones, the surveyor, (cf. left statue of Jones in Old Towne Square, Stoney Creek) was either with or following it."

In retelling the story, only one question remains: why this trip overland during a bitter Ontario winter? Simcoe, ever the soldier and military strategist, was anticipating an American invasion & strategically set up forts at key waterfront locations (Kingston, York(Toronto), Newark (Niagara), Chatham and Fort Malden. Like the Romans before him, he chose to connect them with roads that were to be immediately surveyed and built by his troops, the Queen's Rangers he had brought with him. The Dundas Road (highway 2) was surveyed the next year and work was begun but never completed as Simcoe, exhausted by frontier life and battles with his superior, took sick leave in 1796 and returned to his wife's estate in England to recuperate. That incompleted road was mocked by the settlers with the derisive term, "The Governor's Road."

Gentle snowbird, you asked recently, "How do you do these blogs?"-- mmm? like piecing together jigsaw puzzle-- Some years back, RR discovered the Old Stage Road and knew there was a story there but how to find it---took this long to learn about the Detroit path. Another time someone told her about the existence of an old map used by settlers to get to Wilmot Township-- apparently the map had a line marked the Indian Road-- a straight line that connected Lake Erie to the Wilmot Line in Region of Waterloo. RR studied current maps and test drove her theory but was not sure she had found the road as it could have begun either in Port Dover or Port Ryerse-- until she did the Norolk sand plain posts and was able to determine that Port Ryerse had the harbour and shipping capacities to bring immigrants via New York--Albany-- Buffalo/Fort Erie to Port Ryerse. RR has yet to find the map. A few winters back four region archivists and one WLU archaeologist checked and told her none available that matched that description. We shall see-- as these maps have been culled from diaries & there have to be more diaries archived somewhere.
In the end, it's all about the stories hidden behind covers somewhere, is it not?

Footnotes culled here and there:

"Various figures were delineated on trees at the forks of the River Thames, done with charcoal and vermillion; the most remarkable were the imitations of men with deer's heads." ===> Rambling Rose has long wondered where have all the big trees gone? (chopped down to outfit the British navy or to furnish English castles, etc.) where are our aboriginal trails as trails & associated artifacts are still being uncovered in British Columbia today? (covered over by modern roads as the aboriginals instinctively followed the best travel routes across this highly varied landscape) ===> guarding the Skeena River to this day is a stone carving of the legendary chieftain Legiac visible from the highway; the only easily accessible hieroglyphics can be found at Petroglyphs Provincial Park just east of Peterborough; cf. photo of old growth tree at Chiefswood on the Six Nations Reserve
"According to Rochefoucoult, Brant's manners were half European, and he wa accompanied about England by two negro [sic] servants. Thayenanegea is described as being a man of animal courage, and possessing all the noble qualities of a soldier- tall, erect and majestic, with the aire and mien of one born to command..."
"Mrs. Simcoe...is bashful, and speaks little, but she is a woman of sense, handsome and amiable, and fulfils all the duties of a mother and wife with most scrupulous exactness. The performance of the latter she carries so far as to act the part of secretary to her husband."
"A sporadic stage coach service ran along the Detroit Path after the war, with regular passenger service only after 1832. The fare was $4.50 for a two-day journey from London to Hamilton. Drivers were paid ten to twelve dollars per month, and many small boys wanted to be one. Drawn by a 4-horse team, a coach was huge, awkward and uncomfortable. Its body, slung on rawhide straps over the wheels, carried nine passengers inside and as many as had a strong grip, on the top. It was the heyday of taverns, with 30 between London and Brantford. Coaches stopped at each one, and passengers were always thirsty. At the best of times, coaches travelled at 3 mph, though in spring the road became so muddy in places that male passengers had to get out and push. By 1839, parts of the Governor’s Road had been graded and paved with three-inch pine planks and travellers used it instead of Old Stage Road. Once the planks wore out, in ten years, business returned to the Detroit Path."
"Civilization consists, in the eyes of Americans, in just those views, theories, beliefs, and proceedings, which belong to the Great United States, and nothing can emanate from their government that is not in strict accordance with civilization, –their civilization. It so happens that one of their beliefs is that destiny manifestly intends that they shall possess all of North America."--Canniff 1869 ===> frequently cited as 1 of 4 causes of the war 1812-4; cf. blog about Security Prosperity Partnership (just enter the phrase in search box top left corner this blog & blogger software will take you to the post)
Primary source: 1793 trip to Detroit: Journal written by Edward Baker Littlehales (major of brigade, etc.) of an exploratory tour partly in sleighs but chiefly on foot, from Navy Hall, Niagara, to Detroit made in the months of February and March, A.D. 1793, by His Excellency Lieut.-Gov. Simcoe [microform] (1889) cf link here: http://www.archive.org/details/cihm_09129; secondary source:The Country of the Neutrals, by James H. Coyne St. Thomas 1895