Guild Park

Guild Park

The Guild Park is located in the Guildwood neighbourhood of Scarborough, in Toronto, Ontario.

This park is notable for a sculpture garden consisting of the rescued facades and ruins of various demolished downtown Toronto buildings such the old Toronto Star building, various bank buildings and the original Granite Club, located in the down-town of Toronto.

These sculptures surround the Guild Inn, a historic hotel, which used to be a siege for the famous Canadian Group of Seven, an artists colony. The hotel evolved out of Ranelagh Park, a 33 room, Arts and Crafts-style manor house built in 1914 for Colonel Harold Bickford atop the Scarborough Bluffs. He sold the hotel sold to the Roman Catholic Church’s Foreign Mission Society in 1921. The Society renamed it the China Mission College. In 1932 it was purchased by Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson who fostered the arts, turning the home into a museum, so that by the time of the Second World War it had become the Guild of All Arts with its Studio, which was assembled out of a garage and a stable from different parts of the grounds; it accommodated those practising batik, woodworking, weaving, and metalworking.

One of the remnants inside the Guild Park. A non-profit group called Artscape approached the city of Toronto with a proposed strategy for a cultural precinct on the Guild Inn site, which was met with interest. More concrete plans came, however, in September 2008, when the city approved a plan by Centennial College to operate a hotel, restaurant and conference site on the site. Photo: Elena

Architectural elements from demolished buildings were brought in the gardens of the Guild as follies.

On the territory, altogether, pieces of more than 60 structures can be seen, from buildings such as the Toronto Bank Building, the Quebec Bank, the home of Sir Frederick Banting, as well as various pieces of artwork, including 14 by Sorel Etrog, a few works by Emanuel Hahn, Francis Loring, E.B. White and Florence Wyle. This outdoor tour highlights those sculptures, as well as architectural remnants.

he Guild Inn was an historic hotel in the Guildwood neighbourhood of Scarborough, Toronto. It was once an artists colony.

The Guild Inn proved so popular as a lakeside resort and artisans’ community that in 1965 a six storey, 100 room addition and a swimming pool were added, plus further renovations in 1968.

View on the Ontario Lake from the Guild Park. Photo by Elena

BAnQ

BAnQ

Founded in 2006, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) results from the merger of two major national institutions: the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec and the Archives nationales du Québec.

The Archives of the province of Quebec were created in 1920, and a famous historian Pierre-Georges Roy was appointed as government archivist. The next year, the institution published its first annual report. On August 12, 1967, the National Assembly of Quebec passed a law creating the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, under the control of the ministère des Affaires culturelles. Since 1968 Quebec publishers were required to deposit two copies of their printed works with the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec.

The regulation applied to books, brochures, newspapers, magazines, artists’ books and musical scores. Two years later, in 1970 the Archives du Québec became the Archives nationales du Québec.

Through legislation, the latter was entrusted with the power to decide about the preservation or disposal of government documents. Throughout the years the Archives nationales du Québec expanded with the opening of the Centre d’archives de la Mauricie, of the Centre-du-Québec, Trois-Rivières, in Hull (now Gatineau), of the Centre d’archives de l’Outaouais, of the Centre d’archives du Saguenay−Lac-Saint-Jean located in Chicoutimi, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec (in Rouyn-Noranda), Estrie (in Sherbrooke) and of Bas-Saint-Laurent et de la Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine (in Rimouski), and of the Centre d’archives de la Côte-Nord (in Sept-Îles). In 1985, the Archives nationales du Québec adopted a policy on the management of the active documents of the Québec government as well as a regulation on retention schedules.

BAnQ. Photo by Elena

A management policy for active and semi-active documents followed in 1988, then a management policy for the inactive documents of public institutions. In 1989 the low establishing the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec as a corporation came into effect on April 1. The same year the Archives nationales du Québec adopted a policy on private archives, and, the following year, a regulation granting private archives services the status of authorized service.

The Iris catalogue, which allows free online access by the public to all collections of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, was launched in 1994. Later, the Archives nationales du Québec implemented Pistard, a new computer system which provides researchers with a direct access to information holdings on archives kept in the archives centres. On April 30, 2005 an official opening of the Grande Bibliothèque took place. In 2006 Bill 69 came into force on January 31. It is the official genesis of the new institution, Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

BANQ is Quebec’s premier cultural institution, entirely dedicated to democratizing knowledge and culture. The Library is perceived to be a crossroads, a hub and an intermediary for the mission of the Ministère de la culture, des communications et de la condition feminine of Quebec.

BAnQ is represented in all regions of the province, promoting social inclusion and enhancing cultural diversity. It is truly an institution for all. BAnQ collects preserves and disseminates Quebec’s archives and documentary heritage, and thus represents the society’s memory of the past. But it also squarely faces the future, relying on optimal use of new technologies to share its resources. Note that the institution offers rich and diversified public programming.

Chasse-Gallerie

Chasse Gallerie

(extract from Forever Man by Gordon R. Dickson)

… One of the ships engaged in the battle was a one-man vessel with a semianimate automatic control system, named by its pilot La Chasse Gallerie – you said something, Jim?

The exclamation had emerged from Jim’s lips involuntarily. And at the same time, foolishly, a slight shiver had run down his back. It had been years since he had run across the old tale as a boy.

“It’s a French-Canadian ghost legend, sir”, he said. “The legend was that voyageurs who had left their homes in Eastern Canada to go out on the fur trade routes and who had died out there would be able to come back home one night of the year. New Year’s night. They’d come sailing in through the storms and snow in ghost canoes, to join the people back home and kiss the girls they now wouldn’t ever be seeing again. – That’s what they called the story, “La Chasse Gallerie”. It means the hunting of a type of butterfly that invades beehives to steal honey”.

“The pilot of this ship was a Canadian”, said Mollen, “Raoul Penard”. He coughed dryly. “He was greatly attached to his home. La Chasse Gallerie was one of the ships near the center of the nova explosion, one of the ones that disappeared.

Winter in Quebec, photo by Elena

… Listen… Again, there was the faint snap of a stud. A voice, a human voice, singing raggedly, almost absentmindedly to itself, entered the air of the room and rang on Jim’s ears.

“… en roulant ma boule, roulant –

En roulant ma boule, roulant… “

The singing broke off and the voice dropped into a mutter of a voice that switched back and forth between French and English, speaking to itself. Jim, who had all but forgotten the little French he had picked up as a boy in Quebec, was barely able to make out that the owner of the voice was carrying on a running commentary on the housekeeping duties he was doing about the ship. Talking to himself after the fashion of hermits and lonely men.

A challenge to Satan

A Gaspesian legend

One morning, two fishermen from Barachois Village, located at the end of the Chaleurs Bay, get on board their boats to join friends at Cap Bon-Ami at the tip of Forillon.

They are already really drunk as they set out, but they nevertheless take a good stock of whiskey with them. Once at Bon-Ami, one of the two sailors thinks he saw Satan at the top of the cliff. He starts swearing and throws a bottle on the cape and shouts insults at him.

A loud grave voice coming from the cliff invites them for a rendez-vous on the sea the next day, promising a feast the two men would never forget.

Back in Barachois, the two men tell their story about the devil and his invitation. The next day, on a very calm sea, they set out to go fishing. Once in the open sea, a gigantic wave capsizes their boat. The two men drown and the sea becomes calm once again. Days later, when their bodies are found, the two fishermen are still holding their bottles.

Challenge to Satan. Illustration by Elena.

Angrignon Park

Angrignon Park

Angrignon Park (Parc Angrignon) covers a 97-hectare slab of land in a low-profile corner of Montreal.

The area and the park are named after J.-B. Arthur Angrignon (1875-1948), city councillor for Côte Saint-Paul for many years. The name of Angrignon is one that thousands of Montrealers see daily because it’s the last stop westward on the Metro’s green line. For dozens of years this area remained the winter home for the animals from Lafontaine Park’s small Jardin des Merveilles Zoo until 1989 when the city went out of the zoo business.

Today Angrignon Park is a nice stretch of green space with a 1.1-km-long pond in the middle. It has many picnic tables, foot and cycle paths and a few playground areas. The heart of the park was re-landscaped in 2000 with a light hand and the overall impression is one of gentle purposelessness, an idyllic refuge from the stresses of the city.

Angrignon Park. There are picnic tables, foot and cycle paths and a few playground areas along des Trinitaires. The heart of the park was re-landscaped in 2000. The overall impression is one of gentle purposelessness, an idyllic refuge from the stresses of the city. Photo by © Elena

The park is home to many squirrels and other animals. It has 10 km of walking trails, 10 km of cross-country skiing trails. Although visitors never really get completely beyond the distant sound of traffic on de la Vérendrye and des Trinitaires highways bordering the park, there are many nice and tranquil corners here. 

To get to Angrignon Park you need only stay on the metro’s Green Line till the last stop, get out and start walking. There are parking lots around the park area. Just across Newman Boulevard is Carrefour Angrignon, one of the Montreal’s largest malls. Fort Angrignon nearby is an outing centre with family activities. The Angrignon Farm hosts a number of family-oriented educational activities during the summer. It is home to some 25 different animal species commonly found on farms in Québec.

The park also hosts Fort Angrignon labyrinth of challenges, which is packed with year-round thrills and excitement.

Remembrance Day in Canada

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day, also called Veterans Day, Poppy Day or Memorial Day is a memorial day observed in Canada since the end of the First World War to remember all the Canadians who died in the line of duty in the throes of war and peacekeeping efforts. This day was designated by King George V in 1919 to be observed on 11 November to recall the end of hostilities of World War I on that date in 1918. The memorial evolved out of Armistice Day, which was held on the grounds of Buckingham Palace in London. Remembrance Day in Quebec is also referred to as Jour du Souvenir.

In 1918, hostilities formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in accordance with the armistice signed by representatives of Germany and the Entente, even when the First World War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.

Since 1919, honoring the men and women who sacrificed their well-being to protect ours, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is recognized in silence across Canada. In addition to parades and commemorations across cities and small towns, all Canadian flags on federal government buildings are flown at half-mast and schools across the country observe at least a moment of silence at 11 a.m.

Remembrance Day. The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields. Photo : © Elena

Many people wear artificial poppies on their clothes in the weeks before Remembrance Day. The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem In Flanders Fields.

These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, and their brilliant red colour became a symbol for the blood spilled in any war. On November 11, special church services are organized. These often include the playing of “The Last Post”, a reading of the fourth verse of the ‘Ode of Remembrance’ and two minutes silence at 11:00 (or 11am). After the service, wreaths are laid at local war memorials.

The official Canadian national ceremonies are held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. A service is held and wreaths are laid by armed services representatives. In May 2000 the remains of a Canadian soldier who died in France in World War I, but was never been identified, were laid in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial.

Thank you, Veterans. Photo : © Elena

Since then, people have laid poppies, letters and photographs on the tomb. Similar services and events are held throughout Canada. Some schools that are open on Remembrance Day hold special assemblies, lessons and presentations on armed conflicts and those who died in them.

The federal government recognizes Remembrance Day in the Holidays Act as a national holiday, but not all provinces treat it as a paid statutory holiday. Its status varies by province.

Remembrance Day is not a statutory holiday in Quebec, although corporations that are federally registered may make the day a full holiday, or instead, designate a provincially recognized holiday on a different day. When Remembrance Day falls on a Sunday or Saturday that is a non-working day, workers are entitled to a holiday with pay on the working day immediately preceding or following the general holiday.

Lest We Forget. Photo : © Elena

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

Cenotaph in face of the Old City Hall in Toronto. To Our Glorious Dead. Photo : © Elena