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1914-1918 Vigil 3 Nov 2008 Courtesy of Wayne Cook Edmonton Branch News Starting on Tuesday, November 4 at 5 pm the names of the 68,000 Canadian men and women who fell in the First World War will be projected on the front of the Legislative Building in Edmonton, and will run for seven nights from sunset on the 4th until sunrise on November 11. The website for this project is http://1914-1918.ca 'At sunset November 4th through to sunrise November 11th, this site will present a vigil commemorating the 68,000 Canadians who lost their lives in WWI. The names of the 68,000 war dead will be projected over a week of nights onto the National War Memorial in Ottawa, buildings in other regions of Canada and onto the side of Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London, England. More than 9,700 names will appear each night. Each individual name will appear only once during the seven nights. These include those killed in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps.' If you have relatives who fell during this war, go to 'Search The Names' and type in their names and you can find out the exact time and day their names will appear on the screen. Or you can see the names projected on your computer screen at the precise time they appear on the website, from any of the time zones. This will not be active until 4th November. Each name will appear for 8 seconds.

Google Now Offers Newspaper Archives 31 Oct 2008 Courtesy of Brian Hurdle Now in beta form at Google you can search Newspaper archives

The United Church Archives Finds a New Home 25 Oct 2007 Toronto: In a statement released today, The United Church of Canada is pleased to announce a new location for its archives that are housed in Toronto. In early 2008, The United Church Archives (Toronto) will be moving from the Victoria University campus at the University of Toronto to The United Church of Canada's General Council Office at 3250 Bloor St. West in west-end Toronto. Currently The United Church of Canada supports a regional network of archives situated in 10 different locations throughout Canada. In Ontario, the United Church Archives (Toronto) manages the records of the General Council, the antecedent denominations, and the records of Bay of Quinte, London, Hamilton, Manitou, and Toronto Conferences and their respective presbyteries and pastoral charges. In announcing the decision regarding the new location for the United Church Archives (Toronto), Nora Sanders, General Secretary of the General Council, said, "As General Secretary, I want to assure all those who value the rich heritage of the United Church's archives of my personal commitment, along with that of the General Council, to the careful stewardship of this unique archival collection." Public access at this new location will be facilitated by its proximity to major transportation routes, the Islington subway station, and on-site parking. The new location will also allow for more immediate access and integration of the archives collection into the life and work of the church's national office and the church's governing body, the General Council. The archives will be housed in space vacated by The United Church of Canada's television and audiovisual production facility, Berkeley Studio. The studio space becomes available as a result of the decision in June 2007 to cease in-house, on-site audiovisual production effective December 31, 2007. The Berkeley Studio audiovisual collection will also be preserved as part of the General Council's archives. Bernard Granka is the project manager for the archives transition. He and Sharon Larade, The United Church of Canada's General Council Archivist, will oversee the monumental task of moving close to 20,000 boxes of records to the new site of the United Church Archives (Toronto). He explains that the church will be contracting specialized movers for the relocation of the archives collection. Granka says that the studio space has great potential for storing archival records. The studio is self-contained, with a separate, existing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit, allowing precise control of the environmental conditions of the storage vault. Immediately adjacent to the archives' new vault are offices that will become the new reading room and staff workstations. Compact shelving will be installed to maximize archival storage capacity in the available floor space in a single vault. Granka explains that the new location for the United Church Archives (Toronto) will meet the institutional standards set by the Canadian Council of Archives and all the records of the General Council and the Ontario Conferences will be administered by professional staff. He says that while there is much work to be done, the General Council Office and the five Ontario Conferences are confident that the new location will serve the purposes of both the General Council Office and the five Ontario Conferences. Granka adds that while planning and preparations are underway to move the collection from its current location at Victoria University, the collection will be temporarily unavailable for research after December 21, 2007. The United Church anticipates reopening its reading room to the public by Monday, May 5, 2008 at the 3250 Bloor St. West location. Granka emphasizes that throughout the United Church Archives (Toronto) transition, the church remains committed to providing continued access to all archival records related to residential schools, and will offer full co-operation with all aspects of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. This includes uninterrupted, open access to its archival records for the purposes of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Conference archives outside of Ontario are not affected by this transition at the United Church Archives (Toronto). For up-to-date information about their programs, see *www.united-church.ca/archives*. Additional information with regard to the move of the United Church Archives (Toronto) will be posted to the archives website at *www.unitedchurcharchives.ca*. Questions and concerns about the transition should be directed to the United Church's General Council Archivist, Sharon Larade, at *slarade@united-church.ca *or to the project manager, Bernard Granka, at *bgranka@united-church.ca*. Media enquiries should be directed to: Mary-Frances Denis Communications Officer The United Church of Canada 416-231-7680 ext. 2016 (office)

Ancestry Launches Canadian Website 24 Jan 2006 The leading online network connecting families, MyFamily.com, Inc., today launched a new Canadian family research Web site, Ancestry.ca, (www.ancestry.ca), offering the largest number of Canadian family research records online, including more than 150 million names, and the first and only fully indexed 1911 Census of Canada collection online. “Ancestry.ca is designed to provide Canadians and those people with Canadian ancestry the most comprehensive tools and content needed to easily and efficiently research their family history,” said Tim Sullivan, president and chief executive officer of MyFamily.com, Inc. “Our goal was to create the best place to research your Canadian ancestry online, and with the large volume of names, data, records and images accessible on Ancestry.ca, we’re pleased to accomplish the goal.” Sullivan noted the site contains a significant amount of Canadian content never before published online. “The fully indexed 1911 Census of Canada is searchable by family name for the first time anywhere on the web,” Sullivan said. “The Census, only the fifth general census in Canada, includes information on each inhabitant of the country, including place of habitation, marital status, age, place of birth, religion, occupation, education, and more. It is truly a wealth of information to anyone researching Canadian ancestry.” The 1911 Census of Canada includes nine provinces, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, and two territories — the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. In addition, Ancestry.ca offers access to online collections of: Ontario Vitals Ontario Marriage Index, 1858-1899 Ontario Birth Index, 1869-1907 Ontario Death Index, 1869-1932 Ontario & Nova Scotia Census Records, 1800-1842 Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s Canadian Address and Phone Directories, 1995-2002 British Columbia Death Index, 1872 -1979 The site also includes the ability to view authentic 1911 Census images of historical records from the Library and Archives Canada. Other record collections on the site include content beginning in 1592 and continuing through 2002. Records from all provinces and territories are represented. To view all the content on Ancestry.ca, membership is CDN $99.95/annually, or CDN $14.95/monthly. A pay-per-view option is also available for CDN $5.95/10 views, 14 days. From: CNW; Thanks to Susan

Inter-Library Loan At Risk 7 Jul 2005 Courtesy of A. Ritchie Just when the problem with the release of the 1911 census has been resolved, another seems to rearing its ugly head. Canada Post is in the process of preparing its new budget to take effect March 1, 2006, One of the changes is that libraries will no longer have a special postal rate to ship materials by mail on inter-library loan. The example given to me was a 4" x 7" x 3/4" paperback book which can currently go out on inter-library loan at a cost of 87 cents, effective March 1, 2006 will cost $7.44. There will be very few libraries that will be able to absorb this large increase. My local library has already decided that there will be no inter-library loan available once the new rate comes into effect. They cannot afford the extra cost. Lack of inter-library loan will not only affect those of us doing genealogy but also students, researchers, and every person who simply wishes to read a book that is not available at their local library. This is supposed to be the information age, but not every library has all needed information, not everything is available on the internet and not every home as a personal computer. Everyone will be affected regardless of whether they live in a rural area or in a major city. Once again it is necessary to email our members of parliament, the Prime Minister, Paul Martin, the minister responsible for Canada Post, John McCallum, the minister for Canadian Heritage, Liza Frulla and your local federal member of parliament. In this case, because most libraries also receive funding from the provinces and city and municipal governments, they should also be contacted. Canada Post will finalize their budget on Sept. 1, 2005, so there is some urgency in showing how much opposition there is to this increase. They would probably be happier if this proposed change did not become public knowledge, until they can say it to late for them to do anything, so send your letters and e-mails as soon as possible. A letter to the editor of your local newspaper might also bring this to the attention of more people Please pass this information on to any person or group you feel will be affected. Sometimes it takes a lot of voices to make them hear. E-mail addresses for Paul Martin: Martin.P@parl.gc.ca or pm@pm.gc.ca John McCallum: McCallum.J@parl.gc.ca Liza Frulla: Frulla.L@parl.gc.ca or frullll@parl.gc.ca The addresses for your other federal members of parliament can be found at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/senmemb/house/members/CurrentMemberList.asp?Language=E&Parl=38&Ses=1&Sect=hoccur&Order=PersonOfficialLastName

Imminent Release of Census Records? 20 Nov 2002 Forwarded by Rob McLean: To all:- As you read the following, you will notice census release is not "a done deal", but one which needs support from many. Please pass on the following if you desire -- especially to genealogical societies, family history groups, and others. To back Senator Lorna Milne and The Hon. Allan Rock, we hope for your signatures on petitions. Muriel M. Davidson muriel_davidson@sympatico.ca Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Petition.htm BOUDRIA ANNOUNCES IMMINENT RELEASE OF CENSUS RECORDS On October 3, 2002 Government House Leader, Don Boudria, announced that the federal government will be bringing in legislation to allow for the release of all post 1901 census records. The legislation is currently being drafted and I expect that it will be introduced sometime in the new year. This is great news for genealogists, historians, and others who have been fighting for years to see the records. I want to tell all of you that this simply would not have happened were it not for the work of Industry Minister Allan Rock. This has been a much more difficult endeavour for the minister than either he or I could have ever imagined. Some members of the Cabinet, and some departments, were greatly concerned aboiut privacy issues. Meanwhile, Senators and MPs were dealing with a flood of emails, letters, and petitions demanding access to our historic census records. It is a huge victory for those of us who care about Canada's history. I want to warn everyone though, that like everything else in life there are going to have to be some compromises. There are legitimate privacy concerns over releasing census records, and those concerns shouldn't simply be swept under the rug. When the legislation comes out it will be a bit complex, and have provisions that will allow Canadians to keep private some, if not all, information they give to Stats Canada. I am working with Minister Rock to figure out exactly how that will work. I also expect that there will be some kind of penalties for those who use census information improperly. Although I don't know a single genealogist who has ever, or would do any harm because of their access to census records, it is important that we admit that this is theoretically possible, and the government will need some tools to protect Canadians from the creative misuse of these documents. I want to thank each and every one of you for all your hard work and support in this project. We can't break out the champagne just yet, but I can confidently say that we will be seeing the 1906 census results very shortly. Congratulations to everyone for this great accomplishment, particularly to Muriel M. Davidson and Gordon Watts, the co-chairs of the Canada Census Campaign. From: The Honourable Lorna Milne, Senator, The Senate of Canada, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ON K1A. 0A4

National Archives Puts 1901 Census Images Online 1 Nov 2002 The National Archives of Canada website adds digital images of the 1901 Canadian Census to ArchiviaNet; a searchable database of census microfilm numbers for 1666-1901; and images from the Electoral Atlas of the Dominion of Canada (1895)

Government Recognizes Concerns of Genealogists 3 Oct 2002 The Post 1901 Canadian Census Project Website announces: Federal Government of Canada finally recognizes concerns of Genealogist and Historians. more information

Library and Archives of Canada 2 Oct 2002 National Archives of Canada: Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps announced today the creation of the Library and Archives of Canada, confirming the intention of the Government as expressed in the Speech from the Throne on Monday. This new agency will see the convergence of the rich collections and recognized expertise of the National Library of Canada and the National Archives of Canada.

Family History Radio 12 Nov 2001 Splitrock Communications announces the introduction of Family History Radio for the Internet. www.familyhistoryradio.com "The number one online multimedia magazine for Family History" Splitrock Communications announced that it will be launching an international Internet radio show focused on Family History, on November 20th 2001 at 6:00 PM Mountain Standard Time. Www.familyhistoryradio.com will be available on line anytime there after 24 hours a day seven days a week "Our mission is to provide the genealogy community with the latest news, product developments, services and information in a format that can be heard and viewed at any time and virtually anyplace." States Al Jenson President of Splitrock Communications. Family History Radio is backed with a select professional team of genealogy experts. This team will provide the necessary guidance, feedback and market information to stay abreast of the latest genealogical developments. The Family History News and production team consists of several professional broadcast professionals in radio and television to assure the highest production quality and value. "Our Show consists of several key segments" states Steve Jensen Producer/director of the Family History Radio show, Steve goes on to state, "The primary section of our show is "headlines" that features the latest breaking news and developments. A condensation of genealogy news gathered from over the entire world. This is followed by "Tips and tricks" a brief section dedicated to teaching how to improve the Family History process. There will also be sections like "In the field" Where we will actually interview leaders and attendees of various family history shows and events. There will be a "Society Section" where a new Genealogical society is featured on a regular basis and "Ask a Pro" where listeners will get to ask a professional genealogists questions. The show will also include sections like "Tech Talk" with experts in the computer and biotech industry tell about technology and Family History. We even have a section dedicated to children, where Grandpa Tucket teaches about family values using his unusual animals as story tellers". "Everyone we talk to is very excited about the potential of this show, so far we have had thousands of visitors to our site." States Al Jenson. "It will definitely provide a needed service to the genealogy community. We already have major companies and organizations backing us however we are always looking for more" Find out more about Family History Radio by going to the web site at www.familyhistoryradio.com. Splitrock Communications www.splitrockcommunications.com is a company based in Salt Lake City, UT. that specializes in webcasting, webconferencing, broadcasting and conference calling. For More information contact Al Jenson Splitrock Communications 1863 East Foxborough Lane Draper, UT. 84020 Fax (801) 553-6354 801-231-5541 info@familyhistoryradio.com http://www.familyhistoryradio.com/

InGeneas Adds 40,000 New Records Nov 2000 Just received the following information from InGeneas, stating that they've very recently added another 40,000 new records. 1901 Manitoba Census - Brandon District 1901 Manitoba Census - Lisgar District 1901 Ontario Census - Toronto City (partial) 1901 Ontario Census - Kent County* 1901 Ontario Census - Dundas County 1831-1834 Seventeen new passenger manifests from Ireland to St. John, New Brunswick (Irish ports include: Londonderry; Ballyshannon; Sligo; Cork; Galway; and. Belfast) *Note: this is the southern portion of Kent County; the northern portion of Kent County was enumerated in the Bothwell Census District which is already included in the inGeneas Database. All these records can all be found in the inGeneas Database All new records are highlighted with "new" flags to the far right of every Search Results screen. All census records are extractions of those giving a place of birth outside of Canada (that is to say that no one born in Canada is included). Thanks to Grace Jewell

First Web-Interactive Family History Talk Show To Debut Saturday, March 6 Mar 1999 History-making Net event to feature celebrity Internet Genealogist Cyndi Howells Bellevue, Wash.- Genealogy enthusiasts, newcomers and press are invited to become a part of history by participating in the first ever web-interactive genealogy talk show which will debut internationally at www.talkspot.com on Saturday, March 6th. The first ever "Generations: Find Your Roots" Webcast will occur online from 4-6 p.m. Pacific time (7-9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). Cyndi Howells, creator of the highly acclaimed Web site, "Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet," will kick-off the show as the first guest. Genealogy fans can share in the conversation with Cyndi and show host Elon Gasper while viewing family charts, pictures and video captures to illustrate certain points of discussion. The audio portion will be received over the computer speakers while participants follow along visually through interactive chat and pictures broadcast onto their monitor via the Net. Audience members will be able to ask questions of Cyndi and Elon, as well as share their own personal experiences to help others who are also researching their family heritage. The Generations: Find Your Roots Show will be broadcast online every Saturday evening and will feature different guests, new tips on family research, news and stories shared from listeners. Each week the Webcast will explore new surnames, regions and various topics of heritage exploration. The show's host, Elon Gasper, is an avid genealogy researcher and senior designer of the Generations family heritage software line from Sierra Home. He has traced his family roots back to the 13th century, with links uncovered in his family to Salem witches, Mayflower passengers, Scottish nobility, and both Union & Confederate soldiers. Elon is following in the footsteps of his great-great-aunt, a noted genealogist and Fellow of the Institute of American Genealogy. Cyndi Howells is one of the foremost Internet genealogists, author of Netting Your Ancestors and creator of the award winning site www.cyndislist.com. Cyndi's List provides 41,100 genealogy web links, classified in more than 100 different categories. How To Participate: On Saturday, March 6 interested participants can connect via the Internet to www.talkspot.com Select the Generations show on the Life & Explorations Channel and choose a log-in name. Then just listen, watch, interact and have fun!

1911 Census Announced as Last Public Census 28 Apr 1998 "Statistics Canada has decided that the 1911 census is the LAST one which will be made public". To find out more about this appalling decision and to submit your protest, please read Do You Ever Want To See Another Census? Thanks to Patty Low for sending in this article

Presbyterian Church Archives Moves 2 Apr 1998 The Presbyterian Church Archives has moved to a new location. Their new address is 58 Wynford Drive, Toronto, Ont. M3C 1J7. Phone: (416) 441-1111. They will be open again about 6 April 1998 Thanks to Thelma Collens for this info

Scattering of Seeds: 13 Part Series on Canada's First Immigrants 7 Jan 1998 If you subscribe to Canada's History Channel, watch out for the following series: Scattering of Seeds -- This 13-part series profiles some of Canada's first immigrants and their triumphant tales. The opener tells the inspiring story of Russian Jews who overcame persecution in their homeland to find prosperity in Calgary. The family's contributions to Canada are impressive: Morris, one of Judah and Chasia Shumiatcher's 11 children, founded the Smithbilt Hat Company, makers of the official white cowboy hat used in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, while others became lawyers, filmmakers and scientists. Future episodes look at Ontario's Mennonites and Japanese-Canadians during WWII. This series is scheduled to start Wednesday, January 14, 1998. Check your local TV listings Global Genealogical Supply is now offering The Global Gazette - Canada's Genealogy & Heritage On-Line Newsletter. A free service! To subscribe go to http://globalgenealogy.com/gazette.htm