Slavery in Quebec: History jumps the track

Speaker: Frank Mackey
When: Thursday, April 21, 2022, 19:30
Where: TIn virtual mode using ZOOM
Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period.

Would you believe someone who told you the Nazi gas chambers were shut down in 1975 at the end of World War II? Of course not, 1975 is 30 years too late. The same goes for slavery in Quebec. The widespread belief that August 1, 1834, marked the end of that tragedy here is 30 years off. Yet Ottawa has decreed that in memory of that 1834 date, the First of August should be “National Emancipation Day.”

A native Quebecer, Frank Mackey retired from the Montreal Gazette in 2008 after working as a reporter/editor in Alberta, Newfoundland, Montreal, Quebec and London (Eng.). He also taught journalism at Montreal’s Concordia University. He and his wife have three adult children. He has published three books: Steamboat Connections: Montreal to Upper Canada 1816-1843 (2000); Black Then: Blacks and Montreal, 1780s-1880s (2004); Done with Slavery: The Black Fact in Montreal, 1760-1840 (2010), the latter translated into French as L’esclavage et les Noirs à Montréal, 1760-1840 (2013). His latest book, The Great Absquatulator, is due out May 1, 2022.

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Les femmes au Laboratoire de Montréal et à Beaurepaire

Speaker: Gilles Sabourin
When: Thursday, March 17, 2022, 19:30
Were: In virtual mode using ZOOM
Lecture in French, followed by a bilingual question period.

During the Second World War, a secret laboratory studying nuclear energy was set up at the Université de Montréal, hosting some of the greatest Canadian and European scientists. To mark Women's Day on March 8, Gilles Sabourin will share with us the significant contribution that women were able to make to this project. Alma Chackett, one of the scientists on the project, gave Gilles a photo of a house in Beaurepaire used by the scientists as a resting place.

Gilles Sabourin is a nuclear engineer specialized in the safety of nuclear power plants. He worked for more than twenty years for the Montréal office of Atomic Energy of Canada. "Montréal et la bombe", very well translated under the title “Montreal and the Bomb” is the result of fifteen years of intensive research into the atomic energy adventure in Montreal during the Second World War.

The book "Montréal et la bombe" is the winner of the Hubert Reeves 2021 Award created by the Association of Science Communicators of Quebec (Association des communicateurs scientifiques du Québec).

Here is a link to the English editor:

https://www.barakabooks.com/catalogue/montreal-and-the-bomb/

And to the French editor:

https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/montreal-et-la-bombe 

If you know anything about the house on the photo taken by Ken Chackett, please contact us.

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Christ Church Beaurepaire: Mid-20^th Century Youth Programs

Speaker: Adrian Willison
When: Thursday, February 17, 2022, 19:30
Where: In virtual mode
Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period.

Adrian Willison will introduce us to the Youth Programs put in place by the Beaurepaire Christ Church from the 1950's till around 1975.

Adrian Willison, loyalist descendant, is member of Heritage Branch of United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada, lifetime member of the Missisquoi History Society and long time member of the Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield Historical Society. He is very interested in Canadian history, including the region of Chelsea near Gatineau where a branch of his ancestors settled. Adrian Willison has always lived in Beaurepaire and been a member of Beaurepaire Christ Church. His sister and he have participated in the youth programs offered by that church.

Adrian Willison, as speaker, already presented the following subjects to our audience:

November 2007: The American Revolution on Lake Saint Louis and its Shores
January 2010 : Kensington Gardens: World Class Architecture in Beaurepaire
February 2014 : The Black Loyalists of the American Revolution, 1775-1783
April 2017 : 1867-Confederation-2017; Honouring its Empire Loyalist Foundations: Sir Charles Tupper, Prime Minister – A History

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Aislin’s Favourite COVID Cartoons from Around the World

Speaker: Terry Mosher, alias Aislin
When: Thursday, January 20, 2022, starting at 19:30
Where: In virtual mode
Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period.

Terry Mosher has been cartooning since 1967 under the pen name AISLIN. While Aislin’s career has been principally associated with the English-language newspaper The Montreal Gazette, his work has been reproduced far and wide. Many of Aislin’s 14,000 cartoons are now held in the collection of Montreal’s McCord Museum. Over the years, Mosher has written or contributed to 52 books.

In his latest book, he assembled cartoons on the theme of COVID-19 sketched by different cartoonists from around the world. He is now raising funds for community healthcare with this latest book. For more information see http://www.aislin.com/wordpress/about-aislin/

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George M. Brewer and the Music Scene in Montreal 
during the First Half of the 20th Century

Speakers: Lorne Huston and Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre
When: Thursday, November 18, 2021, 19:30 to 21:00
Where: In virtual mode
Lecture mainly in English with an introduction and a short section of the main presentation in French, followed by a bilingual question period.

Portrait of George M. Brewer circa 1929-1930, By Edwin Holgate.
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Photograph: Christine Guest.

George M. Brewer (1889-1947) was a fascinating, and now long-forgotten, figure on the music scene in Montreal during the first half of the twentieth century. By profession, he was an organist at the Church of the Messiah as the Unitarian Church of Montreal was known at that time. By inclination, he was a theatre producer – of medieval dramas. But above all, he was an educator. He would perform organ adaptations of music rarely heard in Montreal, music which he discovered and collected on his numerous voyages all over Europe and beyond. And he would not just play the music; he would also talk about it and situate it in its historical, philosophical, and musical context.
His story is interesting enough in itself but it is even more so when we try to understand who was listening to him and who supported him. We discover a rich network of clubs, societies, and associations through which Brewer moved -- in English mainly but also in French. From the Pen & Pencil Club to the Société Casavant, from the Masonic Study Club to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec, Lorne Huston and Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre will introduce us to this lively environment of music lovers in Montreal during the interwar years.

Lorne Huston holds a PhD in history from Concordia University and a Master's degree in Sociology from the Université de Montréal. He has been doing research on the history of the arts sector in English Montreal since he retired from active teaching at Cégep Édouard-Montpetit in 2010. In addition to the book he co-authored with Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre on the Montreal musicologist, George M. Brewer, he has also written articles on the Art Association, and on Samuel Morgan-Powell, art and drama critic at the Montreal Daily Star (1913-1953).

Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre, holder of a PhD in musicology from the Université de Montréal, was professor there from 1981 to 2010, Vice-Dean of graduate studies between 1993 and 1998 and Interim Dean in 1997–1998. Professor Emeritus of the Faculty of Music of the Université de Montréal and specialist in the history of music-life in Quebec, Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre has published several books and articles on various composers, including Auguste Descarries, Serge Garant, Rodolphe Mathieu, Gilles Tremblay and Jean Vallerand, as well as Chronologie musicale du Québec (1535-2004) (Septentrion, 2009) written in collaboration with Jean-Pierre Pinson.

The book "George M. Brewer et le milieu culturel anglophone montréalais, 1900-1950" written by Lorne Huston and Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre, Éditions Septentrion 2020, can be browsed on the editor’s website:

https://www.septentrion.qc.ca/catalogue/george-m-brewer-et-le-milieu-culturel-anglophone-montrealais

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The history of Dowker Island

Speaker: Guido Socher
When: Thursday, October 21, 2021, 19:30 to 21:00
Where: In virtual mode
Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period

This is a presentation about the history of Dowker Island from the early 1800's until today.

Guido Socher is a resident of Baie-D'Urfé. Dowker Island has always fascinated him. This island is like a little treasure island with some hidden ruins. It's located exactly at the point where the waters from the Ottawa River and the Saint Laurent River meet and he has been exploring this island for many years.

Here is the link to his website:

http://linuxfocus.org/~guido/book-a-history-of-the-town-of-baie-d-urfe/dowker/index.html

You could also read the English text by Francine Ranger on Dowker Island, winner of the 2012 Roberta-Angell Prize:

Dowker Island, Illustration 1, Illustration 2

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Streetcars of Montreal – A History

Speaker: Daniel Laurendeau
When: Thursday, September 16, 2021, 19:30 to 21:30
Where: In virtual mode
Lecture in English, followed by a bilingual question period

Passionate about trams, Daniel Laurendeau brings us a visual time capsule covering the first modes of transit vehicles, from introduction of electric streetcars to their disappearance from the streets of Montreal.

Daniel Laurendeau was born in Montréal in 1945. As early as 4 years old, he started his collection of City of Montreal transit related items. He is member of the Canadian Railroad Historical Association (CRHA) and volunteer at the Canadian Railway Museum at Delson / Saint-Constant since 1961. In 1985, he became Operator (Motorman) of streetcar tours on the Museum site, thus realizing his childhood dream. He presently sits on Exporail’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee and volunteers as a member of the Collections Committee. Beside his passion for trams, he had a successful career (35 years) at Honeywell Limited.

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The Railway Industry: from the Beginning to the Pandemic

Speaker: Paulo Zegarra-Llerena
When: Thursday, May 20, 2021, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: In virtual mode

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period. 

Paulo Zegarra-Llerena will talk on the history of trains:

The Conception : the idea behind the conception of the train
The Development : from the beginning to our present days
The Importance : the railway network in Canada and Quebec
Pandemic : the adaptation through the years and now with Covid 19

The experience of Paulo Zegarra-Llerena goes from automation systems, to machine shop repairs then to the aeronautic and railway industries. He is passionate about technology advancements and new ways of energy generation, especially green energy and bio-developments.

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Last of the Clippers
The Thermopylae’s Canadian Odyssey

Speaker: Alexandre Reford, historien

When: Thursday, April 15, 2021, 19:30 to 21:00

Where: In virtual mode

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

 

Scouring for a ship that could get a ready supply of rice to their recently opened mills in Victoria, British Columbia, Robert Reford tasked his partner John Dillon to find the right vessel. Dillon was told about the Thermopylae. “Dillon is having much trouble to get tonnage for Victoria,” Reford wrote his son, “and has as a dernier resort about made up his mind to purchase a sailing ship. He cabled me the names of several he was offered and we finally decided to bid on one called the Thermopylae…she is in fact one of the famous Aberdeen clipper tea ships…”
So began Robert Reford’s odyssey as the owner of the one of the fastest and most famous sailing ships ever built – the Thermopylae. Rival of the Cutty Sark, she was beautiful, sleek and fast, built to get the finest teas from China to the teacups of Britain’s aristocracy. Decades after her launch, Robert Reford bought her to transport rice to his new rice mill in Victoria. It was a short-lived and most disastrous investment. It brought Reford and his Montreal shipping agency and rice milling firm fame if not fortune. Historian Alexander Reford will tell the story of this fascinating episode in maritime history of the last of the clipper ships.

Alexander Reford is the director of Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens. Educated at the University of Toronto and Oxford University he is the author of several books on Quebec history and gardens. He is a frequent contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and is the author of the biographies of Lord Mount Stephen and Lord Strathcona and his great great grandfathers, Robert Meighen and Robert Reford. Some of his publications:

Des jardins oubliés 1860-1960
Guidebook to the Reford Gardens
Au rythme du train 1859-1970
Elsie’s Paradise – Reford Gardens
Treasures of Reford Gardens - Elsie Reford’s Floral Legacy
The Metis Lighthouse

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Évolution des transports à Beaconsfield

Speaker: Pauline Faguy-Girard
When: Thursday, March 18, 2021, 19:30 - 21:00
Where: In virtual mode

Lecture in French followed by a bilingual question period.

Pauline Faguy-Girard will present an overview of the different modes of transportation in Beaconsfield over the years. From canoeing on Lake St. Louis to the different modes of transportation used on our territory and by the citizens of Beaconsfield, of all ages.

Pauline Faguy-Girard is interested in history and more specifically to Beaconsfield’s history since 2004 when she joined the historical society. Through the years, she has been secretary, treasurer and, since 2018, President of our historical society.

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