The Iona Connection Heritage Co-op
The Old Town Hall Museum, Glace Bay
Saturday, 21 April 2007, 10:30 am
Spring 2007 General Assembly

1. Attendance: Present

Pauline Thomson, Chairperson                    
Catherine Arseneau, Beaton Institute
Joan MacInnes, Victoria County Archives
Tammy MacNeil, Whitney Pier Museum
Marilyn Ritza, North Sydney Historical Society/Old Sydney Society
Peyton Chisholm, Old Sydney Society
Syd Slaven, Sydney Steel Museum
Fred James, Sydney Steel Museum
Ida Lalievre, La Society Saint-Pierre
Isobel Harris, Glace Bay Old Town Hall
Elke Ibrahim, Glace Bay Old Town Hall
Tom Urbaniak, Cape Breton University/Old Sydney Society
Bill Bussey, S&L Railway Museum
Tara Barter, S&L Railway Museum
Sinclair MacDougall, North Sydney Historical Society
Ron MacDonald, North Sydney Historical Society
Simon Gillis, Whitney Pier Museum
John Hugh Edwards, St. Francis Xavier University Extension Department
Charles MacKenzie, CBU History Society
Theresa Brewster, Glace Bay UNIA
Jim Tobin, Sydney Mines Heritage
Allan MacPhee, Glace Bay Old Town Hall Chairman
Lowell Marks, Sydney Mines Heritage
Tom Miller, Cape Breton Miners Museum
Stephanie Jolley, Glace Bay Heritage Museum
Andrea Batten, Glace Bay Historical Society
Juanita MacDonald, Cape Breton Genealogical and Historical Association

Guests
Paul Collins, NS Dept of Tourism, Culture & Heritage
Erin Doyle, FNSH Passage Project
Richard Cloutier, FNSH Passage Project
Karen Kierstead, FNSH Passage Project
Jo-Anne Binns, NS Department of Education
 

Regrets
Rodney Chaisson, Highland Village
Nan Moore, Old Sydney Society
Mary Gillis, Old Sydney Society
Pauline MacLean, MacDonald House / CNSA
Eva Landry, ECBC
Bob Campbell, independent member

2. Approval of the Agenda
Moved by Joan MacInnes, seconded by Jim Tobin.

3. Minutes of the 2006 Fall AGM Meeting
Moved by Jim Tobin, seconded by Peyton Chisholm.

4. Treasurer's Report - Marilyn Ritza
A summary of the Iona Connection's financial statements from 1 April 2006 to 21 March 2007 was printed on the reverse side of the agenda. Marilyn Ritza described the report for us:
[Due to lack of technical know-how, we are unable to publish the Treasurer's report in graph form as it was presented in hard copy at the AGM.  Anyone wishing a copy can e-mail the president at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ]

Opening balance: $4,537.58                                                                        Income: $8,680.82                                                                                           Expenses: $9,890.77                                                                                           Closing Balance: $3,327.63                                                                                     The Treasurer's report was moved by Marilyn Ritza, seconded by Simon Gillis.

5. President's Report - Pauline Thomson Exciting things are happening in the world of Heritage. A lot of people are getting excited about it.  There are articles about heritage in The Cape Breton Post all the time. Teachers are occupied seeing that heritage has a place in their class rooms.  I recently judged a Heritage Fair at the Ashby Complex and was astounded by the level of interest and time the children put into their projects.  The enthusiasm in their voices when they were telling me about their project was heart warming to an ancient history curmudgeon like my self. And, I have been told the provincial government has increased funding for heritage in the latest budget.  Now we need to have a say in where we want them to put those dollars. At our last meeting in North Highlands on Oct 21, 2006, I reported that the board had applied for an SDI grant to hold a residential workshop on Board Development and Strategic Planning.  Monies were granted and we held the event at St Peter's during a snow storm in January.  Sequestered away from the elements, we worked hard, we learned much, and accomplished a lot.  John Hugh Edwards, of the St F.X. Extension Dept, kept us on track and focused all day.  There was no lolly gagging or skipping off to Tim Horton's for coffee.  We went to bed early, exhausted, but with a tremendous sense of accomplishment. We had the benefit of expert advice and counseling from Tom Urbaniak of the CBU Political Science department who attended.  I am very pleased to say that he has made his services available to the Connection for furtherance of the plan. Paul Collins graced us with his presence and added additional professional opinion and wisdom. Heritage Cape Breton Island: Our strategic plan, 2007 is our report card to you, the membership.  And just like kids who bring home their report cards, we are asking your blessing and approval.  We know it isn't perfect.  It will be have to be thwacked in the months to come.  We still have much to do.

I urge you to be gentle in your criticism; we are newbie's at this strategy development.  We believe this plan is what is needed for the health and advancement of heritage on Cape Breton Island.  We are committed to seeing this task through.

 (Ask workshop attendees to stand and be acknowledged )  Peyton Chisholm, our VP; Marilyn Ritza, our treasurer; Tammy MacNeil, our secretary and webmaster were in attendance; Ida LeLievre from Cheticamp filled a vacancy for a board member on a leave of absence; Catherine Arseneau, Director of the Beaton Institute, took an interim position on the board even before her seat at the Beaton got warm, and Charles McKenzie, accepted the invitation when we had a last minute cancellation, and is now the Iona Connection's Youth Ambassador; and Rodney Chaisson, who is not here today.  Well done.

          We are about to ask you for your approval in principle of this report and to give your blessing for the board to take it to the next level. If you do give the nod we will distribute the document to you.  Please take it home, analyze it and respond in writing to me as soon as possible.

      Your opinion on the objectives we have identified is valued and desired.  We want you to make this plan your plan.  Advise us on what needs to be emphasized or discarded and then work with us to bring it about.  It may be that some things will have to be scrapped or re-written or the emphasis refocused. Your active input will help us make it the best ever.

We are also asking you to increase the size of the board and give us your approval to engage others to help in the exciting project.

You can communicate with us by letter, addressing it to me at the Old Sydney Society's address at 225 George St, Sydney, NS, B2N 1J5 or by e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Just telling me is no good, because I will forget it five minutes after you have gone.  Communicate in writing, your approval or disapproval and be as specific as possible.

     We need your encouragement, too.  This is an ambitious project, and something it overwhelms me.  I'm glad we allocated five years to accomplish it.  You will have a progress report at the next general meeting in October.

Speaking of communications, I see most members have updated their information on the website.  You will note on the About Us tab that the Articles of Incorporation are now posted, as well as, the Minutes and the current Board Members.  Check the site frequently for new postings.

Please start using the calendar for announcing your meetings and special events.  Look to see what other sites are doing.

Use the Community Form for asking questions and posting information.  If you make a point to check in once a week, or oftener, we will start to become more interconnected.  From now on when ever I post a message or an article on the site, I am going to send a notice to all the e-mail addresses you give me, notifying you that there is a new message on our site -an I-LINK.  Put your home e-mail address down on that attendance sheet, as well at your site's, send me as many of your organization's member's e-mail addresses, your board's, everyone's.  The more people who are getting the notices, the better informed we will all be.  Send them to me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Are you using the site to give directions to visitors who want directions to other museums?  It's a great tool for that. Try it, you will be amazed!

I know that you all need better resources closer to home and workshops right here on the island. Now that I know how this system works, I am committed to seeing that you have them.  I will be attending the Federation of Nova Scotian Heritage's Spring Conference in Truro next week.  I will be having breakfast with the representatives of the other four regions.  I have allowed my name to stand for the Federation's Board of Directors.  I assure you they will be hearing the voice of Cape Breton loudly and clearly when I get to Halifax this winter.         

With regards to travel expenses of individual members of the board, the board is steadfast to finding an appropriate formula for reimbursing persons who travel great distances at their own cost.  I was supposed to present a budget, but I never got around to it.  I pledge that we will continue to be good stewards of your money.  Thank you for paying your dues. Here are some interesting statistics for you to consider:

According to the financial records, in 2003 - only 9 sites paid dues; in 2004 - no one paid any dues at all; in 2005 - 22 sites & 3 individuals paid;  2006 - 23 sites &   5 individuals paid and already 3 sites have already paid 2007.  This board is actively working at making Cape Breton Heritage sustainable and vibrant, it depends on your dues to keep the organization functioning.

Voting, according to our bylaws will be by members in good standing.  Voting will be by a show of Membership Certificates and aren't they attractive.  Rodney Chaisson designed them.

Maps project costs & sales income

Member buy-in      $2,175.00                     
ECBC Grants          $5,840.00
                         Total              $8,015.00                                                                         Production cost            -7,436.77     =  $578.23  surplus                                                                                                                                            Total INCOME FROM SALES    (to date)     $2672                                                                                                                                                                                The maps are rapidly going out of date; we have lost 2 sites, and picked up 3 new ones. Those maps are a valuable marketing tool.  Before they go any more out of date, it is the Board's recommendation that they be placed in the Visitor Information centres at Port Hawkesbury and Baddeck and the Sydney airport.                 As I mentioned earlier, we now have a Youth Ambassador, Charles MacKenzie, 3rd year history major at CBU.  The History Department at CBU has partnered with the Iona Connection, CMAP and the FNSH to share the cost of his expenses to go to the Spring Conference.  (CMAP also provided 4 more bursaries for students in the other regions.)                                                                                                     In closing we send our condolences to Sydney Mines Heritage society on the tragic loss of the Fossil Centre.                                                                                         On a brighter side of things, a letter of congratulations was sent to Eva Landry on her recent appointment to the ECBC board.  Mrs. Landry is a former "Connection" board member and volunteer at the MacAskill House museum in St Peter's. Congrats to CBRM and the Glace Bay "Old Town Hall" for acknowledging the 100th birthday of Hugh MacLennan.   The CBRM is also being commended on the presence of five councillors and their planning co-ordinator, Rick McCready, at the Built Heritage Conference in Amherst last month; Good Luck to North Sydney with their bid for funding for a new building.                                                                                      More Congratulations to CBU on the 50th anniversary of the Beaton Institute, and the Town of Glace Bay on the 50th anniversary of the Cape Breton Tartan, woven by Lizzie Belle Grant inspired by the poem her friend, Lillian Crewe Walsh, wrote. Last, but by no means least, Diamond Jubilee wishes to La Society St. Pierre in Cheticamp on their 60th anniversary. Moved by Pauline Thomson, seconded by Tammy MacNeil.

6. Amendments One outcome of the board development workshop held in St. Peter's in January is new legislature to govern the Iona Connection Heritage Co-operative.                                                                                                                             Two resolutions were presented to the assembled members for a vote.

Resolution 1 proposes that article #10 (a) of the By-Laws of the Iona Connection Heritage Cooperative Limited be amended to read: The board of directors shall consist of twelve directors who shall be elected for a term of three years so that four directors are elected each year. The maximum number of consecutive terms a director may serve is two. The Resolution was moved by Peyton Chisholm, seconded by Ida Lalievre, Carried.

Resolution 2 proposes that article #10 (e) of the By-Laws of the Iona Connection Heritage Cooperative Limited be amended to include: The board of directors shall have the right, from time to time, to appoint a university student, lawyer, or other person(s) with special talent that would compliment the work of the board, to sit in an ex-officio capacity. Moved by Catherine Arseneau, seconded by Tammy MacNeil. Carried.  

7. Board Development Workshop - John Hugh Edwards                                             The leader of the board development workshop, John Hugh Edwards, presented the membership with a summary of what the board achieved in January. He introduced the new Mission statement and the new draft Vision statement to the membership. He also distributed a copy of the Iona Connection's "Heritage Cape Breton Island Strategic Plan 2007-2012." The report identifies the goals the Iona Connections will strive to achieve in the next five years, and outlines the steps necessary to achieve these goals. John Hugh Edwards encouraged everyone to read the document carefully and ask questions at the next AGM. Pauline Thomson formally thanked John Hugh Edwards for his guidance. Ron MacDonald suggested that the Iona Connection send a letter to St. Francis Xavier University Extension Department recognizing John Hugh Edwards's professionalism and inspiration.             Following John Hugh Edwards's presentation there was a call for approval in principal to proceed to the next level.                                                             Moved by Catherine Arseneau, seconded by Jim Tobin. Carried.

8. Election of Officers - Joan MacInnes                                                                     Joan MacInnes announced that two board members, Bob Campbell and Tammy MacNeil, are resigning from the board of directors. With the new legislature that the board consist of twelve members instead of eight, and with an awareness of geographic distribution of the directors, she put forward the following slate of candidates for the new board of directors:    

Rodney Chaisson, Highland Village (Victoria)                                                    Joan MacInnes, Victoria County Archives (Victoria)                                        Catherine Arseneau, Beaton Institute (Cape Breton)                                         Peyton Chisholm, Old Sydney Society (Cape Breton)                                             Ron MacDonald, North Sydney Historical Society (Cape Breton)                                  Marilyn Ritza, Old Sydney Society & North Sydney Historical (Cape Breton)             Pauline Thomson, Old Sydney Society (Cape Breton)                                         Cathy Gillis, Chestico Museum (Inverness)                                                         Ida Lalievre, La Societe Saint-Pierre (Inverness)                                             Virginia MacIsaac, Celtic Music Interpretive Centre (Inverness)                         Heather Morrison, North Highlands Community Museum (Inverness)                                                                                                                                                     The twelfth candidate will hopefully be from Richmond County as this is the only county not represented. Following a call for further nominations, the proposed board of directors was elected. Moved by Joan MacInnes, seconded by Catherine Arseneau. Carried.

9. Passage Project -- Richard Cloutier and Karin Kierstead Transition Period As everyone has heard, Richard is leaving his position as IT Coordinator for the Passage Project in order to pursue new adventures in Alberta.  This inevitably means that there will be some changes in Passage, but we are making the transition as smooth as possible.  Karin Kierstead, who coordinated the Made in NS project and has been working with sites since last August, will be heading things up until November (the end of the Passage year).  Richard has been working with Karin in order to prepare her for the task and familiarize her with the daily workings of Passage.  Her expertise is in Collections, not computers, and so for the interim Richard may be available through remote assistance from Alberta whenever sites have computer-related problems.
Anita Price, chair of the Steering Committee, is stepping down at the end of April, after which Ryan Scranton will be taking over at least for the short term.  He and the other committee members will be re-evaluating Passage in order to determine the best course of action for next year.  We want to reassure you that there is no intention of ending the Passage Project, but that during such times of change it is important to analyze how best to proceed.  Feedback from participating sites is more than welcome during this time.

Data Cleansing
Chara Kingston & Erin Doyle have finished cleaning 12 sites' databases, approximately 80,000 records.  We will reach out to as many sites as possible, and hope to complete another 12 by the end of June.  Unanticipated challenges have slowed the progress of the project.  We were expecting to see patterns that would allow us to perform global changes, but have instead had to spend the majority of time on individual records.

Made in Nova Scotia
30 organizations participated in the Collections Enrichment Project, and overall we received and enriched a total of 431 collection records.  Over the summer & fall we will be focusing on digitization training, with Karin traveling the province to teach people how to capture digital images of their artifacts, convert the files and upload them to Artefacts Canada to match their enriched records.

Manufacturer's Database
During the enrichment process the research assistants also began entering information into a Nova Scotia Manufacturers' Database.  County Industry binders were borrowed from Annapolis Valley Macdonald Museum, Cumberland County Museum & Kings County Museum, and Industrial records were obtained from the Nova Scotia Museum of Industry.  The Manufacturers' Database currently has 1914 entries, and while the majority of these are from Annapolis, Cumberland, Halifax and Kings Counties, every county has at least one entry except for Antigonish, Digby, and Victoria counties.  One of our members has also recently located a Cape Breton County Industrial Resource Binder.  We know that Yarmouth & Hants County binders exist, but have yet to locate them.  We plan on pursuing funding opportunities in the near future so that this extremely beneficial database may be completed and posted online, making it available to the public.  While this would largely consist of data entry, supplemental research would also be required.

CHIN
CHIN, who provided funding for the Made in NS project, is interested in pursuing more partnership opportunities.  They were very impressed with the amount and quality of the work that has been done.

Participating Sites
Of the 56 partner sites, 54 have indicated that they wish to continue with Passage, 48 of which have paid their renewal fee.  Payments were due April 15th; invoices, letters and emails have gone out to the remaining 8 sites, and Karin will be contacting them if cheques are not received by the first week of May.

One site has dropped out due to a lack of funds and staff/volunteer resources.  If you know of any sites that may be interested in joining, they can contact us or visit www.fnsh.ns.ca for details.

Future Partnerships
We have been approached by one of Karin's alma maters, Sir Sandford Fleming College, to consider accepting an intern for the fall of 2007.  This would be an unpaid position based at our office in Halifax, and would give us an opportunity to get even more work done than usual as they would be required to perform a "final project" that would benefit the host group, ie Passage.

Website Information
Queens County Museum, through its membership with CHIN, has been able to create a low-cost website.  Following is a letter they sent to Richard explaining the process & success of the project:

Richard, our website development project was so successful thanks to your assistance.  We were prepared to fundraise several thousand dollars to pay a developer to create a website for the Queens County Museum.  We had received several quotes and they were very expensive.

We sought your advice, Richard, on one of your collections database visits and we took that advice to our board who said "Go for it."  Your advice was to purchase a membership to Netfirms, hire someone to teach us how to develop a website and get reimbursed by CHIN, and to take baby steps and planning the who, what, when, where and how of our website.

We did all of the above, in that order.  We hired a gal from Artech Studios, 416 King St., Unit C, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia (www.artech-studios.com) 530-3177.  She did the training.  Artech Studios came right to the museum and did the training on our computer.

We had planning meetings just for the website contents using the post it notes on the wall and a paper plan.  It was so much fun.  We have had so many different looking websites and spent about two hundred home hours researching Museums around the world.  This was to get an idea of the content type for all levels of Museums.  Besides the Canada and U.S. Museums, we were extremely impressed with the museum websites of Great Britain and Australia.

Our website is not complete.  Our Administrative Assistant, Dayle, had to take time out to have her baby.  She is on maternity leave until June 1 at which time she will pick up where she left off.  You can view what we have currently developed at: www.queenscountymuseum.com.  We are pleased so far but will continue our discussions and make more changes, I am sure.

Our next project is a website for the Thomas Raddall Research Centre which is on standby with Netfirms.  www.raddallresearchcentre.com.

All in all, the several thousand we were originally going to spend turned into just under $200 per year with Netfirms and $500 training from Artech Studios which we received reimbursement from CHIN for that and the initial joining of Netfirms cost included the Website Development Program on CD.

10. FNSH Report - Peyton Chisholm

            Peyton Chisholm reported that the Federation of Nova Scotia Heritage (FNSH)'s AGM will be held next weekend, April 28th, in Truro. He told us that the Federation is looking to develop a new Mission and a new Vision, very similar to what the Iona Connection had just done in January, in response to the province's Heritage Strategy. The provincial government is developing the Heritage Strategy so it is very important for organizations like the Iona Connection and the Federation to be involved. Paul Collins added that the government strategy is very impressive because now heritage will be a component of every government department.

11. NS Department of Education "Invest in Youth" Initiative - Jo-Anne Binns

Jo-Anne Binns, Employer Engagement Navigator with the NS Department of Education, introduced a new program to the membership. The "Invest in Youth" initiative links high school students with jobs in heritage as well as trades, IT sector, healthcare, and business. Twenty-seven schools from across Nova Scotia participated in the first year, and this year nine more schools have signed up for the program. The province's goal is for every high school's participation by the 2009-2010 school year.

            The high school students are matched with a workplace where they are introduced to various aspects of the industry. Mentors are needed for the students to become involved as co-op students or job shadowing. This program benefits the students by developing their portfolio, and it gives the workplace the opportunity to attract youth in that particular field. Every major academic stream is in crisis with a predicted shortage of workers in the next few years, and the "Invest in Youth" program is a great way to spark interest in youth in various fields, such as heritage.

            Jo-Anne Binns encouraged every member to complete an application form so that a student may be matched to work at the site in the future. She also encouraged everyone to visit her website and she distributed some reading material.

12. Site Reports

Ida Lalievre - La Societe Saint-Pierre, Cheticamp
            La Societe Saint-Pierre had a good season considering tourism was down this summer.  The museum had 8000 visitors and Les Trois Pignons had around 15,000 visitors. We have finished phase one of our archival project. We applied to HRDC for two workers to accession material, and we received funding to go forward with the second phase of our archival project. We are also working on putting together a program that can be used in schools to teach children about Acadian culture and heritage. We are also publishing a newsletter for the local community and we are upgrading our website.

Ron MacDonald - North Sydney Historical Society, North Sydney
            The North Sydney Historical Society has drawn a new five-year plan with its focus being on sustainability. The Society is looking for a new building. It also maintains good relations with the three levels of government.

Juanita MacDonald - Independent member, Whycocomagh  NEW MEMBER -- WELCOME!
    Juanita MacDonald told the membership that she specializes in genealogy all across Cape Breton Island. She found a few broken links on our website.

Bill Bussey - S&L Railway Museum, Louisbourg
            The museum has completed a rampway so now it is wheelchair accessible. The washrooms were also changed so that now there is a unisex handicapped accessible washroom on site. The museum has offered space to Destination Cape Breton, but they haven't heard yet if the space has been accepted. If DCB does not want the space for this season, there will be new displays set up in that space.

Simon Gillis - Whitney Pier Historical Museum, Sydney
            The Whitney Pier Museum is gearing up for another cruise ship season. The museum received an award last year from the Sydney Port Authority for its hospitality. Tuesday Teas are scheduled for every Tuesday in July and August when a live band, Alvin and the Artifacts, entertain visitors and tea is served free of charge. The first fundraiser of the year, tickets on a Bakers Dozen, is currently underway. Over the winter the museum's one employee Mary Mombourquette took over 1700 pictures with the digital camera.

Elke Ibrahim - Glace Bay Old Town Hall
            The Old Town Hall has just completed Phase Two of its Restoration project. There are new exhibits planned - Sports, and the Marconi Exhibit will run from June 1 until October 31. Fundraising efforts include a Christmas Bazaar, Mother's Day Dance, and a Fill the Oil Tank Party. Right now everyone is getting ready for cruise ship tours and summer students.

Charles MacKenzie - CBU History Student
            Charles reported that he has been volunteering at the Old Sydney Society, and that he enjoys being there more as a volunteer than when he was an employee.

Pauline Thomson - Old Sydney Society
            St. Patrick's has been refurbished. The upstairs will not be open to the public, but the downstairs will be and it focuses on religion in all Cape Breton cultures. The church will open on May 1.

Many thanks to Elke and Eileen and their staff at the Glace Bay Old Town Hall for the use of their facilities and the delicious lunch.

 The Fall 2007 AGM will be held in October 2007. The date and venue To Be Announced.

Motion to adjourn by Joan MacInnes.