On Canada Day close to 50 people gathered at the Railway Heritage Park in Sharbot Lake for a special unveiling of a historic mural. The celebration took place at what was the former site of the old Union Hotel, which later became known as the Sharbot Lake Hotel and was a hot spot in the area for 85 years. Four markers in the ground showed the approximate footprint of the hotel, which once was located across from the former Sharbot Lake railway station, at the intersection of the north/south K&P line and the east/west CPR line. It faced the lake and backed onto Elizabeth Street. Remains of the old hotel include part of a stone wall and an old stone fireplace that was once used for cookouts by the guests.

The hotel was relocated to the site of the present-day mural after an older hotel, which once stood where the Sharbot Lake Medical Centre now stands, burned down in 1888. It was erected four years after the new railway station was built near the site by the CPR.

The hotel was owned and operated by many different owners until 1946, when Herb and Millie Moyst took it over and moved into it with their young son Skip, who still resides in Sharbot Lake with his wife Anita. The hotel was run by the Moysts as a family business. Millie was in charge of the kitchen and Herb acted as host and guide. Son Skip later became a guide and daughter Heather, a waitress.

As it reads on the mural, “The hotel catered to labourers, tourists, commercial travelers, fishermen”, and a host of steady boarders who at one time came by rail and by the mid-fifties came mostly by car. The mural was created by local sign makers Rodger MacMunn and Donna Larocque.

The hotel was open all year but busiest in the summer months. The family ran it solely on their own in the off season. Included in the mural are 19 portraits of some of the people who worked at the hotel from 1946-1970. They include Skip and Anita Moyst, Heather Moyst, Mary Raymond, Sandra (Hansen) Hallam, Janet (Sully) Rhyndress, Doreen (Warren) Kirkham, Ann (MacPherson) Walsh, Howard Hepner, Vicky Closs, Ada Fox, Greta Kierstead, Dean Sly, Lorne Consitt, Herb Campbell, Russell Yateman, Marlene (Donnelly) Beattie and the Moyst's family dog, Jack.

Following her speech at the unveiling, Ann Walsh thanked all involved in the mural project including the Railway Heritage Society and everyone who donated pictures, information and funds to enable the project to be completed. Following Ann's address Skip Moyst, Heather (Moyst) Gillespie, and Mayor Janet Gutowski were brought forward to do the official unveiling and guests were then invited to enjoy a spread of refreshments that included cinnamon buns, also depicted in the mural, which were Millie Moyst's famed specialty item. Unfortunately, after the hotel was sold by the Moysts in 1970, it burned down four years later, in 1974. A detailed history of the Sharbot Lake Hotel will be kept in the caboose museum which visitors can read when the museum is open to the public.

In a grand opening celebration on June 22, history buffs from near and far packed the recent addition to Cloyne's Pioneer Museum to help celebrate the official ribbon cutting ceremony there. Guests were invited into the museum's recently completed 1400 square foot addition, which now houses its extensive tool collection along with a number of other recent acquisitions. They include a late 1800s blacksmith’s forge that came from the Vennachar area; a small 100-year-old Findlay stove; and an old safe that belonged to Barrie Township council years ago and was used by Ralph Thompson, a long-time clerk/treasurer there.

Guests leisurely perused the displays in the new space, which boasts overhead track lighting, new pine floors and an extensive photo/art picture gallery. The numerous archival prints and photos in the gallery will be regularly changed on an ongoing basis. The space also contains a new display from the Denbigh area.

Marg Axford, curator and archivist of the museum, said that the addition will help to properly display its wealth of treasures. “The space has really enhanced our existing collection by providing the additional space needed to show it properly. People have been commenting on how they are now noticing items that have been here but that they have never noticed before.” she said. Axford said that the new space will also be used to hold different types of programming at the museum in the form of presentations, workshops and seminars, and she believes that the historical society's board meetings will also be held there in the future.

On hand to bring the authentic sounds of the past to visitors’ ears and hearts were members of the Pickled Chicken String Band, whose repertoire of old-time northern area string tunes added the perfect aural dimension to the celebrations. The event was emceed by young, enthusiastic historian Mike Duchane.

Red Emond, the newly appointed president of the Cloyne and District Historical Society, spoke at the event and thanked the Ontario Trillium Foundation, whose $39,000 grant assisted with the cost of the expansion. He also read two letters of congratulations, one from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and a second from Michael Chan, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Emond also thanked Carolyn McCulloch, who was president of the historical society for six years. Emond said that he hopes that the new space will encourage young folks to “come out and delve into their historic past and see what pioneers and settlers of the past contributed to the area.”

The expansion project was in the works for a year, and Ian Brummel, who headed up the project, also spoke, thanking all who were involved in making it come to fruition.

Following the addresses, long-time member of the historical society, Georgina Hughes, was invited to do the official ribbon cutting, and following that guests were invited to explore and enjoy the new addition, its displays, the music and a BBQ.

The 65 people who came to Glenn Foster’s “Australia Night” at Grace Hall in Sydenham last week were richly rewarded by Foster’s personal, fascinating retelling of the social history of his homeland, from the long-ago dreamtime stories of the creation up until the present.

Foster, a former drama teacher and football coach at Sydenham High, accompanied himself on a variety of stringed instruments, using a combination of song, anecdote and pictures to describe the Aboriginals, the exiled men and women of the penal colonies, the hobos, squatters, swagmen and soldiers. It was a powerful combination, taking the listener into the emotional core of his stories. Most of the songs were ballads, spiced in the final parts of the program by more modern Australian jingles celebrating Marmite and Airplane Jelly (their version of our Jello).

Foster told how his grandfather had been sent at age six from his family in Tasmania, where the family was starving, to work for an uncle up the Australian coast. Three years later, the child ran away and somehow, no one knew how, made his way 350 miles overland to the sea and on to New Zealand. Much of the rest of his life, Foster’s grandfather worked on sailing ships carrying lumber through the stormy Hobart Straits: hair-raising pictures showed enormous waves and tattered sails.

Glenn was accompanied in some of the songs by Jason Pedherney, a self-taught didgeridoo player. The didgeridoo is an ancient Australian Aboriginal wind instrument, made from a long branch which has been hollowed out by termites and rimmed with a beeswax mouthpiece. A skilled player can sustain long deep notes by circular breathing; ie, breathing in through the nose at the same time as he maintains air pressure on the instrument through his mouth. Pedherney admitted it took him almost a year to master the technique.

The evening, which had been arranged by Jill Ferguson and sponsored by the Grace Arts Committee, raised over $500 to help further develop the Grace Hall as a performance site.

It is always a busy time at the Pioneer Museum as members of the Cloyne and District Historical Society prepare for the annual museum opening in late June each year.

This year, however, it is busier than usual because the museum has almost doubled in size since it closed last fall. Thanks to a relatively modest Trillium grant of $39,000, a lot of local fund-raising and some volunteer labour, a 1400 square foot addition has been added to the building.

The addition will allow for much improved viewing of the museum's collection of local artifacts, particularly the display of tools. It also includes a gallery for displaying photographs and other artwork, space for genealogical research, a work room for restoring artifacts, and a fully accessible washroom.

The old two-seater outhouse, which has served the staff and patrons of the museum since it opened in 1982, was being carted away early this week, but it will not be gone entirely. The solid doors of the outhouse have been re-purposed as display tables for the new tool display area.

When the Pioneer Museum was opened in 1982 it was a 600 square foot log building. In 2002, a 1,200 square foot addition was added, and with this latest upgrade the museum now has 3,200 square feet of space. It has a schoolhouse section, a homestead section, church display, and a Tourism and Bon Echo display as well as the new sections that are being added in the new space.

“The tools had been jumbled together before, and now they will be properly displayed,” said long-time museum volunteer Margaret Axford on Monday, as a half dozen volunteers and three or four trades-people scurried about, putting the final touches on the renovation and preparing to set the museum up for the opening on Saturday.

Among the tools on display will be the museum's latest acquisition, a well preserved forge. But among all the tools on display there is one that Marg Axford pointed out which symbolizes the kind of life that the settlers in the region lived. It is a corn seeder with a wooden wheel covered by a thin strip of rubber salvaged from something else. It has a wooden frame. The seeds were held in an old washbasin with ¼ inch holes cut into it that was nailed to the wheel. The seeder still works as well today as it would have 50 or 100 years ago. The settlers who used the seeder had to use whatever was at hand to try to coax food out of the thin soil and granite that passed for farmland in Frontenac and Addington Counties.

It is that same spirit that enabled the Pioneer Museum committee to build a 1,400 square foot addition, with a washroom, on a $39,000 grant.

L&A County might consider talking to the museum committee about building the new ambulance base in Northbrook, which will likely cost 20 times as much to build.

The season opening/ribbon cutting celebration starts at 11am on Saturday, June 22. There will be live music as well as a BBQ. The museum is open from 10 am to 4 pm throughout the summer. It is located in Cloyne, on the east side of Hwy. 41 next to the Barrie Township Hall (across from the post office) call 613-336-8011 or go to pioneer.mazinaw.on.ca

In the process of building Canada, the British imposed different languages (French and English), religions (Catholic and Protestant), and legal systems (French Civil Law and British Common Law) on the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation and consequently divided us into two entities.

While what is Canada today consists of several provinces and two territories, in its early stages Canada consisted of Upper and Lower Canada, which are now the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. During the early stages of European exploration the main mode of transportation into the land mass we know as Turtle Island was what is now known as the Ottawa River.

The Algonquin bands located on both sides of the river were some of the first Nations recorded by Champlain so you can be sure that the French and British knew full well who we were. During European struggles for new land the Algonquin Anishinaabeg were allies with the French. For this, we were severely punished when the British eventually took over.

Members of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation were constitutional delegates during the 1764 Treaty at Niagara where Canada's four original constitutional documents were exchanged: the 1763 Royal Proclamation, the British and Western Great Lakes Covenant Chain Confederacy Wampum Belt, the Twenty-Four Nations Wampum Belt, and the Two Row Wampum Belt.

Following Creator's law, Indigenous Nations agreed they would share with the European Nations. These documents also collectively codify respect for Indigenous nations' jurisdiction and our right to land and resources; as well as codify the continued need to polish and work on our relationship with one another.

Regardless of the Algonquin Anishinaabe participation at the Treaty at Niagara, afterwards British Canada ignored our endless petitions for land and resources. This went on for centuries as the Algonquin submitted over twenty eight petitions asking that our right to land and resources be respected as outlined during the Treaty at Niagara. Regardless of this long time effort, members of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation were relegated to the margins. Yes, that is right; we were undesirable in the British eyes.

Historical records expose that British Canada argued an Algonquin Anishinaabeg settlement made adjacent land undesirable for the arriving British settlers. In 1853, through The Public Lands Act, our land was granted free to European settlers. Again in 1868, through The Free Grant and Homestead Act, our land was granted free to European settlers. The Algonquin, though, were not entitled. What is more, in 1927, Canada made it illegal for us to hire lawyers to carry our grievances for land and resources forward.

In 1864 the Algonquin living in Upper Canada were provided with the Golden Lake reserve while all further requests for land were then denied as we were told to go to Golden Lake. Of course many Algonquin opted to remain on their land where they existed long before settlers arrived. Regardless of this effort, many Algonquin lost their land when they continued to live by natural law leaving the land in the winter to hunt, as well as when they could not pay land taxes imposed as they remained within a subsistence versus the wage economy; or because they preferred to allow the animal beings to exist as the Creator intended them to be rather than farm the land as Europeans did.

To further punish the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation we were also denied during the historic treaty process. In 1923, Canada once again ignored our participation in the 1764 Treaty at Niagara when our land and resources were identified under the terms of the Williams Treaty, yet we were not present during the negotiation process.

Eventually, after generations of petitions and only after we were in a particularly pitiful state of poverty and division, Canada entered into a land claims and self-government negotiation process with the Algonquin of Golden Lake, now Algonquin of Pikwàkanàgan First Nation. In this process only the Algonquin living in Ontario are involved, where through this process all Indian status members, approximately 1,800 members, are accepted as beneficiaries. So too are the approximately 6,000 non-status Algonquin accepted as beneficiaries.

Through two federal government policies -- the Comprehensive Land Claims Policy and the Inherent Rights Policy -- our jurisdiction, land, and land related rights are not protected but rather continue to be denied and placed within the confines of a small box. Through these policies Canada has imposed on us what it thinks we are entitled to: a very small percentage of our traditional territory and a one-time buy-out. This deal was tabled in November 2012. Clearly 117,000 acres which amounts to only 1.3 per cent of our traditional territory and $300 million is a bad deal.

This clearly violates the agreement codified in Canada's constitutional documents exchanged during the Treaty at Niagara. It is precisely for this reason that Russell Diabo refers to the current ninety three land claims and self-government so called negotiation tables as "self-termination tables." I agree, and that is why I, in part, paint my face black.

Dr. Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley. She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, she is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process, and she recently published a book titled Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts. You can reach her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com.

On Thursday, June 20 at 11:15am a closing ceremony will be held at Sharbot Lake Public School. Former students and staff as well as the general public are invited to come out to mark the event, which will include speeches and performances by current students.

“We will also be opening a time capsule that was done in the year 2000” said school principal, David Allison, “and there will be a memory room devoted to displaying artefacts from the school’s history.”

There will be tours of the building available for those who are interested.

David Allison is also putting out an appeal to the community for materials that may be of historical interest. It’s kind of a last chance for show and tell at the school. Anyone who would like to contact the school about the artefacts they are planning to bring can call 279-2103 to let the school know, or they can just bring them on the 20th to share with others.

“The school has been such an integral part of the community” said Allison, “and we would like as many people as possible to come out for its send-off as the students prepare to move just down the road to the new school next year.”