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QAHN continues to support community-based projects in the second year of the COM-Unity project
Published on October 27, 2021
The COM-Unity project is in its second year, and our community partners’ activities are in full swing. As we saw during our event celebrating the work the partners did in year one, each group contributed compelling, exciting, and unique perspectives to the central theme of the COM-Unity project: Belonging.
QAHN (Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network) is a non-profit, non-partisan, province-wide organization engaged with its members in the preservation and promotion of the history, heritage, and culture of Quebec -- and, in particular, of Quebec’s English-speaking communities. During year one of the COM-Unity project, QAHN created and supported several initiatives to explore and promote the theme of Belonging. Among these were projects such as:
- The creation of a 600 square-foot outdoor heritage mural in the town of Richmond;
- A bilingual series of online presentations about the history of Missisquoi County;
- Two bilingual self-guided audio walking tours of Stanstead and Rock Island;
- Research and production of two exhibition banners featuring Orford Township’s early settlement history;
- The development of a digitized artefacts registry for museum collections in the Magdalen Islands, and;
- The design and installation of a commemorative plaque at a pioneer burial ground in Cantley.
Understandably, the reactions from those involved was incredibly positive!
“In reminding people of all these roots we wish to emphasize our connections to the land, the river, and each other. Our notion is that we are at our best when we live, work, and play together…. Thank you for all you have done as individuals and as an organization supporting through this project.”
Norma Husk, president, Richmond County Historical Society.
“Creating an artifacts registry has not only allowed CAMI to manage its museum collections more effectively, it will lead to better understanding of and visibility for English-speaking Magdalen Islander heritage among Francophones.”
Helena Burke, executive director, Council for Anglophone Magdalen Islanders
This year, QAHN is once again supporting community-based projects. Groups from Montreal, the Eastern Townships, the Montérégie, the Laurentians, and the Gaspé Peninsula are planning a wide variety of local projects in the coming months. They include:
- A klezmer music celebration in Montreal’s Jeanne Mance Park, featuring performances, jam sessions and a discussion of Quebec’s Yiddish cultural heritage, organized by KlezKanada;
- A day-long festival in the village of Douglastown to celebrate the arts, culture, and heritage of English-speaking communities along the Gaspé Coast, hosted by Vision Gaspé-Percé Now;
- Research, publication, and creation of a walking tour focused on the vanished Irish community of Montreal’s Mile End neighbourhood, led by the local history society, Mile End Memories;
- Restoration of a rare historical map of Lower Canada and an exhibit exploring the influence of early map-making on Quebec and Canadian society, hosted by the Greenwood Living History Centre in Hudson;
- A bilingual digital exhibition highlighting the experiences of soldiers from Quebec who volunteered or were conscripted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War, developed by the Canadian Centre for the Great War in Montreal;
- A conference on Quebec family-history research into ancestors belonging to cultural minorities, organized by the Quebec Genealogical Society.
Follow COM-Unity and QAHN on Facebook to stay informed on all these amazing projects!