Written by Mary Garrett & Jo Aim Tuskin
1975: The first recorded meeting of the
`Delegates' of what was to become CLANS AND SCOTTISH SOCIETIES OF
CANADA was held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 21 Avenue Road, The York
Room, on Wednesday 22 October 1975 called by John H. Macdonald.
`John H.' had been Secretary of a group known as The Scots
Federation of Ontario which dated back to 23 March 1965. Many of us
had been involved with this loosely slung group through the
Information Booth for the Scottish World Festival (begun in 1972) at
the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) Toronto.
At that October
meeting, Donald C. R. Campbell acted as Chairman with Mary C.
Garrett as Secretary. The Steering Committee named were: Edith
Warner, Colin MacDonald, Jock McLeod, George MacMillan, Andrew
MacNeill, Rudd McPhee, John MacLean and John Peden. Attending that
very first meeting were folks from Clans: Campbell, Donald, MacLeod,
McCaughan, MacNeil, Munro, MacLean, MacPhee, MacMillan, as well as
from the Sons of Scotland, Caledonian Society of Scarborough,
Cairngorm Club, Canadian Association of Scottish Studies, Fraoch
Eilean Canadian Foundation and the Toronto Branch of the Ontario
Genealogical Society.
Donald C. R. Campbell
was named Chair of the Steering Committee and they met on November
10, 17, December 12, and January 12, 1976 and developed a
provisional constitution and a slate of Officers.
1976: Donald called
the first meeting of Delegates for 29 January 1976 , again at the
Hyatt Regency. Groups added at this meeting were: Toronto Scottish
Regimental Association, Highland Dancers Association Ontario, Ladies
Auxilliary to the Order of Scottish Clans, Easter Canada Highland
Dancers Association, Uist and Barra Scots Association, Royal
Scottish Country Dance Society, Daughters of Scotland, and Gaelic
Society of Toronto.
The first Executive
were:
At that January
meeting a vote was taken to call the new organization, THE CLANS AND
SCOTTISH SOCIETIES OF CANADA (CASSOC). Other names, such as `Scots
Canada' were considered but it was hoped that one day CASSOC would
become a `household term'. A good start was made that evening on
reviewing the draft constitution and it was planned that we would
have a newsletter with four issues a year. The newsletter was named
An Drochaid by Andrew MacNeill and the Gaelic translation is `The
Bridge', linking Scots from Scotland to Canada and back. Mary C.
Garrett was named the Editor. The first issue was May 1976 and it
featured The Kirkin' o' the Tartan.
On 29 April 1976 ,the
next meeting was held at the Fort York Armoury in the Toronto
Scottish Officers' Mess. At this meeting it was announced that we
would have the hospitality of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, King
and Simcoe Streets, Toronto , in a suite of rooms on the third floor
of the old Institute Building at 75 Simcoe St . This was great news!
This was our home until the building came down in 1987.
FIRST KIRKIN': On 20
June 1976 at St. Andrew's, we held our first Kirkin' o' the Tartan
with the Rev. Dr. William J. Morris, Minister of St. Mungo Cathedral
in Glasgow, and he brought greetings from the Duke of Argyll, Lord
MacLean, Fraser of Lovat, Dame Flora MacLeod and Lachlan MacIntosh
of MacIntosh. It was a morning service and the Hon. Pauline McGibbon,
Lt-Governor of Ontario , was our special guest. Afterward
refreshments were served on the lawns outside the church.
THE CNE INFORMATION
BOOTH FOR SCOTS: Many of the Clans took part in the four days of the
Scottish World Festival: MacLeod, Munro, Ross, MacLean, MacNeil,
Campbell , MacPhee, OGS Toronto Branch, Fraoch Eilean, Sons of
Scotland, Ladies Aux. To the Order of Scottish Clans and the
Cairngorm Club. At the Festival Ball held in August on 1976, the
Sons of Scotland presented CASSOC with at cheque for $500.00!
A CABARET AND DANCE:
was held on 25 September at the Metro Police Association Hall on
Yorklands BIN., d in North York. A grand time was had by all groups
who attended.
CHAPLAIN: On 14
October 1976, Rev. Dr. Douglas Stewart officially became our
Protestant Chaplain.
THE FIRST ANNUAL
GENERAL ASSEMBLY (AGA) held in November 1976 reported 31 paid
members during that year and a successful year it was. The
membership fee was $20.00 and at year end we had a phone line and an
answering machine (donated by George MacMillan) which was still in
use in 1986! Of the 31 Member Groups, 27 were represented at that
Annual General Assembly.
Member Groups for
1976: Cairngor n Club, Caledonian Society of Scarborough, Canadian
Assn of Scottish Studies, Canadian Scottish Club of Whitby, Canadian
Scottish Club of Willowdale, Daughters of Scotland, Donald Council
Canada, Eastern Canadian Highland Dancers Assn, Fraoch Eilean
Canadian Foundation, Gaelic Society (Toronto), Halton Peel St.
Andrew's Society, Highland Dancers Association of Ontario, Lorne
Scots, OGS Toronto Branch, Ladies Aux to Order of Scottish Clans,
Royal Scottish Country Dancers, Sons of Scotland, Toronto Scottish
Regimental Assn, Uist and Barra Assn, and Clans Campbell, Ferguson,
McCaughan, MacLean, MacLeod, MacMillan, MacNeil, MacPhee, Munro,
Ross and Sinclair.
1977: The Executive
members remained the same. Committee changes were:
Public Relations:
Colin MacDonald
Membership and Communication: Mary C. Garrett
Resources and Finance: Donald 'Beag' Campbell
Highland Games: Fred Gardiner
Social: Neil Gray
Members at Large: Edith Warner, Charles Bryson, C.C. `Bud' Munroe
Honourary Officials: Dr. Douglas Stewart — Protestant Chaplain
Monsignor Percy S Lacy — Roman Catholic Chaplain
John MacDonald (Metro Toronto Police Pipe Band) — Honourary Piper
Norman MacKenzie (Sr Drum Major Toronto Scottish) — Honourary Drum
Major
On 27 February 1977,
we enjoyed the first Heritage Ball at the Toronto Hotel (now the
Westin) with Lord Elgin as the Guest of Honour.
A Gaelic Mod was held
at St. Andrew's Presbyterian in April. Competitions were held for
young and old in choirs, soloists, duets, reading and
instrumentalists. The Gaelic Society is one of the earliest and most
active members.
We were saddened to
have lost one of our early `stars' of CASSOC. Walter McFadyen of the
Sons of Scotland died in September — at only 50 years of age!
On 30 November 1977
,the CASSOC Constitution was ratified. New members that year were
Clan Matheson and the Toronto Caithness Association.
1978: Donald Mhor
Campbell was still Chair and we added Charles Bryson as Social
Convenor and Angus Ferguson and Jim MacLean came on as Edith Warner
and Bud Munroe went off.
The Duke of _Argyll
and Macleod of MacLeod were now Scottish Patrons of CASSOC.
New Members for 1978:
Assn of Scottish Tradition and Arts (ASTA), Clan Cameron Ontario
Branch, 78th Fraser Highlanders, Grey Bruce Scottish Club, London
Burns, Toronto Black Watch, Clan Wallace, and a corresponding member
— Clan Fraser of North America.
The Second Heritage
Ball was held 10 February 1978 at Hotel Toronto. This was a
Vice-Regal affair with the Lt. -Governor of Ontario ,the Hon.
Pauline McGibbon and Mr. McGibbon as honoured guests. 1977 had been
the Silver Jubilee Year for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip and there were medals awarded in several areas. CASSOC
was given three of these medals and they were given to those whose
positions exemplified our aims of co-ordination and communication.
Sylvia McPhee received a medal as Executive Secretary, Fred Gardiner
received one as Highland Games Co-ordinator, and Mary C. Garrett
received one as Editor of An Drochaid. These silver medals were
presented to the recipients by the Hon. Pauline McGibbon at the
Heritage Ball. Members of the Executive were presented to HRH Prince
Philip at the Royal Canadian Military Institute (just north of the
hotel) prior to the Ball.
A CASSOC lapel pin
was designed for members and it sold for $2.50 each.
At the Kirkin' on 11
June 1978 , we were to have blessed our new CASSOC standard designed
by John MacLean. But since it was not ready for that day, a
substitute was made by Donald Mhor's family and it was indeed
blessed during the service. Later it was framed and hung in our
suite. Later that year we had our new standard and still later, two
more with poles and stands.
Also in June, ASTA
was a prominent participant in Caravan, a yearly Multicultural
celebration in Toronto, and they took the prize for their PERTH
Pavilion.
A CASSOC picnic for
all was held on 17 September at Doon Pioneer Village Highland Games
in Kitchener. It was felt that the Clan displays brought in many
participants and new members.
During the Scottish
World Festival at the CNE, a Ceilidh was held at St. Andrew's which
gave those who wished an opportunity to meet Honoured Guest, The
Duke and Duchess of Hamilton and the Earl of Caithness and his lady.
At the AGA in
November 1978, we had 39 members and we were printing 400 copies of
the newsletter, An Drochaicl, for the membership.
1979: We began the
year with a new Chair in the person of John MacLean of Richmond
Hill, ON.
Jock McLeod became
1st Vice- Chair and Sylvia McPhee took on the 21 Vice position.
Moira Ross became Executive Secretary and John Peden was Treasurer.
John H. Macdonald became Public Relations Convenor and other
positions remained the same.
Our Letter Patent
incorporating CASSOC were received 15 January 1979. The fee for
membership became $30.00 also in January.
CASSOC was
represented at many Highland Games during the summer, although many
of the members were visiting Nova Scotia for the International
Gathering of the Clans.
Another picnic was
held 16 September at Fort York in Toronto for all Clans and Member
Groups to attend.
On 20 October, the
Heritage Ball was held at the Old Mill, with the Hon. Flora
MacDonald as Special Guest. Flora danced up a storm and had many
willing partners!
New Members for 1979
were:
Clan Colquhoun Assn
of Canada
Fergus Chamber of Commerce
Rob Roy Pipe Band and Highland Dancers of Kingston
Clan Wallace Society
Zona Caledonian Society
Corresponding Members: Agnew Assn, Clan Fraser of North America,
Murray Clan Society of North America
1980: Sylvia M.
McPhee was elected to the Chair in January 1980. Charles Bryson was
1st Vice, John Peden Treasurer and Mary C. Garrett became Executive
Secretary. Part-way through the year, Wilf Wallace became 2 Vice.
Committee members were: Marjorie McLeod, Fred Gardiner, Norma
Fraser, Gloria Ross, Alex Taylor, Jock McLeod and Col Gordon
Leggett. Bill Cockburn became the Hon. Piper, Rev. Fr. Joseph
McCormick became our R.C. Chaplain in June, and Lt-Governor Pauline
McGibbon became our first Canadian Patron on 22 October.
On 15 March 1980,
Sylvia McPhee was interviewed on Tom Milsop's MTV show and she
talked about CASSOC's activities and history.
In April, we increase
the publication of 4n Drochaid to 5 issues per year.
The Kirkin' o' the
Tartan was held at St. Andrew's on 8 June with Rev. Prof. Charles
Scobie of Mt. Allison University in New Brunswick, as special
speaker.
In June, we received
our new information brochure courtesy of Ballantynes.
There was a picnic
for all on 14 September, again at Fort York in Toronto.
The Heritage Ball was
held on 18 October at the Prince Hotel with the Hon Jim Fleming,
Minister of State for Multiculturalism, as special guest.
New members in 1980
were: The Burns Society of Toronto, Clan MacDougall, St. Andrew's
Society of Timmins and the University of Ottawa Celtic Chair.
1981: The Executive
were: Sylvia M. McPhee, Chair; Wilf Wallace as 1st Vice; Cpt Grant
Faraday (Toronto Scottish) as 2nd Vice; Norma Wildish Treasurer and
Executive Secretary was Isobel Price.
A Ceilidh was held 3
April at North York Community Hall — a first such money-maker!
($1368.00)
There was a picnic
for all at the home of Norma and Don Fraser who lived in Mississauga
Rd on 13 September.
The Heritage Ball was
held on 24 October at the Seaway Towers Motor Hotel with Lt. Gov.
Pauline McGibbon and Mr. McGibbon along with Dr Herb and Ethel
MacNeil, President of CGSCAI (USA), as special guests. We were
shocked and saddened before the Ball was over because of the sudden
death of John R. Chevalier McCaughan.
The Hon. Flora
MacDonald became our second Canadian Patron during the year and we
chose the Maple Leaf Tartan as the official tartan for CASSOC.
A motto for CASSOC
was established — COMHLA ri CHEILE — Meaning `together with Accord'.
At the AGA on 27
November, the CASSOC wall plaque shields were introduced and sold
for $40.00 to members and $50.00 to non-members.
New Member Groups
were Clans: Currie, Gregor, MacKay, Matheson, and Murray, as well as
Mod Ontario and Pipers and Pipe Bands of Ontario. Clan Graham was
still a corresponding member.
1982: W. Stan Wright
was in the Chair. Dr. Ken MacGregor was 1st Vice, with Cpt. Bill
Bell as 2nd Vice. Norma Wildish was still Treasurer and Mary C.
Garrett as Executive Secretary.
A Ceilidh was held on
1 May at Armour Heights Community Centre.
On 7 April, David I.
Matheson, QC, became our Honourary Solicitor.
Mod Ontario was a
grand success with Andrew Ogg winning the Lt. -Governor Award and he
went to Portree on Skye to compete in the National Mod. Marlene
Finnucan of Kingston won the CASSOC Walter McFadyen Award.
Updated CASSOC
brochures (some 5000!) were donated by way of John Peden and John
Noyes and Meaghers and were used for the following decade.
The Kirkin' o' the
Tartan was held at St. Andrew's on 13 June at 3:00 p.m. Dr. Douglas
Stewart was the speaker. Long tartan banners had been made by most
clans to be used as decoration at Ceilidhs and Heritage Balls and
they were dedicated at this Kirkin'.
We looked at a
building on Lakeshore Rd (now the Army, Navy and Air Force) near the
Boulevard Club. We could have had it for a `song' and it would have
cost us about $51,000 for the first year to run it. There was not
enough interest for the Clans didn't have the money! It had been a
Shriner's Temple.
The Annual Heritage
Ball was held 23 October at the Lakeshore Inn in the Confederation
Ballroom.
In November, at the
AGA, Rev. Dr. Bob Wallace became our Protestant Chaplain with Dr.
Stewart as Honourary Protestant Chaplain. Also at the Annual
Assembly, some development aims were proposed:
a. To establish a
working capital of $100,000 with a reserve fund for specific
projects, i.e. a Scottish Centre.
b. To consolidate an already well established Ontario base.
c. To establish a truly National organization for Canada
The Development fund
stood at $4,530.57. There were 55 member groups on the roll.
1983: Dr. Ken
MacGregor assumed the Chair with Cpt Bill Bell as 2nd Vice. Norma
Wildish was Treasurer and Mary Garrett was Executive Secretary.
Victoria Fraser became Editor.
On 23 April, we held
a Spring Ceilidh at Earl Bales Community Centre with some 150
attending and we earned about $500.00.
There was a second
International Gathering in Nova Scotia that summer with many of our
clans attending.
The Confederation
Ballroom at the Lakeshore Inn was again the scene of our Heritage
all on 22 October.
1984: Dr. Ken MacGregor still in the Chair with Cpt. Bill Bell as
1st Vice and Alex Sim in second Vice position. Jim Hunter became
Treasurer and Mary Garrett still Executive Secretary.
The Spring Ceilidh
was held at Earl Bales Community Centre on 14 April and was another
financial success ($368.74). The biennial Kirkin' was held on 10 Jun
at 3 p.m. at St Andrew's. More changes were made to the
Constitution.
The Heritage Ball was
again held at the Lakeshore Inn on 20 October and again a great
evening.
There were 54 members
at Year End — we had gained a few and lost a few!
1985: Alex Sim (Sons
of Scotland) became Chairman. Jim Hunter was first Vice and Don Ross
became second Vice. Kay Kerr was Treasurer and Mary C. Garrett still
Executive Secretary.
Some meetings in '85
were held at St Andrew's and the rest at Fort York Armoury.
A Spring Ceilidh was
held at Armour Heights Community Centre on Saturday 20 April and was
well attended.
We began again to
talk about a proposed Cultural Centre for Scots. There was a new
government program called C-FIP (Community — Facilities Improvement
Program) that might be of help. CASSOC had to meet requirements and
we could receive up to 50% of our needs. We had to raise the
balance. Don Ross headed the Committee.
CASSOC took part in
the Toronto Historical Fair at Toronto City Hall.
The Heritage Ball was
held at the Skyline Hotel on 19 October.
At the AGA, we heard
a first report from Don Ross re the proposed C-FIP program.
There were 57 members
at year end.
1986: Alex Sim was
Chair with Mary Garrett as 1st Vice. Don Ross was 2nd Vice. Kay Kerr
still Treasurer and Grace Scott was Executive Secretary. Alex Sim
did not arrive for the January Executive Meeting but did attend the
January Assembly meeting. However, that was the last we saw of him
and in May he resigned the position. Mary C Garrett was acting
Chair.
A Ceilidh was held at
Armour Heights Community Centre on 19 April.
At the Kirkin' on 8
June, Dr. Stewart was the speaker.
At the Heritage Ball
on 25 October, held at the new Marriott (Dixon and Carlingview) we
had as special guest John McDermott, the Parliamentary Secretary for
Pat Carney of the Federal Cabinet. There were several glitches on
the part of the hotel, but we had a nice evening and the hotel gave
us a rebate for their errors.
At the AGA, we
learned that, after several meetings with the government and our C-FIP
committee, we did not have the application correct and the project
was scrapped for us.
All Assembly Meetings
were at Fort York Armoury courtesy of the Toronto Scottish Regiment.
1987: The year began
with Mary Garrett as Chair and neither Vice position had been
filled. Ian McGregor became Editor, Don Ross resigned the C-FIP
committee and his 2nd Vice position. Lt. Col. Jim Parker of the Tor.
Scots. assumed that role as well as becoming Chair of the C-FIP
committee. But Jim Parker found it necessary to resign as well. The
Executive called a special meeting to decide to put the feasibility
study on the `back burner'. Then Grace Scott caught the `bug' and
resigned as Executive Secretary in May.
Jeane Campbell did
the recording during May and Carol Ann Woodworth became Executive
Secretary in September. We had to leave St. Andrew's at the end of
May because of the renovations and from then on we met at Victoria
Royce Presbyterian Church (in the `Junction' area of Toronto).
The Spring Ceilidh
was held again at Armour Heights Community Centre. Eldred Cook
chaired a grand event and we showed a profit of $1,484.80.
It was decided that
we would give Victoria Royce Presbyterian a sum of $300.00 for 1988
and the caretaker $50.00. In 1988, the CASSOC membership fee would
be $50.00 and Colin Campbell became our Honourary Piper.
An Inventory was
taken of the CASSOC `belongings" (furniture, files, cabinets and
such) in our suite of rooms in St. Andrew's. These things had to be
removed from the Institute building as it was being demolished for
renovation. The Inventory was stored with the Treasurer.
The Heritage Ball was
held at the Prince Hotel on 31 October. Emergency heart surgery for
Murray Garrett had Stan Wright chairing the event instead of Mary
Garrett. Her Honour, Pauline McGibbon and Donald McGibbon were
special guests.
1988: Jim Waugh
became Chairman, Stan Fleming 1st Vice, Bill McColl took on the
Treasury and Ed Swinton became Executive Secretary. Jo Ann Tuskin
became Editor of An Drochaid.
As we were now
meeting regularly in Victoria Royce Presbyterian Church, it was
decided to give them $100 for the use of the church since the
previous September.
A Ceilidh was held at
Earl Bales community Centre on 28 may. On June 12, the Kirkin' went
off as usual with Mr Alastir Lorne Campbell the Younger of Airds as
special guest and Dr. Bob Wallace from Rosedale United was the
speaker.
On October 22nd, we
held the Heritage Ball at a new venue - The Rameses Shrine on
Dufferin Street in Downsview. The fee was $37.50 per person.
There was much ado
with the Constitution and two members designed a new version and
there was much discussion for the next several months.
1989: Jim Waugh
stayed as Chair, the other Officers remained the same, and Jo Ann
Tuskin became the Executive Secretary as well as the Editor.
In December of 1988,
there was a terrible Pan .Am air disaster over Lockerbie, Scotland,
and many lives were lost. CASSOC had a call on our telephone service
asking the organization to take on a fund for the families of the
Scottish victims. Jim Waugh, Stan Fleming, Jeane Campbell, Sylvia
McPhee and Mary Garrett were immediately on the planning. With the
Chartered Banks and the Canadian Red Cross we were able to present a
cheque for $53,000. On 10 February 1989, we received a
congratulatory letter for Argyll (one of our Scottish patrons) for
our effort and also CASSOC was awarded a citation from the Canadian
Red Cross for "outstanding efforts and leadership in co-ordinating
disaster response activities through the Red Cross on behalf of the
victims of the air disaster at Lockerbie, Scotland."
The Ceilidh in '89
was held at the Oriole Auditorium in the 'peanut' on Don Mills Road.
Although in 1986 the
C/FIP project went awry, another committee was set up in '89 headed
by Bob Duff with John MacLean, Bill McColl, and Jim Waugh. They did
a very well-put-together questionnaire and had meetings with all
heads of member organizations to determine what CASSOC wanted in the
way of a cultural centre. In the end, it was decided that this was
not within the means currently available.
The 13th Annual
Heritage Ball was held 21 October at the Carlton Place Hotel, at
Dixon Rd and Hwy 27. A raffle for a kilt gained us $1,265.52. Henry
Shannon (radio personality from CFRB) was the Guest of Honour.
Stan Fleming, Chair
of the Constitution committee, distributed copies of the revised
paper on 18 October to review before it would go to the lawyer.
We heard from Nova
Scotia that Tartan Day had been approved in their Provincial
Legislature for April 6.
We purchased more
CASSOC pins to sell. We now had 500 on hand for sale at $3.00 each.
1990: Jim Waugh
agreed to take on a third year as Chair. There were no Vice
Chairmen. Lloyd McNeil became Treasurer.
There was a problem
getting into Victoria Royce for the January Executive meeting and we
held a short meeting at the Library on Annette St across from the
church.
In February, Neil
Fraser agreed to take on the Constitution Committee.
Since the feasibility
study was no more, some groups and/or individuals asked for their
donation back and this had to be dealt with.
A Mr. Westcott of
Richmond Hill gave some lovely books to CASSOC in return for a
receipt for same in the amount of $150.00. These were received and
were taken to the Church upper room (where the CASSOC items was
stored). Among this collection were about ten books of Burns' poems.
At the March
Assembly, it was moved, seconded and passed, that CASSOC would
furnish St. Andrew's Church with a new board room table to
commemorate the Church's contribution to the foundation of CASSOC
and as a tribute from the Scottish Community we represent. The
budgeted value of the table is $4200.00 which includes the cost of a
suitably inscribed plaque and the applicable taxes. It was hoped
that the Development fund would not be touched so that it would
continue to grow for its original purposes, but that perhaps some of
the monies withdrawn from the feasibility study might be turned back
to the Table Fund.
On 30 May 1990, we
returned to St Andrew's. Duncan Campbell chaired the 8th biennial
kirkin' held June 10. the Honoured guests were The Hon. Flora
MacDonald and Her Honour Pauline McGibbon - our two Canadian
Patrons.
The Heritage Ball was
held on 27 October at the Carlton Place Hotel. Henry Shannon was the
Emcee and Dennis Snowdon and his wife Denise were the Guests of
Honour.
Mod Ontario wrote to
CASSOC that they were having some problems and some changes were
being made regarding the Mod Event and they wanted to return to us
the Walter McFadyen trophy. It was decided that the trophy would be
given to Rhoda McRitchie for safe-keeping. Mrs. McRitchie was Mod
President that year and the trophy was presented to her at the
September Assembly.
Letters of
appreciation were sent to the Honouraries for the services and
requesting their desire to continue in the CASSOC family.
A suggestion was made
to have an Archives committee struck to keep a history of CASSOC.
1991: Sylvia McPhee
was elected as Chair; 1st Vice was Alene McNeill; 2nd Vice was Vince
Gillon; Treasurer Stan Fleming; Mary Garrett Executive Secretary;
Debbie Wilson Recording Secretary; Jo -Ann Tuskin Editor of An
Drochaid.
The Annual Directory
began to refer to a Board of Directors and Directors rather than
Executive Officers and Executive.
In the Spring, we
held several garage sales in different areas of Toronto and environs
and we earned about $535.
Neil Fraser resigned
in May and Debbie Wilson resigned in June.
We purchased 'Black's
Surnames of Scotland' for use at Games instead of borrowing personal
copies.
We named the 15th
Annual Ball a Heritage Celebration and it was held at the Carlton
Place Hotel, the Arbour Ballroom on 9 November.
Special Guests were
Her Honour Pauline McGibbon and husband Donald and Dr. and Mrs.
Douglas Stewart.
Gifts were given to
Mary Garrett and Jim Waugh - both Past Chairs.
The St. Andrew's
Board Room table had been chosen at a cost of $4,151.50.
Our RC chaplain,
Father Joseph McCormick, resigned in May and Fr. Ed Jackman became
the new Chaplain on 27 November at the AGA.
At the instigation of
meetings with representatives of CASSOC, on 19 December a Private
Member's Bill regarding Tartan Day on April 6 from MPP Bill Murdoch
was given first reading.
1992: A New Chairman
in Neil Fraser; Vince Gillon is 1st Vice; no second Vice; Stan
Fleming Treasurer and Catherine MacLean became Executive Secretary.
Following the January
Executive Meeting, Jo Ann Tuskin resigned as Editor. The March issue
was done by Neil and Marie Fraser, May by Mary Garrett, and the next
two by Ian McGregor. Catherine MacLean had begun to put the minutes
onto her computer and had not yet finished. It was reported that
some minutes were missing. In May, Bette Staley began as Recording
Secretary.
On April 6, Tartan
Day in Ontario was celebrated for the first time.
We leaned from Jean
Watson of Nova Scotia (she had been responsible for getting the Day
approved in NS) that all Canadian provinces, except for Quebec, New
Brunswick and Newfoundland, were now celebrating Tartan Day.
The CASSOC phone
number was changed to 416-593-0518.
In June, the revised
constitution was found wanting by the solicitor and so we are back
to the constitution as it was as of 1989.
Paul Federico chaired
the Kirkin' on 21 June with Fr. Ed Jackman as speaker.
Our Heritage Ball was
to have been held at the Novatel on 7 November, but was cancelled on
18 October for lack of ticket sales and insufficient dance floor
space.
On 30 November,
Sylvia McPhee co-ordinated an event on St. Andrew's Day by hosting a
Citizenship Ceremony at the St. Clair and Yonge St. venue by
providing a Scottish Tea to the 99 New Canadians from 29 countries
around the World. Those helping were Margaret McLeod, Jim and Pat
Waugh, Sylvia McPhee, Stan Fleming, Mary and Murray Garrett.
The report on
membership in 1992 was 52 members.
1993: Chairman Neil
Fraser; 1st Vice Vince Gillon; no 2nd Vice; Executive Secretary Ian
McGregor, Treasurer George Graham and Marie Fraser Editor of An
Drochaid.
On Friday 2 April,
the Scottish Studies Foundation, one of CASSOC's member groups,
picked up the CASSOC initiative and held the first Tartan Day
Celebration Dinner. It was held at Casa Loma and they named Major
General Lewis MacKenzie "Scot of the Year".
For some years,
CASSOC has had a membership with Metro Area Heritage Groups and had
participated in several special event days at Cumberland Terrace.
This year, they began a Heritage Quilt and many quilters from the
member groups participated by making a 10 x 10 inch block to
represent their group. There were 46 blocks and four Metro Toronto
Logos for the corners that were all sewn together and quilted. This
was presented to the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto on
Heritage Day 1993 and was hung in the lower level stairwell of the
Metro Hall.
The Scottish Studies
Foundation held a second Scots Harbourfront Festival with the
celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the founding of York by
Governor Simcoe. The Empire Sandy sailing ship again did a cruise on
the lake.
There was a fine
send-off for Prof. Ted Cowan, a long-time teacher of Scottish
Studies, held at the University of Guelph in September as part of a
Colloquium. Ted had accepted the Chair of History at the University
of Glasgow.
The Canadian
Association for Scottish Studies and the Scottish Studies Foundation
have amalgamated.
Both the June and
September Director's meetings were cancelled for lack of a quorum.
There had been no
Ceilidh in 1993, nor was there a Heritage Ball.
It was reported that
59 member groups were paid up.
1994: Vince Gillon
Chair, 1st Vice Bette Staley, Treasurer George Graham, Executive
Secretary Ian McGregor.
It was learned that
Dr. Bob Wallace would retire from Rosedale United in June and it was
decided to give him a gift.
Vince Gillon and Jim
Waugh made the presentation of the book, 'Black's Surnames of
Scotland', in August, just before Dr. Wallace left for the Maritimes
where he would spend time for the next two years at the Universities
there as well as looking after a charge of the United Church.
There was only one
issue of An Drochaid in 1994 since it was not until the Autumn that
Alene McNeill agreed to take on the Editorship.
A Kirkin' was held on
20 November - another change in our tradition!
The new Protestant
Chaplain Rev. Cameron Brett gave the address at the Kirkin'. Mr
Brett was officially installed as our Chaplain at the AGA in
November.
1995: Vince Gillon
Chair, John H Macdonald 1st Vice, no 2nd Vice, Executive Secretary
Ian McGregor, Alene McNeill Editor, no Treasurer.
CASSOC took part in
the Heritage Showcase held in February at Sherway Gardens, and also
in the British Show.
The brochure finally
was finished in March.
At 6 April Assembly
meeting, Ian McGregor volunteered to become the Executive
Secretary/Treasurer with a recording Secretary to be appointed.
For Tartan Day in
April, there was again a dinner and evening at Casa Loma by the
Canadian Scottish Studies Foundation honouring Lloyd Robertson of
CTV as Scot of the Year.
The Highland Games
were pretty well covered each summer and especially during the terms
of Vince Gillon. He had help but did a dandy job of getting people
to help and to keep things on an even keel.
The British Show,
Heritage Showcase and the Hobby Show were usually covered by various
members of CASSOC.
1996: The chairman
was John H Macdonald. "John H", as he was called in the early days
of CASSOC, was one of the hard workers from the mid 60's with the
earlier group of Scots who were the forerunners of CASSOC. If you
read the beginning years of this history, John H was on hand for a
year or so after our beginnings with Clan Donald (Toronto area) as
well as the Fraoch Eilean Canadian Foundation.
Neil Fraser became
Executive Secretary/Treasurer with Grace Bird taking on the
Recording Secretary's job. There were no Vice Chairs and Alene
McNeill remained as Editor of An Drochaid.
At the Assembly
Meeting in September, it was decided that the An Drochaid would be
cut back to one copy per member group to cut the cost on postage and
paper.
There were many
Scottish events held in Scarborough for their 200th year
celebrations.
A Ceilidh was held at
the Sergeant's Mess at Moss Park Armoury for the membership in
conjunction with the Assembly Meeting on 28 September.
It was reported that
the Scottish Studies Foundation had another sail on the Empire Sandy
on a wet September 8.
The 20th Annual
General Assembly was held in November.
Read more about them at
http://www.cassoc.ca/
2023
https://www.scotscanada.ca/en/
We represent our
members at games and festivals that we attend through the display of
a poster for each member organization. This poster provides basic
information with a QR Code/URL link to a page with more details and
specific contact info. The display has proven to be very popular
with event visitors as well demonstrably works for bringing new
members to an organization.
In 2023 CASSOC will be attending over a dozen games and events in
Canada and the USA.
In addition to our physical presence at the events, we also provide
a binder for our members to display at their own booths with the
equivalent image of the poster for each of our members.
The binder is available at
https://www.scotscanada.ca/CASSOC_Binder_Poster_Format.pdf
The poster display and binder provide representation for our members
at events even when they are not in attendance themselves.
At the events we’re attending, we will also help booth visitors
research their names and find which clan or family they may belong
to. This has been very successful and popular with our results often
helping us direct the visitor to one of our member organizations.
In addition to the above, we also produce a quarterly newsletter for
our members to distribute. It is also made available on our
scotscanada.ca website.
CASSOC currently has a member activity funding program wherein we
will contribute limited matching funds for a member's
support/participation in a non-profit event to support Scottish
Culture and Heritage.
We founded and continue to sponsor the CASSOC Scottish Studies
Graduate Bursary at the University of Guelph and we welcome other
opportunities to provide like sponsorship.
CASSOC is an ongoing contributor and participant in the Scottish
North America Community Conference being held this coming December.
To improve support for our members, we're now in planning for an
online/hybrid Symposium for Growth and Success series starting in
October of this year. With it, we will be addressing the many
challenges we're all dealing with as cultural heritage
organizations.
About Membership:
Memberships are annually based aligned with CASSOC’s fiscal year of
September 1 to August 31. The current membership fee is $50 CAD.
During the festival season starting each May, we start memberships
immediately with the membership then being valid through the next
fiscal year. This means that any new membership from May 2023 onward
is valid until September 2024.
Lastly, CASSOC recognizes that there are many of those of Scottish
heritage who may not be able to belong to a clan, family or society.
We’re are examining the different ways in which this may be
corrected. Perhaps even by allowing some form of individual
membership within CASSOC itself.
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