Bill 149 - Cemetery Preservation

March 13, 2009  Great News!   Bill 149 - An Act to Protect Ontario's Inactive Cemeteries, 2009 has passed 2nd Reading in the Legislature. It will now go to committee hearings and then hopefully, come back for a 3rd Reading before the summer recess.   The Bill was introduced by Mr. Jim Brownell, MPP for Stormont, Dundas and South Glengarry, jbrownell.mpp@liberal.ola.org.   We must now let our MPPs and Mr. Brownell know that we support the passage of this bill. There are 2 things that we can do to accomplish this. Download copies of the Bill 149 Petition from the OGS website. Get people to sign the petition and mail the original completed petition to: OGS Provincial Office #102-40 Orchard View Blvd. Toronto, ON M4R 1B9 Photocopies or faxes of the signed petition cannot be used. We must have the form with the original signatures. We will arrange to have these petitions delivered to Mr. Brownell's office so he can present them in the Legislature. This will provide a record of the support of the bill.  We all need to contact our MPP and let them know of our support of Bill 149 and encourage them to support the bill while in committee and vote for the bill when it comes up for 3rd Reading. You can contact them via regular mail, email, telephone or in person. Remember, this needs to be done before the summer recess so the bill does not die.   If you are unsure of how to contact your local MPP you can look at MPP Addresses and Contact Information. If you need additional assistance, Find Your Electoral District  will assist you in finding your local MPP. From Provincial Office - OGS

Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 7 - Mormon Missionaries, 1835

Dr. John Sabean - President of the Pickering Historical Society

Topic: "Mormon Missionaries, 1835"

Preachers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) came to the Pickering, Whitby, Oshawa area in 1835. Over the next few years they converted quite a few families to their faith. By 1838 most of the converts had left Upper Canada to join the Mormon westward migration. While the episode was brief the impact of the missionaries on both this area and on the future of the Mormon church was well out of proportion to the time spent here. [more...]

The Archives of Ontario Closing & Re-opening

March 2, 2009

The Archives of Ontario will be closing the doors of their 77 Grenville St location at 5:00 pm on Thursday March 26, 2009. The Archives will re-open with full service at their new facility on Thursday April 2, 2009 at 8:30 a.m.

The Archives' new address is:
134 Ian Macdonald Blvd
Toronto Ontario M7A 2C5

Phone numbers and email addresses will remain the same.

Visit the Archives of Ontario website for more information.

For those planning on attending the OGS Conference 2009, a Tour and Research Day at the new Archives is planned for Friday May 29. Complete information is available on the OGS Conference website.