Paul Jones, former publisher of Maclean’s Magazine, took the Chair on behalf of Canada’s National History Society which was hosting the meeting. Here is Mr. Jones’s report:

Here is my take on the Canada 150 organizational meeting held in Ottawa on November 23 and hosted by Canada's National History Society.

As you may know, Canada 150 was the brainchild of Harry van Bommel. The goal is to persuade 150,000 Canadians to prepare and submit their personal or family histories in time for Canada's sesquicentennial in 2017. The end-product of the project will be a resource that will serve as a great asset to future generations of researchers, including local and family historians as well as academic researchers. In addition the execution of the project will do much to foster within Canadian society a widespread sense of excitement about our heritage.

Due to urgent surgery that precluded any travel, Harry asked the History Society to provide a chair for the meeting and the Society in turn asked me to act in that role.

It was a smaller group than in Toronto earlier in the year--about 25 people in total--but power packed. We were pleased to see representation from two highly relevant government departments: Library and Archives Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. Other attendees included family and local historians, the heads of both of Canada's national history societies, delegates from the Royal Canadian Legion, Scouts Canada, the Professional Writers' Association of Canada and the Ontario Heritage Fairs Association, as well as journalists from The Beaver and Moorshead Publications (Family Chronicle et al) and the president of Arcalife from Vancouver. Two prominent historians also participated: author Charlotte Gray and Professor Margaret Conrad from the University of New Brunswick.

The first half of the meeting was given over to brainstorming the idea of Canada 150. These were the themes that struck me most forcibly:

1. For credibility this must be a truly national organization operating seamlessly in both official languages.
   

2. In addition to those predisposed to valuing their heritage generally, Canada 150 should reach out to specific segments of the population, e.g. youth, new Canadians, First Nations, francophones outside Quebec, shut-ins.
   

3. For reasons of cost and engagement, program delivery and submissions must be primarily web-driven, perhaps via social-networking media, although with all necessary safeguards to ensure security and with provision for those who prefer to work on paper.
   

4. Submissions will range in scope, focus and professionalism and should therefore be categorized. The simplest category would have a low threshold in terms of amount of information, whereas the most advanced would be of near professional quality. It will be necessary to define submission standards.
   

5. Images, appropriately annotated, are as important as words in preserving our heritage. There may also be a role for audio and video.
   

6. There are important questions of accessibility, privacy and copyright that must be successfully balanced.
   

7. We need to have a clear view as to the end-game. What happens to the resource after 2017?
   

8. Marketing will be a multi-year, multi-phase undertaking. Not all submissions can occur in the last six months.
   

9. With the best planning in the world, Canada 150 will inevitably overlap with other programs, already existing or yet to be planned. Every effort should be made to ensure that Canada 150 is complementary to and supportive of these other programs.
   

The second half of the meeting was organizational in nature. What legal form should Canada 150 take in the short term and the long term? Who should govern it in the short term and long term? What tasks and goals should they have? While the attendees at the meeting felt they could not speak for others, there was a consensus that we should strike an interim council with a view to researching and proposing answers to the longer term questions.

Anyone interested in serving on this interim council is asked to contact Deborah Morrison, president & CEO, Canada's National History Society, which has agreed to provide interim secretariat support to the project. Among those who have volunteered to date are Jeremy Diamond (Historica-Dominion Institute), Tom Douglas (professional author), Deborah Morrison, Paul Taylor (president of Arcalife), Peter Taylor (author of A Passion for Canada), as well as Harry van Bommel and myself. Deborah's e-mail address is: <dmorrison@historysociety.ca>.