|
|
“OUR
FORESTS, OUR ROOTS”
"The
future prosperity of the Clay Belt is assured, and will outdo assurance.
But the present is hard, and the pioneers of this generation must
be content to slave and toil as did our own forefathers in Southern
Ontario a hundred years ago. Their
children will receive a splendid heritage, but they themselves must be
prepared to endure hardships all their days."
Excerpt
by Watson Kirkconnell
Kapuskasing,
A Historical Sketch, 1920.
In the year
2000, we the people of Kapuskasing, are the children that Watson
Kirkconnell wrote about that
have "received a splendid heritage" because of our forefathers.
The men and women of the bush camp era that endured living conditions that
we, in our wildest dreams can only imagine.
The government placed a prisoner of war camp in 1914 (currently known
as Agriculture Canada’s Experimental Farm) knowing full well that
prisoners would not escape because they would never survive the harsh
weather, yet our forefathers choose to live and work in Northern Ontario
bush camps, because they believed in the North and knew their children
would one day be privileged to live in the community that is known today
as the
Model Town of the North. It is for this reason that we want to designate
the Festival to the honor of our forefathers and to celebrate the past,
the present and the future for our children and our children’s children.
"We must never
forget"!
|
