This year's Kagawong History Day highlights major Canadian shipwreck
After a two-year hiatus, Kagawong History Day on Manitoulin Island returns this month with a focus on a famous shipwreck in Canadian waters.
“This one will be about the Empress of Ireland, the ship that went down on the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” said Rick Nelson, curator at the Old Mill Heritage Centre Museum.
"It’s known as the worst Canadian peacetime maritime disaster to this date."
There will be two different presentations Aug. 11 highlighting the details and history of the crash. One will take place at 3:30 p.m. and one at 7:30 p.m. at the Kagawong Park Centre.
“Over 1,000 people lost their lives on the Empress of Ireland so we’ll have some experts coming in, some historians showing up to tell the story,” said Nelson.
“We have one person coming in from Montreal and a second person coming up from Toronto and we’ll have a very large representation of the Salvation Army.”
Nelson said 150 members of the Salvation Army lost their lives during the wreck. For the history day this year, members from the 2022 Salvation Army Band will be on hand as well.
The Empress of Ireland exhibit has been on display at the Old Mill Heritage Centre for two years, but will be taken down by the end of the season.
“We were lucky because of COVID they allowed us to keep it an extra year, but by Thanksgiving it will be put back in its crate and sent back to its owners,” he said.
“I’m surprised that so many people don’t know the story of the Empress of Ireland … It’s a real treat to be able to get that information out and tell people who have never heard the story, to tell it to them for the first time.”
Kagawong History Day is open for everyone and donations are encouraged, with money going back to museum programing.
Nelson said the exhibit taking its place will focus on cameras and should be set up in time for 2023.
“We have at least, as I understand, over 200 cameras at this point of different shapes and sizes that date back to Abraham Lincoln.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Police investigating shooting outside of Drake's Bridle Path mansion: source
Toronto police are investigating a shooting that took place outside of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion early Tuesday morning, a source tells CP24.
Canadian cadets rock mullets and place second at U.S. military competition
Sporting mullets, Canadian Armed Forces officer cadets placed second in an annual military skills competition in the U.S.
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
The Met Gala was in full bloom with Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Mindy Kaling among the standout stars
The Met Gala and its fashionista A-listers on Monday included Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and a parade of others in a swirl of flora and fauna looks on a green-tinged carpet lined by live foliage.
There's actually no such thing as vegetables. Here's why you should eat them anyway
The rumours are true: Vegetables aren't real — that is, in botany, anyway. While the term fruit is recognized botanically as anything that contains a seed or seeds, vegetable is actually a broad umbrella term.
Noelia Voigt resigns as Miss USA, citing her mental health
Noelia Voigt, who was crowned Miss USA in November 2023, has announced she is resigning from her role, saying the decision is in the best interest of her mental health.
Highlights from the 2024 Met Gala exhibit: Sleeping Beauty would wake up for these gowns
Sure, she was a royal princess and all. But there’s no way Sleeping Beauty — either before or after her nap — ever had quite the fabulous wardrobe that’s been assembled at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Stormy Daniels is expected to appear at Trump's hush money trial on Tuesday
Donald Trump returns to the hush money trial Tuesday facing a threat of jail time for additional gag order violations as prosecutors gear up to summon big-name witnesses including porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Israeli forces seize Rafah border crossing in Gaza, putting ceasefire talks on knife's edge
Israeli tanks seized control of Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing on Tuesday as Israel brushed off urgent warnings from close allies and moved into the southern city even as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remained on a knife's edge.