Deadline Looms for Canada’s Lighthouses

From: “Heritage Foundation of Canada” HeritageCanadaFoundation@heritagecanada.org

Subject: HCF / FHC Communiqué :

Deadline Looms for Canada’s Historic Lighthouses

Date sent: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 21:11:01 +0000

Deadline Looms for Canada’s Historic Lighthouses

Ottawa, ON, March 23, 2012 – The Heritage Canada Foundation (HCF) is urging Canadians to sign a petition http://www.savecanadaslighthouses.ca/ to help save Canada’s historic lighthouses.

The Government of Canada owns hundreds of iconic lighthouses, and has declared almost all of them to be “surplus”. Canadians have until May 29, 2012 to nominate lighthouses that matter to them for designation under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act. However, almost all of them will require a proposal from an organization or group willing to acquire and invest in them.

You can help: Call on the Federal Government now to invest in the efforts of local groups and communities that are committed to saving Canada’s lighthouses for future generations.

Sign the petition http://www.savecanadaslighthouses.ca/ to help protect Canada’s historic lighthouses.

Then, share the petition on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for taking action to save Canada’s lighthouses.

The Heritage Canada Foundation is a national, membership-based, non profit organization with a mandate to promote the preservation of Canada’s historic buildings and places. Please join < http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/member.html > or make a tax- deductible donation < https://www.dollarsatwork.org/heritage/members.aspx > today.

For further information:

Carolyn Quinn, Director of Communications, cquinn@heritagecanada.org

Telephone: 613-237-1066 ext. 229;

Cell: 613-797-7206

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UPDATE:

January 28, 2013 – After the Deadline

Ottawa’s silence prompts locals to refit lighthouse

CAPE SABLE ISLAND — One of Canada’s most iconic lighthouses, and one that is still in use, looks so dishevelled that a local group plans to spruce it up.

Tired of waiting for the federal government to help, the Friends of the Cape Light plan on taking matters in hand. . . more

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Clark’s Harbour Mayor Leigh Stoddart holds a picture of the Cape Sable lighthouse in this 2006 photo. The lighthouse is pictured before it fell into disrepair. (BRIAN MEDEL / Yarmouth Bureau)

CAPE SABLE ISLAND — One of Canada’s most iconic lighthouses, and one that is still in use, looks so dishevelled that a local group plans to spruce it up.

Tired of waiting for the federal government to help, the Friends of the Cape Light plan on taking matters in hand.

The Cape Sable lighthouse is the most southern of Canada’s East Coast lighthouses and Nova Scotia’s tallest, said Clark’s Harbour Mayor Leigh Stoddart, who serves as the group’s spokesman.

“Our prime goal this year is to do the exterior painting,” Stoddart said Thursday.

They plan some concrete patching, too.

The town began asking Ottawa in 2004 to help refurbish the lighthouse and have been asking ever since, but any response has been disheartening, the mayor said.

What they plan on doing this year will cost about $95,000, Stoddart said.

“We’re going to do this on our own. We’re not putting any proposal in to the government. We’ve been through that for the last 10 years.”

Former federal fisheries minister Gail Shea told him a couple of years ago that it looked like the group would receive some financial aid but that fell through, the mayor said.

While the group is planning on doing the work on its own, it would be pleased if the government agreed to cover half the cost, Stoddart said.

The present 90-year-old lighthouse was automated in 1985. It still functions and still uses a fog signal. And it still provides a valuable service.

“Any ship coming from Europe to the U.S., they’ve got to go by this lighthouse,” Stoddart said, noting that big transoceanic container vessels and even cruise ships routinely pass by the structure.

“Mariners are mariners and it is a landmark and I’m sure they look for it,” said Stoddart. “The lighthouse is 101 feet in height and it’s on a piece of land about three miles in length.”

The first lighthouse was erected in 1860 after the steamship Hungarian struck the ledges of Cape Sable. All passengers and crew — 205 men, women and children — perished.

Residents of Shelburne County’s Cape Sable Island watched helplessly from shore at Hawk Point, a five-minute boat ride on a fine day.

“They couldn’t get to them. They wanted to,” said Stoddart. “Some of the bodies were recovered and buried here at Clark’s Harbour in the old town cemetery.”

Friends of the Cape Light would like to begin raising money soon.

They are now preparing a website that should be up and running within a few weeks.

(bmedel@herald.ca)

August 03, 2012 – Lighthouse receives heritage designation

St. Paul Island lighthouse is one of the first four in Canada to be designated heritage lighthouses under the Heritage Lighthouse Protection Act.

June 12, 2012 – Our historic lighthouses face uncertain future

June 01, 2012 – Lighthouse Deal Done (Did anybody know about this before they decided not to apply to save a lighthouse. The Canadian government is giving $15,000 per lighthouse to this township in Ontario to help setup a maintenance program for the adopted lights!)

May 31, 2012 – Lighthouse petitions are in (Newfoundland)