April 26, 2012

Sir John A. Macdonald Bicentennial Commission congratulates Richard Gwyn!

Kingston: Judges from the Writers’ Trust of Canada chose well in awarding the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing to journalist Richard Gwyn for his second volume chronicling the life and times of Canada’s first and founding Prime Minister, the Sir John A. Macdonald Bicentennial Commission says.

“Mr. Gwyn, who has visited Kingston and led our Sir John A.-themed walking tours in the past, has single-handedly done more to raise the profile of Macdonald amongst new generations of Canadians through his scholarship than any other Canadian,” said Arthur Milnes, Commissioner of the Sir John A. Macdonald Bicentennial Commission. “It is a great pleasure, on behalf of the Commission, to offer our congratulations to Mr. Gwyn for this well-deserved honour.”

“In ‘Nation Maker,’ Richard Gwyn gives us a politician who was far more shrewd and tough than either the debonair image he himself cultivated or the caricature imprinted on too much of our history,” Shaughnessy Cohen Prize jury members David Akin, Charlotte Gray, and Janice Gross Stein said in a statement.

“Gwyn shows how Macdonald built a nation out of a reluctant union of impoverished colonies, and shaped the Canada we know today.”

The announcement of the award was made at the Politics and the Pen Gala in Ottawa last night.

For further information about the Sir John A. Macdonald Bicentennial Commission please visit www.sirjohna2015.ca

The Macdonald Bicentennial Commission extends heartfelt congratulations to Commission friend Richard Gwyn whose second volume in his majestic biography of Sir John A. has been nominated for this year’s Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for political writing. Gwyn, who last year led a Macdonald-themed walking tour of Kingston to benefit the Commission, is one of Canada’s most seasoned journalists and writers.

“Canadians owe a great debt to Mr. Gwyn for all his done in recent years to highlight the life and legacy of Canada’s Father of Confederation,” said Commissioner Arthur Milnes. “He, along with all the other nominees, are to be congratulated for their hard work in promoting Canada’s rich history with their books.”

The winner will be announced April 25.

February 8, 2012

It’s official.

The new elementary school now under construction in Kingston, Ontario will be named École Sir John A. Macdonald Public School when it opens later this fall.

Trustees with the Limestone District School Board decided on the name at its regular board meeting in February.

Sir John A. Macdonald was chosen from a short list of four names provided to trustees by the Kingston East Integration Committee.

The advisory group, which is made up of students, teaching and non-teaching staff, and parents from school councils, initially received 128 suggestions following an open call to students, parents, guardians and the community.. Almost 1,000 votes were cast during the week-long vote in late January.

“Kingston is well known as home to Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, one of Canada’s most historically significant figures. It’s very fitting that the founding father of a united Canada will now forever be part of our new united school community in Kingston East.”

http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3475543

Courtesy Kingston This Week.

Sir John A. You Tube Star at Kingston Garden Festival
February 24, 2012

Community organizer/entrepreneur/philanthropist, James Brown, released his latest edition in an animated campaign to underscore Macdonald’s historic connections to the City of Kingston.

More at http://www.youtube.com/user/SirJohnA2015