Communication
President's Message
Welcome To Our Website!
'Se
a th'annainn na thaghas sinn. We are whom we choose to be.
The Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia consists of 43 distinct clan and Scottish-cultural societies. We encourage both groups and individuals who want to support our collective Scottish Heritage to join the Federation. This will keep you up to date on happenings, and you will meet others who are also interested in the music, culture, Gaelic, and fellowship with the people of the Clans.
Fill out the membership form and join with us.
Two thousand seven was a terrific year for the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia. Our successors and historians will look back and say this was the year that the FSCNS turned a corner – the year in which the Federation began to fulfill its potential as the “Voice of Nova Scotia’s Scottish Communities.”
Two years ago, Jean Watson – who is undeniably “the Mother of Tartan Day” – presented her vision that would stabilize the Scottish Federation. Twelve months ago our organization was stagnating, with limited resources, no clear direction, no vision, and no action plan. Jean, who is now our Immediate Past President, challenged the membership with an aggressive itinerary that would re-invigorate and re-energize her beloved Scottish Federation.
What a difference has been made!
During the last twenty-four months, the Federation has laid the foundation for financial security by raising much-needed capital at two dinner-auctions at Eureka (Pictou County) in April and at Dartmouth in October. Our next fundraiser will take place in St. Andrew's, Antigonish County, on April 26th. It will be an amazing and fun event.
At the Annual General Meeting at Truro, additional amendments were made to the By-laws that will result increase our membership revenue stream along with introducing new members and new ideas, all of which are critical to our future growth. To manage this, Celeste Henderson, the FSCNS Membership Director, will oversee this important function.
The FSCNS Executive and the organizing committee of the 2007 International Gathering of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia were spectacular in the planning, coordinating and execution of 61 events that took place over the summer of 2007. We forged new relationships with our sister Scottish cultural societies, co-sponsored events with other Scottish cultural organizations, and I am proud to say that we exceeded our own very high expectations by staging the most successful IGC in two decades. Special mention must be given to our friends at The Scots: The North British Society, who made available the resources the FSCNS so desperately required during the planning stages of the International Gathering. Today, we are looking forward to next International Gathering of the Clans in Nova Scotia, that will take place in 2011.
We have made meaningful contact with Scottish cultural groups in other jurisdictions, and sharing best practices in order to advance the cause of Scottish heritage. The FSCNS is a founding member of the United Scots of Atlantic Canada, and is working in partnership with the New Brunswick Scottish-Cultural Society, the Caledonia Club of Prince Edward Island and the St. Andrew's Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. Our next meeting is scheduled for late summer 2008, to be hosted by our friends on Prince Edward Island.
We are in the process of creating partnerships with the public sectors. Her Honour, Mayann Frances, O.N.S., Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, hosted a reception for the Federation during the International Gathering. We were pleased to welcome Premier Rodney MacDonald at the Provincial Tartan Day Ceremonies, where he personally read the Tartan Day Proclamation. We have enjoyed the support of our the Tourism Branch of the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage. We received warm welcomes from the mayors and councils of HRM, Pictou, Pugwash, New Glasgow and Truro, to name but a few. The Federation is fortunate to have the support and goodwill of these levels of government.
We have launched a new presence on the Internet, which tells the people Nova Scotia and the peoples of the world who we are and what we do.
We have created a new Finance Committee that will be responsible for fund-raising and sponsorships. We have engaged a new Media & Public Relations coordinator who will work with the Executive to establish a standard corporate branding for this Scottish Federation.
The FSCNS has been a beehive of activity, and all indications are that this industriousness will only increase in time.
A great deal of this activity is focused on promoting and presenting the quadrennial International Gathering of the Clans in Nova Scotia. This four-month celebration of Nova Scotia’s Scottish heritage brought people from around to world to our craggy shores. Chaired by Past President Mel Baird, the members of the IGC Committee secured the required resources that produced the finest Scottish Gathering that our province has witnessed in two decades.
The Official Opening took place in the Town of Pictou on 05 April 2007, and the International Gathering concluded with the Official Closing and Ceilidh at the Highland Village Museum Complex at Iona, Cape Breton on 13 October. Both events were magnificent. Other milestone events of the IGC included family and clan reunions, dinners, ceilidhs, parades, concerts, a dances (there was even be a Scottish Dinner-Dance and Concert at Truro in September with entertainment by the Caledonian Scottish Orchestra and the Thistle Scottish Country Dancers -- we will be repeating that event, without doubt).
Stretching from the Annapolis Valley to the Cape Breton Highlands, from the South Shore to the Northumberland Strait, the Scots of Nova Scotia came together to celebrate the Scottish experience in the land where “the Old World meets the New.”®
From a personal perspective, I am honoured to have been to the Presidency of the Federation for a second term. My duty is to continue to serve and to represent the Scottish communities of Nova Scotia, and to grow our organization.
Indeed, Past Presidents Mel Baird, Bill Sutherland and Jean Watson have been tremendous mentors to me. Their passion for this organization and for its members is highly contagious. I am proud to say that I am also passionate about the work of the Federation of Scottish Clans in Nova Scotia. It is my fervent wish that this excitement for “all things Scottish” spreads to all members of the Federation. Help support the Federation as it fulfills its potential.
After all, we are whom we choose to be.
Yours, aye.
