Magna Carta and Charter of the Forest in Canada

What is the Magna Carta? It's an 800 year old document that, as one journalist wrote:

is one of the most important documents in history as it established the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even the king, and guarantees the rights of individuals, the right to justice and the right to a fair trial.

One of Durham Cathedral's copies of the Magna Carta and the related Charter of the Forest, is currently on tour here in Canada. They are currently on display in Ottawa at the Canadian Museum of History and will then travel to Winnipeg, Toronto and Edmonton.

Conference Announcement: British Isles Family History Society ofGreater Ottawa 18-20 September 2015

BIFHSGO will be holding their Family History Conference from 18-20 September 2015 at Ben Franklin Place on Centrepointe Drive in Ottawa. Their three areas of focus will be Scottish Family History, Photographs in Genealogy and Technology for Genealogists with expert genealogy lecturers like Thomas MacEntee, Maureen Taylor and Chris Paton just to name a few. All details including registration information is available on their website. Happy Learning!

Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil (Canadian WWI)

Canada's National History Society has taken the information collected by Veterans Affairs Canada and made it available as a virtual vigil for those Canadians who lost their lives in WWI. Taken directly from the website http://1914-1918.ca/:

At sunset November 4th through to sunrise November 11th, this site will present a vigil commemorating the 68,000 Canadians who lost their lives in WWI. The names of the 68,000 war dead will be projected over a week of nights onto the National War Memorial in Ottawa, buildings in other regions of Canada and onto the side of Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London, England.

You can search to see when your ancestor's name will be projected by clicking here.

Groups interested in presenting the Vigil at a local level should contact the Historical Society at historysociety.ca/vigil