For Immediate Release
Jun. 2, 2005, 2:41 p.m.
Ontario's Lieutenant-Governor Is First Capital Guest
June 15 Events Will Include Cadets' First Capital Tattoo
Charles Dickens and Lord Sydenham and other notable characters from Kingston's historic past will meet Ontario Lieutenant-Governor, the Honourable James K. Bartleman at Kingston's First Capital Day celebrations on June 15.
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The province's 41st vice-regal representative will be a guest of the Kingston First Capital group who each year plan a community celebration to mark the City's unique place in Canadian history.
It was 12:00 p.m. June 15, 1841, when Canada's first Parliament opened in what is now the Kingston General Hospital.
The Act of Union united the former Upper and Lower Canada's and brought together some 650,000 mainly English-speaking Upper Canadians and approximately 450,000 mostly French-speaking Lower Canadians. Renamed Canada East and Canada West, the two sections had equal representation in the first Parliament held in Kingston.
First Capital Day promoters say that what had been a patchwork of government became, under the new union, an integrated system, the basis for much of today's modern government. Alas, Kingston remained the capital for only three short years, until November 1844 when it moved to Montreal.
This year on June 15, Lieutenant Governor Bartleman will be joined by six cadet groups with up to 150 young military cadets from all over Eastern Ontario who will perform a military tattoo as a salute to Kingston as First Capital of a United Canada. The tattoo of music and military drills along with a civic ceremony get underway at 6:30 p.m. on Ontario Street in front of historic City Hall in downtown Kingston.
As part of the Lieutenant Governor's itinerary that day, he will also attend the popular First Capital Luncheon, a theatre styled event held annually at the Kingston Brewing Company. Each year local actors bring to life historic Kingston figures like noted author Charles Dickens, Governor General Lord Sydenham and 8-time elected and populist Mayor John Counter to tell tales associated with Kingston's First Capital era.
Lieutenant Governor Bartleman will be attended at the First Capital Luncheon by Kingston MPP John Gerretsen, Mayor Harvey Rosen and Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Milliken.
Organizers say that reservations can be made for the lunch or an evening supper by calling the Kingston Brewing Company.
In addition to the pomp, ceremony and music traditions associated with the First Capital Day Tattoo, during the evening on June 15, families can take a free horse drawn wagon ride through Old Kingston to the site of where the first parliament was held in 1841. This year the half-hour wagon-ride tour will have interpreters aboard sharing vignettes and pointing out noteworthy homes from the 1840s era.
Various Kingston museums will be set up exhibits in Confederation Park from 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. June 15 and City Hall will stay open for free tours until 8:00 p.m. Student exhibits shown at the recent Historica Fair can be viewed on the 2nd level of City Hall.
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Media contact information:
Lesley Kimble, Special Events Coordinator, City of Kingston, 546-4291 ext. 1706 or First Capital Day Committee Chair, John Coleman - 545-8666 ext. #106
