Dear friends,
This week we wrote an open letter to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Steven Guilbeault. We encourage you to email the Minister (and CC his deputies) with the message below or with your own thoughts about the S.S.Keewatin being taken from its home berth in Port McNicoll and sent to a city with no historical connection.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Heritage - steven.guilbeault@canada.ca
Hélène Laurendeau, Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage - helene.laurendeau@canada.ca
Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage - julie.dabrusin@parl.gc.ca
Here is our open letter:
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Dear Mr. Guilbeault,
The #keepkeewatinhome team, on behalf of close to 10,000 Simcoe Country residents, are asking you today to reject the Kingston Maritime Museum's application for the S.S. Keewatin, and to work with Friends of Keewatin to ensure the ship stays where it belongs - at its home berth in Port McNicoll.
The S.S. Keewatin is the only Edwardian passenger steamship in existence and is part of the physical and heritage landscape of North Simcoe; it operated out of Port McNicoll for over 50 years. Kingston, Ontario has absolutely no historical connection to the ship. When the Kee was brought to Port McNicoll in 2012, residents rejoiced not only for the arrival of this treasured piece of history, but because of the economic and employment benefits the ship might create. In considering a move to Kingston, owners Skyline Investments and the Federal Government are failing to deliver on the promises made to the people of this region. Our residents are tired of seeing opportunities leave our riding for the GTA or other more populous regions, along with federal funding. This simply will not stand.
As of today, a Change.org petition to keep the Keewatin in Port now has almost 10,000 signatures! (9,657 at time of writing).
Window signs have also been popping up all over North Simcoe courtesy of our campaign. We have sent out dozens of signs in the last week and are getting daily requests for more. Articles on our campaign have been featured in the Kingston Whig Standard, The Midland Mirror, Midland Today, and most recently The Toronto Star. Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton has sponsored a parliamentary petition, and I expect you have already heard from him on this issue.
The Keep Keewatin Home campaign is now calling on you, Sir, to reject any moves to send the Keewatin to Kingston and to reconsider a proposal by Friends of Keewatin for heritage designation.
On behalf of our thousands of supporters and all residents of Simcoe County, we implore you to grant our request.
#keepkeewatinhome
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