On Friday June 16 our South Shore chapter co-hosted Lynn Jones in sharing her reflections on her brother Rocky Jones' revolutionary life, and her experience growing up in Nova Scotia.

Lynn Jones, left, chats with attendees after her talk on Friday. Photo: Charlene Morton.

Rocky Jones' autobiography, released in October 2016, is described by Lawrence Hill as “required reading for any person who seeks to understand the civil rights movement in Canada.”

I made a last minute decision to make a quick trip to Montreal from Ottawa because Divya, my eight-year-old niece, was excited about her end-of-year school performance at École Face. Divya felt I would be interested in this year’s water-themed show as someone who works on water policy issues. Although I was primarily there as a proud aunt, I was indeed quite impressed by the content of the show.

In the show titled “Magtogoek, le fleuve aux grandes eaux” or “Magatogoek, the Mighty River”, children from grades 1 to 4 narrated the history of the 1, 197 kilometre river that flows from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St-Lawrence.  Myriam Blouin, their music teacher and mastermind behind the production, opened with the statement “Montreal is not 375 years. This land had a long history preceding the arrival of Europeans.”  The musical performance began with the Iroquois villages of the 14^th century. Throughout the show, the St-Lawrence River was referred to by its original name, the Magatogoek.