Mona Parsons was born in 1901 in Middleton, Nova Scotia. Through her marriage to a Dutch businessman, she settled in the Netherlands in 1937. In May 1940, Germany occupied the Netherlands and it was then that Parsons joined a resistance unit. She sheltered and helped downed Allied airmen to escape back to Britain. She was eventually reported and arrested by the Germans. Initially sentenced to be executed, her sentence was reduced to hard labour as the judge was impressed with the dignity she demonstrated during the trial and urged her to appeal. She spent nearly four years in various German...

Using as bookends 1758, the year of the first legislative assembly in Nova Scotia, and the present, Dr. Ross will highlight the challenges the Acadians have faced in their efforts to preserve their language in an educational system which, until the 1970s, was designed for the anglophone majority. This event is free and open to the public. To register, phone 902-424-7001 or go to: https://lt.gov.ns.ca/news-events/evenings-government-house/2018-02-27/dr-sally-ross-will-present-history-acadian-schools

Today, 2 nd February 2018, marks the 170 th anniversary of the first Responsible Government in the British Empire (outside of the United Kingdom). The first Executive Council, which was chosen exclusively from the party holding the majority, met in the Drawing Room of Government House on 2 nd February 1848. The members of the Executive Council were: James Boyle Uniacke (Attorney General and Leader of the Government), Joseph Howe (Provincial Secretary), Hugh Bell, William F. Desbarres, Lawrence O.C. Doyle, Herbert Huntingdon, James McNab, Michael Tobin, and George R. Young. Responsible...

This year’s African Heritage Month theme is “Educate, Unite, Celebrate Community”. In keeping with that theme, Vanessa Fells of the Black Loyalist Heritage Centre will give a presentation on the historically important group known as the Black Loyalists. Her presentation will provide an overview on the history of the Black Loyalists highlighting their arrival to Nova Scotia in 1783. She will discuss notable Black Loyalist descendants such as Viola Desmond, Rose Fortune, Measha Brueggergosman, Dr. Elizabeth Cromwell, Marjorie Turner Bailey, and Sam Langford. She will conclude...