February 2013 update

 NB Scottish Portal Project-February 2013 update

For first time visitors to the Scottish Portal Project I encourage you to visit the Portal project centre  to learn about the project, what it is all about and what it means to you, your family and your ancestors.

Government Departments Discriminate Against Scottish Groups

We need to be proud of our heritage instead of hiding it!

We have had a very disappointing couple of weeks when it comes to Government Funding.  Over the last 6 to 8 months we have applied for different grants through both the provincial and federal governments only to be turned down.  In one case an application that was sent to ACOA where the criteria was not posted and it was at the discretion of the panel or committee reviewing the application who gets approved and who is turned down.  

Like this statue if we don't act we are going to left out in the cold!

What is unfair is how government spends millions of dollars to support the Francophone culture and heritage and pretty much nothing towards the Scottish heritage or for any culture for that matter.   Now please don’t get us wrong with what we are saying.  It is great that Francophone groups and community receives this kind of support and funding.  However the bottom line here is there has to be a better system where monies are equally distributed across all groups not to just one culture.   After all Heritage Canada wants Canadian’s to celebrate their history and past but it can’t be just one past and history.

We Need Your Help To Keep This Project Going!

As a result of the lack of government support, we have had to step up our fundraising initiatives again and turn to the general public and our supporters to carry Portal project through to the end.  To date we have raised a little over $30,000.00 out of the $80,000.00.  However, we are now running out of funds to keep the project going and we haven’t even finished Phase I.

So the urgency is there for help from the people of Scottish descent! If three hundred people (300) were to give us $25.00 each that would be $7500.00 that would help with Phase II.   If each person that is a member of a Scottish group in New Brunswick gave $25.00.  The project would have enough money to complete Phase II.  You can find out more about the project phases at the portal centre and if you would like to give to the Portal project you can do so by visiting the donation centre

New Brunswick's Scottish History Needs To Be Told

Without this project the story of the Scots who came to New Brunswick will never be shared with the world.  The Scots like many other immigrants who came to New Brunswick built this province through good times and bad times.  They worked very hard to make this province as wealthy as it was.  We owe it to the people who came before us to tell this story for future generations and to preserve this story.   History is important because if you don’t know about your past you certainly don’t have a future.   Look at the Scottish community map there were a lot of communities that were built by Scots.  Can we afford not to tell this story.