ASA Annual meeting

It is in Cornwall that the Séguin d'Amérique are required on August 9 and 10. This city is located in the extreme south-eastern part of the province of Ontario. In the mid-18th century, some Americans, seeing the declaration of independence coming, decided to cross the border to remain loyal to the British Crown. It was therefore these Loyalists who founded the City of Cornwall.

By Saturday morning, the intake team had recruited two "smile sisters" from southern Ontario. Sister Giséle Pilon and Sister Norma Brisson (sister of Claudette Brisson-Blanchard # 458) were able to put all the guests at ease upon their arrival.

The Saturday program begins with a city tour by bus.

We stop at La Citadelle school. In this school, a room was dedicated to Jeannine Séguin # 441, a great lady who spent her life defending the French language in Ontario (See a "FRANCOIS" to Jeannine Séguin in this edition, also Vol. 6, No 4 and Vol. 10, No 1). This school attended by French and English language students having become too cramped, Jeannine took the great means by organizing a student strike to obtain this school for French language students. An English school was built at another location.

We stop at Logan's Gallery where wealthy people can buy great vintages.

Further on, you go around an immense complex, Nav-Canada, which was a flight school and which has become a conference center containing more than 600 rooms.

A stop is essential to visit the Wood House Museum, a stone and brick house which belonged to a wealthy Loyalist who made his fortune in Cornwall. We added a basement to the house. We still admire the ingenuity of these people who invented means to facilitate daily tasks before the arrival of electricity.

A very special thank you to Ms. Marcel Paquette and her team of volunteers who agreed to open the St-Laurent History and Genealogy Center on Saturday in order to allow several Séguins to continue or even complete several of their ancestral lines. Everyone was amazed by the riches of the treasures they discovered there and many promised to return. What a fantastic discovery this Center is!

Then at 4:00 p.m., many Séguin attend the general meeting. It's time to brainstorm, especially when it comes to regulations. "Tot capita, tot sensus", everyone has their own idea. Costs keep increasing; for this reason, the annual contribution may increase slightly. The results are still positive.

The group, "La Tournée du Bonheur", which is aptly named, enlivens the delicious meal and the evening. During these few hours, the musicians, including a trumpeter, a violinist and a pianist, true professionals, knew how to amaze us. And what about the host who was wonderful: always words for laughs, funny little stories and never saucy, imitations of singers. In the evening it was difficult to stay seated at the tables; you had to dance.

All the Séguins are eager to know the surprise in store for them. However, after dinner, the name of the 1,000th member of the Association was revealed, none other than Manon Séguin from L'Orignal, Ontario. Manon is only seventeen and has already come a long way in the vocal field. Thanks to her unfailing determination, Manon has already won numerous competitions and has sometimes sung on Radio-Canada. It is now known and recognized in Quebec as well as in Ontario. At the meeting in St. Albert, she sang at mass. I wrote then: "It was surprising to hear Manon, eleven years old, sing with so much confidence". After the Association's marks of honor to her, Manon performed four songs, including one of her compositions, to our great pleasure. We wish you a great future, Manon, and we are proud of you.

People of Cornwall, we thank you. The first day went very well; congratulations to the organizing committee.