Mandate
To provide leadership and overall coordination of the community’s response to the commemoration of the War of 1812 bicentennial.
Goals
- To enhance the opportunities for education and appreciation of the commemoration for local residents and education of the community (elementary, high-school, university) youth.
- To stimulate the heritage tourism sector to enhance product development through the legacy of improved infrastructure, and capacity of museums.
- To harness economic opportunity to maximize visitor attendance and spending as a result of the commemoration (2012 to 2014) and beyond.
- To improve community assets through the installation of legacy projects.
- To leverage marketing opportunities to increase awareness of the commemoration activities.
- To utilize cross regional legacy opportunities to enhance the area's significance as one of the components to the overall provincial commemoration plan.
Logo
The logo, including the red, blue and gold colours, echos Canadian military heritage around the time of the war of 1812. Surrounding the inscription “War of 1812 Bicentennial” is a pair of laurels reminiscent of those found in British military crests. The branch of the laurel is an emblem of victory or distinction and herein reminds us of the victory won by the British, French and Native peoples that were to become Canadian. The foliage in the laurel begins at the base with feathers, giving homage to the Native element in the war, that gradually morph into maple leafs. The morph conveys the political changes that were supported by the victories in the war of 1812. The laurel wreath is seated in a base comprised of a maple leaf, two feathers and two generic leaves. Below the laurel wreath is a scroll inscribed “200th Anniversary”. Enveloping the elements is the inscription “City of Brantford, County of Brant.”
Volunteer Committee Members
- Zig Misiak (Chair)
- Councillor Dan McCreary
- Councillor James Calnan (until December 1, 2010)
- Bob Coyne (Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Advisory Committee liaison since the fall of 2010)
- Bill Darfler
- Yvonne Drebert
- Angela Files
- Jim Files
- Keith Jamieson (Six Nations Legacy Consortium liaison)
- Joan Kanigan (Brant Museum and Galleries Association liaison)
- Wayne King (Heritage Committee liaison)
- Zach Melnick
- Delia O'Bryne
- Mike O'Bryne (County of Brant liaison)
- Eva Salter (Ministry of Culture Advisor)
- Beverly Scott (Tourism Advisory Committee liaison)
- Rick Shaver
- Doug Summerhayes (Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Advisory Committee liaison until the fall of 2010)
- Richard Waddington
- Melissa Minshall (County of Brant staff member)
- Eydie Styres (Six Nations Tourism staff member)
- Susan Sager (City of Brantford staff member)
- Nicole Drake (City of Brantford staff member)
Activities of the Steering Committee
The following is a list of activities the Steering Committee is undertaking as part of the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration:
- Establishing overall guiding principles and goals of this initiative
- Acting as a sounding board for potential initiatives undertaken by other partners and stakeholders
- Acting as a catalyst provide facilitation of ideas, concepts, and community linkages in order to build a successful bicentennial celebration
- Implementation of a marketing and communications strategy for the bicentennial celebrations including leveraging awareness of the local bicentennial program with other local - regional - provincial - national and international organizations and agencies
- Coordination of a community calendar of events
- Identification and securing of funding to implement Steering Committee specific priorities
- Identification and sharing of funding resources information for community groups wishing to secure revenue in order to execute War of 1812 activities. Coordination of this function will be done so that duplication and competing areas of interest can be mitigated to ensure maximizing the successful bicentennial community-based programming and activities implementation.