When I became a member of the Bicentennial Branch of the United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada I thought that I would be able to find more information about the loyalists, maybe find some more resources for my research, little did I know that two years later I would be the newsletter editor for my branch.
It is this blog that brought me the opportunity to be the branch newletter editor. Bonnie Schepers U.E., the current editor was looking for a replacement because she had been elected Vice-President of the UELAC and had to give up some branch responsibilities.
She found this blog and thought that it was well done and I just happened to be a member of the branch. Since I received my certificates I am no longer an associate member, I am now a regular l member and as such I have a duty to adhere to the UELAC mission statement:
To preserve, promote and celebrate the history and traditions of the Loyalist epoch in Canadian history by:
1) Uniting in a Canadian association the descendants of those families who, during the American Revolutionary War, sacrificed all to retain their loyalty to the British crown.
2) Collecting and cataloguing portraits, documents, books, weapons, flags, clothing and other artifacts relating to the United Empire Loyalists.
3) Publishing an historical and family research journal, books and newsletters as well as educational resource materials and encouraging scholarship and publication about Loyalist history and demography.
4) Erecting, constructing and repairing buildings, monuments and memorials in Canada to perpetuate the memory of the United Empire Loyalists.
5) Increasing public awareness of the Loyalist contributions to Canada and preserving, defending,and promoting Loyalist heritage within Canadian society, by developing and participating in projects and activities which honour and celebrate the memory of the United Empire Loyalists.
6) Defending and promoting the values and institutions fundamental to Canada's United Empire Loyalist heritage and, in particular, the Constitutional Monarchy, the Commonwealth, Parliamentary Government, the Rule of Law, Human Rights and Unity.
This mission statement was adopted at the Annual General Meeting June 8, 2002.
I will be honoured to be fulfilling this duty as I take over in the new year as the newsletter editor for the Bicentennial Branch of the UELAC, and I hope that I can live up to Bonnie's expectations. It will be an exciting challenge in the next few years with so much activity with the War of 1812 Bicentennial and the UELAC Centennial celebrations in 2014.