(Sherbrooke, QC., Tuesday, June 17, 2025)
“Innovative, bridge-building, exciting, timely:” These are some of the words used to describe the projects selected for funding in Round 2 of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s (QAHN) new program of micro-grants titled Supporting Heritage Awareness, Recognition, and Awareness (SHARE). The program was created in January 2025 with funding from Canadian Heritage to strengthen Quebec’s heritage sector with regards to sharing the diverse history of English-speakers in the province. Exceptionally this year, there were two rounds of applications; in ensuing years there will be only one. The fifteen groups awarded funding in June as part of Round 2 join the ten groups from Round 1 whose projects got underway in March. Coincidentally, QAHN marks its 25th anniversary in 2025 – and what a way to celebrate, by giving support to 25 community heritage and historical groups and societies.
“It’s exciting to see the variety and the quality of the projects that have been submitted to us in Round 2 of the SHARE project. I’m really looking forward to seeing how they all progress. I think it’s going to be a fabulous year!” (Matthew Farfan, Executive Director, QAHN)
The organizations awarded funding in this second round represent 7 regions across Quebec, from the Outaouais to the Gaspé. Their projects include the creation of engaging educational tools for children and youth, with one of them (the Musée de Sutton) using cutting edge CGI elements, and another (Fairbairn House) weaving together the distinct history of Indigenous, francophone and anglophone communities. Others will focus on bringing unique archives to light through conferences, exhibitions, and digitization projects, revealing stories of activists, community builders, wartime experiences, culinary history, and so much more. Four groups will focus on documenting heritage via video with archival documents and oral testimonies (in Granby, Richmond, Valcartier, Sillery, and Barachois), while one project from Montreal will be presenting Black history in a video game format. For a complete list of grant recipients, please see below.
FULL LIST OF GRANT RECIPIENTS, ROUND 2:
BARACHOIS AND AREA DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Gaspé-les-Îles)
- Echoes of the past: Founding Families of the Barachois Area
- Oral history/videos
DACOSTA – ANGÉLIQUE INSTITUTE (Montréal)
- A walk through Black history in Chez Dolores – tracing the life of Dolores Sandoval
- Video game/website/wiki/launch events
EASTERN TOWNSHIPS RESOURCE CENTRE (Estrie)
- The legacy of a Pioneer: Preserving the Marjorie Goodfellow Fonds
- Archives/partnerships/public conference
FAIRBAIRN HOUSE (Outaouais)
- Telling Our Stories, an educational toolkit for the Gatineau Valley
- Educational materials and community historians in schools
Société d’histoire de la HAUTE YAMASKA (GRANBY) – (Estrie)
- Collecte d’archives et de témoignages
- Outreach/collection/archiving/oral history
MORIN HEIGHTS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (Laurentians)
- All Abord Tous à bord!
- Micro exhibits/travelling exhibits/launch event/partnerships
HERITAGE NEW CARLISLE – KEMPFFER CULTURAL CENTRE (Gaspé-les-Îles)
- Dynamisation et mise en valeur des attraits touristiques anglophones de New Carlisle
- Work plan/partnerships/1 concrete action
PONTIAC ARCHIVES (Shawville – Outaouais)
- Pontiac at War: Preserving Our Veterans’ Legacy
- Digitization of archives
RICHMOND HISTOIRE ET COOPÉRATION (Estrie)
- Video about the history of Dyson and Armstrong
- Community screening of video including oral history
SAINT GABRIEL DE VALCARTIER Historical Committee (Québec City)
- Valcartier Elementary School Video Documentary
- 45-minute documentary including oral testimony and documentary archival material
SOCIÉTÉ D’HISTOIRE DE SILLERY (Québec City)
- Patrimoines – Identités – Volet anglophone
- Collection of archives related to culinary history, food production and food security
- Creation of an online platform
SOCIÉTÉ D’HISTOIRE DE MOUILLEPIED (Montérégie)
- Coming to Light : the Legacy of the Bruce Field Photographic Collection
- Digitizing and organizing 150 000 negatives/ sharing via various means
STANSTEAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Estrie)
- Improving knowledge, visibility, and accessibility of collections
- Digitizing and organizing
SUTTON – MUSEE DES COMMUNICATIONS ET D’HISTOIRE (Estrie)
- Les anglophones nous racontent
- Educational materials using CGI
TOWNSHIPS SUN (Estrie)
- Townships Young Voices 2026: Building Bridges through Creativity
- A writing and art competition/partnerships/ bridge-building through the arts
About QAHN:
Founded in June 2000, the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025. QAHN is a non-profit, non-partisan, province-wide organization engaged with its members in the preservation and promotion of the history, heritage and culture of Quebec – and, in particular, of Quebec’s English-speaking communities. QAHN strives to advance the knowledge of the history, heritage and culture of those communities by informing, inspiring and connecting people through its activities and services.
Over the past 25 years, QAHN has become known and appreciated for the myriad of ways it supports the heritage sector of English-speaking Quebec, including outreach, digital and print media, educational programs, advocacy, a commitment to Reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous communities, volunteer recognition, dynamic partnerships and innovative special projects.
Membership in QAHN is open to individuals, families and organizations, regardless of linguistic or cultural affiliation. Currently over 100 museums, historical societies and other heritage, cultural or community organizations across the province hold institutional membership in QAHN.