From Sydney

Well, we're gathering! Last night fully ten of us had a table at the Governor's Pub for some food and drink, so this conference really must be happening after all.

The registration desk will be open today from 10:00 onward, with field trips departing at 11:00 for the Sydney tar ponds; the Fortress of Louisbourg; and the lighthouse at Louisbourg. While I was expecting to remain on site to put out any fires that arose, local organizers Afra Kavanagh and Sheila Christie have done some great work, and I just might have the liberty to break under Anne Milne's pressure as a fellow 18th-century person to visit with her group A Real 18th-Century Fortress. Here's hoping!

This afternoon at 4:30, the conference's first formal session begins, a plenary session featuring Albert Marshall and Dean Bavington. Albert is a Mik'Maq Elder, of Eskasoni First Nation, and Dean is a professor of the history of resource management at Nipissing University, and they'll be talking about how questions of ecology and community come together in material ways. Also speaking briefly will be two of our supporters at CBU, Rod Nicholls, who's the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences, and Ross McCurdy, Director of CBU's new (and quite exciting) Center for Sustainability in Energy and Environment.

More updates as circumstances warrant!