KAGAWONG—Old Mill Heritage Centre curator Rick Nelson is already pretty pumped over next year’s History Day in Kagawong presentation. “We have our headline speaker pretty much lined up,” he said. “Priscilla Pearson, the granddaughter of Lester B. Pearson, will be coming up next August to talk about her grandfather.”
Mr. Pearson was a diplomat who played a critical role in the development of UN peacekeeping, was noted for helping to resolve the Suez Crisis and later, was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Sir Wilfred Laurier. He represented the riding of Algoma East, which contained Manitoulin Island, from 1948 until his retirement. He served as Canada’s Prime Minister from 1968 and, although he never secured a majority government, his government introduced the Canadian universal health care program and remains a cherished Liberal icon to the present day.
Ms. Pearson is a journalist who has written for magazines such as The New Yorker, Toronto Life, Reader’s Digest and Business Week. Her newspaper work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The New York Times, National Post, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph. She has written for CBC Television, The History Channel and TVOntario.
“Ms. Pearson will speak about her famous grandfather during her visit to Kagawong, in conjunction with the Canada 150 celebrations that will be taking a place across the country next year,” said Mr. Nelson. “To complement that the Old Mill Heritage Centre will feature an exhibit on Lester B. Pearson during the 2017 museum season. Further details at a later date.”
Folks who have interesting mementos of Mr. Pearson and/or his time as MP for Algoma-East and Manitoulin are invited to contact Mr. Nelson at 705-282-4826 or rickynelson@hotmail.com.
