A Little About Us
We were both born in Quebec City, Canada. Louise, née Bernier, is a descendant of Jacques Bernier, a French settler who arrived in New France in 1651. Ted is the son of Scottish immigrants; his father Hector grew up on a farm near Wick, Caithness, and his mother, Jane Taylor, was born at the Manse of the Free Church of Scotland, in Rafford, Morayshire.
As members of the UK Clan Gunn Society (CGSUK) for over 30 years and the Clan Gunn Society - Nova Scotia (CGS-NS) for several years, we have learned a lot about the clan, its history and the people forming this great family. It is through our UK membership that we heard about a Scottish expedition to America in 1398 led by Prince Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney. The chief of his army was his cousin, Sir James Gun of Clythe. In September 1998, we traveled to Westford, MA, to attend a symposium hosted by the Clan Sinclair Association (U.S.A.) to celebrate the 600th anniversary of this expedition and to commemorate the death of Sir James Gun, known as the Westford Knight. For us, this was a real discovery. To learn more we traveled to Nova Scotia in the summer of 1999 and visited places associated with this expedition. The following year we made our first trip to Scotland and attended the Clan Gunn International Gathering.
Soon after this, we became involved in the revival of Scottish culture in our hometown, Québec City, and promoted Clan Gunn at every opportunity. We also assisted in the introduction of the Quebec Celtic Festival.
We joined Clan Gunn Society of North America (CGSNA) in 2001.
Our Territory
There was no one representing CGSNA in Canada in 2001 and before long we were asked to serve as commissioners of the Eastern part of Canada. The Eastern Canada Branch of Clan Gunn Society of North America is a very large territory. It extends from Western Ontario to the East Coast, with the exception of Nova Scotia where there is a local Clan Gunn Society and consequently a territorial agreement regarding representation.
We accepted this challenge and made our modest contribution by representing CGSNA at some festivals within a reasonable distance of home. Our first experience was the rather small and now defunct Prince Edward County Highland Games in Picton, Ontario. We enjoyed this, so we followed up with the Montreal Highland Games and the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario. We then discovered other small but interesting Scottish events in Quebec and Ontario such as the festivals in Riviere du Loup (2 hours east of Quebec City) and Gould (a small community in the Eastern Townships).
Photo by Ian White of Kanata, Ontario
We gradually expanded our schedule to the Ontario towns of Brockville, Cobourg, Fergus, Almonte where we hosted a Clan Gunn information booth. More recently we included Moncton, N.B. We would like to attend other festivals in Ontario, New Brunswick and possibly Prince Edward Island. We don’t know of any Scottish festivals in Newfoundland and this combined with travel difficulties means that this region does not fit into current plans. We would welcome any suggestion that anyone might have in this respect. To send us an e-mail, click here!
Other Canadian Branches
The Central Canada Branch comprises Manitoba, Saskatchewan and presently Alberta. It is represented by Debbie (Gunn) Kuzuk. You may contact her directly by clicking here!
The Western Canada Branch currently comprised of British Columbia & the Yukon, is not represented by a commissioner at this time.
Scottish Events
We encourage clan members to participate in highland games and other Scottish activities in or near their community. You can find a list of such festivals, click on ‘EXTERIOR LINKS’ and choose http://web.ripnet.com/~nimmos/
Together, we can proudly represent Clan Gunn