May 1, 2000

Lecture Four
Snapshots of Collingwood’s Social History

One of the most difficult things to do in describing a community is to tie down its social life because it revolves around interactions not often recorded. Social life involves status, which in many cases was not something people wished to talk about openly. It includes social programs that were often relegated to women who, sadly, were given a secondary, undocumented, status. And some social life was mere entertainment, often considered too frivolous to be fully documented. Yet most of us realise that the vibrancy of social life is the thing that makes a community attractive, and that our social experiences are often the most public indicators of happiness.

With these limitations I will attempt to describe what I have learned of Collingwood’s social life in three different time periods: first, in the 1880s and 90s, when the town was booming and growth seemed to have no limits; second, during the 1930s when times were tougher and there was much uncertainty in the air; and third, during recent decades, after Collingwood once again began to find its feet and move out of the doldrums of economic stagnation. Locating good information on these issues has not been easy and in many cases informed guesses - they can hardly be called educated - have been made.

The 1880s and 1890s

Collingwood’s population during the 1880s and 90s increased from about 4,000 to 5,500. The railway had brought prosperity which in turn attracted new residents. Most of the people who live in Collingwood were white, Anglo-Saxon, and English speaking, of English, Scots and Irish heritage.

The 1871 census registered a population of just over 2,800, of whom 1,500 were male and 1,300 were female. The birthplace was broken down as follows: Canadian, 1,800; British, almost 800, consisting of English, Scots, and Irish, in that order; American, just over 100; and German, about 50.

Of these, more than 60 were listed as ‘coloured and mulatto’. The census in 1861 had shown 46 ‘coloured and mulatto’ residents, and the number had undoubtedly grown in the following decades.

In 1860, when Edward VII, Prince of Wales, visited Collingwood, “Negroes” as they were known in town, occupied a wide range of jobs. Mr. Piecroft rang the church bell; Mr. Brackleberry was head waiter at The Armstrong House, a leading establishment; Mr. Hardin, from Kentucky, was a cook, as was Mr. Eubank. Joseph Rodney was a lime burner, a very skilled trade necessary to produce whitewash and sealing agents for the hulls of wooden boats; David Grant was a barber at the North American Hotel, considered the premier hostelry in Collingwood; Henry Henderson was a plasterer. More Blacks arrived during the 1860s, including those with names of Workman, Mason, Randolph, Brown, Cooper, Cropper, Levy and Duval.

There was no particular sector of the town into which Blacks were segregated – their residences generally mixed with others, although their homes were often established in close proximity to those of their friends.

Pleasant Duval for instance, arrived in 1863 and opened a barber shop on Hurontario Street. He established his home at the northwest corner of Fifth and Pine Streets. His son Charles continued the barbering business and his success lead to building a new house at 348 Sixth Street, at the corner of Walnut in the first decade of the twentieth century. A photograph shows the family carefully posed in a Victorian setting, and Charles and his wife Chestina are an exceedingly handsome couple, with children peering at the camera in the same mystified way as children always have seem to have done. The size of the Duval house meant that it was a gathering spot for the Black community, which in 1909 was estimated to number about 100 in Collingwood. Until the last few years Reta Duval Cummings, a woman in her late 90s, continued to live in a bungalow on the same lot.

Blacks worshipped at the British Methodist Episcopal Church, of which the survivor, the Heritage Community Church, still stands at 310 Seventh Street. The plaque on the church indicates that British Empire Loyalists who were free or escaped slaves arrived here in the first half of the nineteenth century, although the reference surely is to other locations in Upper Canada, given that there was no such place as Collingwood until the railway arrived in 1855. The plaque also notes that the church building was established here in 1872 and was affiliated with the leading church for Blacks in Canada, the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada.

One interesting question is how Blacks arrived in Collingwood. There were a number of routes. Some arrived as British Empire Loyalists after the American rebellion in 1776, and were rewarded with land grants by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. Some were active soldiers for the British in the War of 1812, and were also rewarded with land grants. Robin Winks notes in his book The Blacks in Canada, “As the Penetanguishene Road was extended northward, free Negroes who laboured on it began to open up farms along the western fringes of the Lake [Simcoe]; and from 1819, led by George A. Darkman, they settled near some Highland Scots to whom they often hired themselves as field hands.” (p.147) In the 1830s the government set aside about 2,000 acres of land in what is now Oro Township, where a Black community grew. A church – still standing – was constructed, although the community shrank in the 1860s and 70s and finally disappeared. There was another black settlement on the Durham Road near Flesherton, the graves of which have recently been recovered. Considerable social interaction and visiting occurred between Blacks in Collingwood, Oro Township, and Flesherton.

Many other Blacks arrived in Upper Canada through the Underground Railway, escaping through Ohio and New York State into South-western Ontario and the Niagara Peninsula. Undoubtedly some made their way north to Collingwood once it began to prosper and offer job opportunities – how many is unclear.

Another group, according to one historian, were from England, and servants of the Duke of Sheffield. They were lime-burners, a highly skilled craft needed for calking boats, and relatively well-to-do. The Sheffields who run Sheffield Park, the Black History and Cultural Museum here in Collingwood, are probably descendants of this group.

And there was most certainly one other way in which Blacks arrived in Collingwood – in the boats that plied between Collingwood, Chicago, and other ports in the American mid-west. Many blacks in their attempts to escape slavery in the American south made their way north, and one branch of the Underground Railway took some to Chicago. It seems reasonable to believe that some Blacks escaped by boat in Chicago and arrived in Collingwood. 1861 census data seems to imply that none of the Blacks who lived in Collingwood that year arrived from Chicago but it seems likely some would take this route during the 1860s. The Sheffield Park Museum documents that many Blacks held jobs on Great Lake boats from the 19th century until the mid 20th century, and it seems reasonable to believe that this first began with the escape from the cruel rigors of slavery. Upper Canada, after all, had been the first British-related government to ban slavery, in the 1790s, under John Graves Simcoe. It was recognized as a safe haven for slaves, many of whom were willing to undertake acts of great bravery to escape.

It is unfortunate that this very interesting part of Collingwood’s history – the strong Black Community that formed here in the last few decades of the 19th century – is not more recognized and honoured. Sheffield Park is keeping Black history alive, and one salutes Howard Sheffield and Carolyn Wilson for this work. Collingwood’s role as a supportive community for Blacks – and `supportive’ seems an adequate word to describe the mood in the 1870s and 80s – should be given more prominence and its Black residents more honoured.

Of course, Blacks did not have an easy time of it. They obviously felt the pains of being a distinct minority group too often held up to ridicule, even though they were not subjected to the extraordinary punishments and death experienced in the United States. The touring Minstrel Shows that occasionally appeared in Collingwood – as one did in April 1893, at the Grand Opera House – often descended into calling blacks “darkies,” and this particular performance was placed in “Professor DeLaRoche’s Lunatic Asylum,” a rather regressive imaginary locale for Blacks to be lodged. Much more work is needed to explore this fascinating side of Collingwood’s history.

Most of the social institutions were established by and served the white community. Of most significance were the religious institutions, the churches. A community of several thousand people may seem to have been over-served by half a dozen churches, but churches played a major social role in the life of the town. Their importance to town residents is seen in the grandeur of their structures.

As soon as the railway arrived the Roman Catholic Church established itself under Father Michel, who said mass in the residence owned by Charles Patton on Pine Street. In 1859 a small building was purchased on Cedar Street, and it became the first Roman Catholic Church, replaced by St. Mary’s Church on Elgin Street in 1888. The church engendered other social activities, such as the Catholic Literary Society, formed just after the turn of the century, and the Catholic Order of Foresters.

The Presbyterians built their first edifice on Ontario Street at Elgin in 1856. Twenty-five years later a new and bigger church to serve the large Scottish population was built on Maple and Third Streets, a building that continues to stand.

All Saints’ Anglican Church was built on Elgin Street in 1858, a lovely fieldstone building which has since been incorporated into the larger church structure. That same year the Methodists opened their first church on Maple Street, which burned five years later and was replaced by the current structure which on church union in the 1920s became Trinity United Church. Thirty years after it was built, the most financially successful of all Canadian Methodists, Hart Massey of the Massey-Ferguson company, was invited to Collingwood to lay the cornerstone of the new Sunday School building. The Baptists also built a church in 1873, on Pine Street. (Source: Huron Institute)

In all there were six large religious edifices in Collingwood in the 1880s. It would be optimistic to assume that spiritual life was deeper then than now, but religious institutions clearly served a successful social role for relations beyond the immediate family. Churches ran many programs, such as picnics, dinners, religious based events, which permitted family members to meet others of the opposite sex for informal courting purposes. They also paid close attention to poorer members of their congregations – a localized and decentralized way of dealing with poverty which helped ensure the poor were integrated into the town’s life and not isolated.

The first grammar school was established in Collingwood in the late 1850s - by this time free education was guaranteed in the province – and a public school was opened on Pine Street a few years later. By 1880 there were three public schools employing twelve teachers, and one high school employing five teachers.

In many cases social structures were imported directly from the United Kingdom, the origin of most residents. Thus, a Mechanics’ Institute was established in Collingwood in 1856. Mechanics’ Institutes had been created in the United Kingdom early in the nineteenth century as a kind of club based around books, what we might call an early lending library. William Lyon Mackenzie, Upper Canada’s great reformer and the leader of the Rebellion of 1837, was secretary of the Mechanics’ Institute in Dundee in 1810 and that gave him access to many books that he read before coming to Upper Canada in 1820. Collingwood’s Mechanics’ Institute was probably only accessible by men, given discrimination against women at that time. It became a public library run by the town in 1896, a few years before Andrew Carnegie, in his extraordinary act of philanthropy, provided funds for public libraries in many North American communities. The Carnegie library in Collingwood was built in 1903 at the corner of Second and Maple Streets. Within a few years it housed a museum run by the Huron Institute.

Collingwood also had a Young Men’s Christian Association, a Masonic Lodge, an Oddfellows Lodge, and, of course, that institution found throughout Upper Canada, the Orange Lodge. The Orange Lodge existed as a political force to exclude Catholics from a legitimate place in Ontario’s society and there was no question that it influenced Collingwood in the same way.

Most of these clubs seemed to serve the needs of the male members of society and given the small size of Collingwood it is almost certain that the clubs were not exclusive – most men belonged to more than one.

Other clubs were also listed in the 1894 annual report of the Collingwood Board of Trade, including the Royal Black Preceptory, Order of the Kings of the Maccabees, Ancient Order of the United Workmen, Canadian Order of Chosen Friends, Sons of Scotland, Sons of England and Select Knights of Canada. One notes the aura of secrecy and ancient rites that surrounded these organizations although they seemed to serve no religious purpose. Occasionally they engaged in some community cause.

Women’s organizations were more limited, although one suspects that it was the organizing abilities of women which kept the many churches in Collingwood alive and vibrant.

There is an interesting theory about what happened in the 19th century when women were denied basic equality. It was best voiced by John Stuart Mill in his books On Liberty and The Subjection of Women . He said that if individuals are not granted equality, then they sought power. He stated “To allow any human beings no existence of their own but what depends on others, is giving far too high a premium on bending others to their purposes. Where liberty cannot be hoped for, and power can, power becomes the grand object of human desire.” (Equality and Power, page 100.) This search for power often occurred in the family, according to Mill, in coquetry, a preoccupation with physical beauty, and concerns about clothes and style. It undoubtedly was also expressed in terms of control over family members. It has fuelled the feminist movement ever since.

But many women found more positive outlets for their desire to be treated as equals. They embarked on public missions of their own to remake society in areas that men seemed to have little concern for. Two examples of the expression of these values in Collingwood are worth noting here.

First was the establishment of the town’s hospital, an enormous advance for the population. Liza Letta, wife of the rector of All Saints Anglican Church, began meeting with several of her friends in the mid-1880s to establish a place were sick people could be cared for. This was not something men much cared about – it was women’s work. She created a group of several dozen women who conceived of the idea of a hospital, and she herself pledged money towards its operation. Simcoe County Council was approached for a donation in 1885, but rejected the idea – no hospital existed in the county at that time, and the men sitting on County Council probably felt it was an unneeded frill. Similar requests were dismissed in 1886 and 1887, but finally in 1888 County Council advanced a grant of $500.00. On October 24, 1889, the eight-bed facility opened for residents and for sailors. It was governed by a board of directors of 24 – all women. In the first year, 38 patients were admitted and discharged.

The major funding came from local donations, although County Council agreed in 1891 to provide a continuing annual grant of $140.00. The hospital – now called the General and Marine Hospital - expanded to serve the community. In 1907 a dietician was hired on staff, reflecting the important principle that public health measures have far more impact on good health than simply treating disease. In 1913 the Ann Long Nurses’ Home was added to provide residence and training.

The second example of positive power-seeking by women was the establishment of the Collingwood Children’s Aid Society, in which women played a leading role. A meeting was called by a Mr. Grieves on April 5, 1897, at the Church of Christ on Third Street, along with his friend Rev. James Lediard of Owen Sound. J.J. Kelso of Toronto was invited – he had formed the Toronto Children’s Aid Society eight years earlier - and a Collingwood Society was formed at this meeting. Women were prominent in the continuing activities of the society, which concerned itself with homeless children and the general poor treatment of children. Cases would be investigated by women and action taken to protect children.

Other public actions were taken to address poverty, which must have been prevalent – it was not just that incomes were generally low, but that some were distinctly disadvantaged. Collingwood had its own House of Industry where the poor were housed – segregated may be a better word – as did other communities. As noted, the churches took a strong role in responding to the needs of poor congregants since personal experience is usually the best spur to addressing the sad plight of others. I’m reminded of the words of William Lyon Mackenzie in the 1830s: “Politics is the science which teaches people of a country to care for each other,” and in that light the churches were very political. Governments at this time did little to address gross social inequality.

Women’s organizations became firmly established at the turn of the century. In the first decade of the 20th century, Women’s Institutes were formed in virtually every Ontario city through the initiative of Adelaide Hoodless, Ontario’s great nutritionist. She became active after her young son died from drinking contaminated milk, and these Institutes played a very important role empowering women, dealing with issues of mother craft and home craft from their founding in 1900.

One issue that drew much attention towards the end of the century, blossoming into a legislated initiative several decades later, was the desire to restrict the drinking of alcohol. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was active, mirrored by the male organization, the Royal Templars of Temperance.

As for organized entertainment, most of it was self-made, and there seemed to be little distinction between men and women. The Henry Irving Dramatic Club - named after the American literary figure -was open to both sexes and attracted a following in the 1890s, as did the Collegiate Institute Literary Society, the whist clubs, and a minstrel club. The Ladies Shakespeare Club must have involved members in reading Shakespeare, although I have found no record of it producing any plays. The Opera House was part of the new municipal building opened in 1891, rebuilt immediately after being destroyed by a fire, although since replaced by the arena. The Opera House was leased to a company controlled by Joseph and Sanford Lindsay, who most probably controlled venues in other small towns, and brought in touring productions, perhaps every few months.

Like most other small communities, Collingwood provided its own array of newspapers and publications, both to convey information and to provide a vehicle for advertising for products and services. The first newspaper was The Enterprise, established in 1857, an occasional publication. In 1863, The Daily Review became the first daily newspaper, although it had a short life. In July 1870, The Bulletin began publication and later it joined forces with The Enterprise to become The Enterprise Bulletin which continues to be published in Collingwood. A later weekly paper The Messenger was established in November 1877, but was unable to have a continuing life.

If one was to sum up the major social trends of the last few decades of the 19th century in Collingwood they would be twofold.

First, religious organizations promoted general social relations to help people live full and satisfying lives, and to provide a modicum of self-entertainment, since there were so few opportunities of connecting culturally with life outside the town.

Second, towards the end of the century, social activities moved towards self-improvement including the creation of the hospital, the public library, the Temperance movement, a Children’s Aid Society, the Women’s Institute and so forth.

There may have been an overlay of politics and religion in the way some social organizations functioned , but one has the sense that Collingwood was a socially integrated town where there were no great distinctions between people and families.

The 1930s

As already noted Collingwood did not benefit from the fervent economic activity of the 1920s that was seen in the rest of Canada and that ultimately led to the crash of the stock market in 1929. Instead, its economy faltered in the 1920s, and, in the 1930s, like most other towns, it was at a standstill. During this period the self-help approach of social organizations pervasive in earlier decades was realised to be inadequate to deal with the extraordinary social pressures. Government was forced to intervene.

Indeed in December 8, 1930 Town Council agreed to borrow the sum of $25,000 “to defray the municipality’s expense for unemployment relief.” In short, the city decided it had to borrow money simply to help provide income for some of its residents. The practice was so commonplace that County Council agreed to guarantee this debt.

In 1934 the Relief Committee established work schemes for men who headed families on relief – building waterworks, crushing stone, improving streets, and investigating woodlots. Annual net expenditure on relief was $20,000 or more.

Things were desperate enough in 1936 that on April 24 Town Council set a requirement of one-year residency before an individual could be eligible for relief. Men owing taxes were required to plough gardens of over one quarter acre in size. The town provided potatoes and seeds – carrots, lettuce, beans, corn, onions and beets, according to Relief Committee minutes of 1934 – to gardens administered by the Committee. Recipients of relief owning a horse were required to dispose of it within 30 days or go off relief – a terrible choice to have to make.

Compounding the problem for the town was the fact that as the Depression ground on from year to year, many property owners were increasingly unable to pay the property taxes that funded normal municipal costs, let alone the debts incurred trying to keep the town afloat. The practice quickly developed where, to ensure even a meagre income, the mayor of the town negotiated with property owners to have them pay a small portion of their property taxes in return for waiving the balance owed. This led to considerable dissension on Town Council about whether the mayor, Grayson Kohl, was acting in the town’s best interests. After much debate, in 1937 the Provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs agreed to a public inquiry into Collingwood’s financial affairs. The inquiry was conducted by a Sarnia lawyer, W. D. Roach, and his report paints a chilling portrait of the town in 1936. Here is a portion of Mr. Roach’s report.

“In earlier years there were several thriving industries which gave considerable employment to residents of the Town. Nearly all these are now idle and, apparently, there is no immediate prospect of them re-opening. Today these plants stand as ghost-like monuments of better days. Prominent among these is the shipbuilding plant, which at one time employed an average of one hundred and fifty (150) men the year round. Today, there are only one or two small industries employing only a comparatively few men. The large number of vacant buildings on the main street of the town – substantially built two and three story brick buildings comprising stores on the ground floor and either public halls or living apartments above – is mute evidence of the town’s serious decline. The proximity of Wasaga Beach provides some increased business for the merchants during the summer months, but this is only seasonal. Apart from the foregoing, the town depends for its support upon the agricultural area which surrounds it. The results that have flowed from this condition are manifold and obvious:

1. A serious relief situation due to unemployment. The number on relief reached its peak in February, 1936.
2. An accumulation of tax arrears.
3. Values of real property greatly depressed. In some instances, the rental value is considerably less than the annual taxes.
4. The town being unable to dispose of some properties at tax sales for lack of bidders and eventually the town acquired these properties.
5. As properties were acquired by the Municipality, they were removed from the assessment roll and the burden of taxation was correspondingly increased on other property.
6. In some cases, properties owned by the town were occupied by people – either the original owners or others – on welfare and the town received no relief rent. At the beginning of 1936, the municipality owned about fifty (50) private residences. About forty-five (45) of these were occupied by families on relief. At the same time, there were about twenty-five (25) vacant residences privately owned. During the year, the council made a concentrated effort to place the relief tenants who were occupying residences owned by the municipality in residences which were privately owned.” (from the 1937 Inquiry into Collingwood’s Financial Affairs)

Mr. Roach investigated the instances of Mayor Kohl negotiating rebates with various property owners, but found no wrongdoing. He looked at other things the mayor was doing, such as travelling to Toronto to advertise skiing opportunities at Collingwood, or travelling to Quebec to attract a factory, but found no fault. Mr. Roach concluded that council members exhibited a “woeful lack of co-operation” obviously aggravated by the dire financial status of the town and its people.

He also reviewed the town’s debt. More than $64,000 had been borrowed to pay unemployment relief and $788,000 was still outstanding on the $800,000 loan for the port’s new terminal building.

It seemed the only thing social organizations could do, in response, was to provide psychological support. The town was in mere survival mode. The major impetus came from government, and the role it could play through public policy to address the situation. It was not just government provision of relief funds that counted – the government also strengthened the earlier alliance it had made with the Women’s Institutes by providing funding and organizational support. The pain of the Depression resulted in social contraction.

The attempt to break out of the paralysis caused by the economic depression was made by a service organization called the Collingwood Progress Club. It initiated a relatively simple program to instil confidence and pride – assigning street numbers to the residences and businesses in town and erecting street signs. Heretofore houses had their own names, which defined them. Girl guides helped in this exercise, and their role was appropriately acknowledged by town council. The beginning of the Second World War brought economic activity and distraction from person woe. At the War’s end the community again stretched its wings, as signalled by the formation of the Kiwanis Club in 1946 and its renewed focus on people socializing for the community’s benefit. It was in that year that Alcoholics Anonymous, one of the most optimistic organizations about a serious and pervasive disease, began its first group in Collingwood. At last, people began to look outward.

The last decades of the 20th Century

The period we now live in appears to be utterly familiar to us and established almost exactly the way that it should be established and had to be established. Like fish in water, we often take the social milieu surrounding us for granted. We tend to assume that the point in history we have arrived at is the natural arrangement for human beings.

But if we compare current social arrangements in Collingwood with those that used to exist, we will get a better handle on how we are doing. I will concentrate this discussion on a few major themes.

First is the extraordinary change that has occurred in information and in entertainment. A century ago information and entertainment were both local in nature. As a small community Collingwood was mostly cut off from other places, and the amount of information that came from outside was relatively small. This meant that people made their own entertainment and mostly concerned themselves about local affairs. That this was so can be seen from the major impact made by the First World War, where families in Collingwood were linked to the big events in the world by family members who were soldiers. They worried for the first time about the outside world. It was such an astonishing change that it was marked here, as it was everywhere else, with memorials and statues. Those memorials noted the contribution this small place had made in the large theatre of war half way across the world.

This change in perspective was later reflected in the introduction of movies, which provided a regular intrusion by the outside world in the local scene. In the 19th century entertainment was something that local people generated for themselves with the occasional touring troop who dropped by. But by the end of the 20th century entertainment was provided almost entirely at an international scale. We now take it for granted that everyone knows the television programs and celebrities who themselves have never heard of Collingwood, perhaps not even of Ontario. The local was set aside. Most small towns did not have their own television or radio station, and where they did, they mostly broadcast international material.

Local information is still produced in the form of a local newspaper, but that’s a small source of the total information coming to us. Most of the news that engages us comes through television with almost no deference to Collingwood. These are very significant changes in the way that as individuals we see our own personalities, characteristics and fields of action.

We might assume that this disconnection between the information and entertainment available and anything that has to do with our own lives, would disempower most of us in our own small communities. But exactly the reverse seems to have happened. This is the second observation worth making about the current social structure of Collingwood.

During the last few decades an enormous range of community organizations have arisen in Collingwood. Just to summarize the variety of groups is enormous. They include organizations that deal with agricultural issues; with the military, such as Air Cadets; with issues of health and disease, such as the Arthritis Society, the Diabetes Society, the Hearing Society and so forth; political organizations, particularly around political parties but also around particular causes such as the control of guns, the natural environment, or the United Nations; a plethora of sports organizations devoted to not just sports with a long history in the town like hockey, but also to bowling, dancing and karate; social organizations ranging from the specifically focussed such as Big Sisters, to the more generally focussed such as The Lions Club or the Masons; professional organizations such as those for Chartered Accountants, medical doctors, or lawyers; and social services where individuals create an organization to respond to a perceived need The list of the organizations within these categories functioning in Collingwood would take up several dozen pages.

The existence of these groups indicates the breath and depth of individual initiatives and involvements. Collingwood is not exceptional in this regard. The same enriched social structure can be seen in many other communities. Academics have written interesting books arguing that the viability of a local democracy can be measured by the number of such private organizations concerned with public and private issues. The term often used to describe such groups is `civil society’, and Robert Putnam’s book Making Democracy Work sets out the general theories of this paradigm.

In many cases these groups play an interesting political role. They propose new ways of looking at problems in the public arena, and serve as a device that can educate elected and other community leaders and provide them with a new course of action. Most of us have some experience with such groups. One interesting example of this late twentieth century phenomenon is the Georgian Triangle Tourist Association and Convention Bureau.

It started in the late 1970s with the help of grants from the Town of Collingwood, the Township of Collingwood and the provincial Government. Sheila Metras was hired as the manager of the small organization and quickly realised that the existing sources of information in the general area, namely the Chambers of Commerce, left much to be desired. She wanted to see how one could promote the whole area - the region - as a destination for skiing. She began meeting with the existing groups in each settlement and noticed they delighted in various kinds of infighting. She looked for a way to overcome these rivalries, and proposed a neutral name that would not favour any particular community. “Four Towns Four Seasons,” was what she proposed, but George Czerny, then publisher of The Enterprise Bulletin, suggested a different geometric form that reflected the linkage of the towns along the water and Stayner. He thought the triangle was a good concept, and the name Georgian Triangle was borne. What made everybody happiest was that the name Collingwood did not figure in the title.

Thus what had begun as a small and modest notion of attracting people to the delights of skiing on the mountain turned into a powerful engine that would focus resources in the tourist and recreational industry. Regional publicity began, then new work was added to old. The Georgian Triangle started a training school for those in the tourist industry - chefs, bar tenders, waiters and so forth – entering into a contract with the Department of Human Resources to provide this service. This lasted for two decades until community colleges stepped forward with similar programs. The Georgian Triangle embraced economic development. In short, this small group served a very useful purpose in bringing public focus for the area. It is a good example of the power of local organizations to change the social and political climate.

Most individuals in Collingwood are probably linked with four or five or more of these various groups. Each organization provides access to its own set of people so that social relations become layered, and can be very satisfying given the different kinds of people one runs into on a regular basis, depending on the group. This particular institute, the Life Long Learning Institute, is another example of a small organization growing larger. There are many such groups and they constitute the framework of social relations in Collingwood at the present time. They did not exist 100 years ago: they did not exist in such variety and profusion 50 years ago.

The third trend worth noting is that the social role of religious institutions is not nearly as strong as it was, probably being replaced by these more specialized groups. Churches and other religious organizations continue to play a very important spiritual role for many, and those involved in those churches are often the first to identify unmet social needs, but it fair to say that the social role played by churches in the 19th century has contracted. Some see this as a cause for concern; others see it as a natural development of social relations, and they do not conclude that the change is an attack on the community’s spiritual life. That of course is a larger issue that we will not address here.

A fourth observation is the role now expected to be played by government and public institutions. After mid-century it was assumed that large social issues would be addressed by government funded programs and perhaps by government subsidies. As already noted this tend began in the years of the Depression when the depth of the problems people faced went far beyond the means of the existing social organizations. Following the Second World War and the availability to governments of large sources of revenue, programs to address social issues were established. They were based on the idea that social equity was necessary to give people fair opportunity. Thus the government would ensure the availability of affordable housing, affordable post-secondary education, affordable child care, affordable health care. For several decades in the latter part of the 20th century these ideas were generally accepted in society.

Thus the Ontario Housing Corporation built 30 rent-geared-to-income housing units in the 197os at First and High Streets. Later, senior citizen housing was built on Walnut Street, and other senior citizen projects were built on St. Paul, Albert, and Napier Streets. The municipality established a non-profit housing program in the early 1980s, and built a 45-unit affordable housing project on Pine Street, using federal and provincial housing subsidies. The Matthew Non-Profit Housing Co-ops, again using senior government subsidies, built more than 80 family units near Raglan Street.

But in the last decade of the century many political leaders thought these kinds of social programs either weakened the moral fibre of individuals or denied individuals reasonable freedom of choice by taxing away some of their money. Others thought the same programs would be provided at no public cost by the private sector if it was only freed from government regulation. Thus the funding of affordable housing programs was ended by the federal government in 1991. Provincial funding for affordable housing was cut in 1995 and rent controls were generally lifted. Public funding for universities in Ontario began to decline in 1996 and tuition fees began to increase inexorably, making it more difficult for students from moderate income families to afford a university education. Funding for childcare began to be reduced, making it difficult for moderate or low incomes to give their pre-school children reasonable care as parents had to work. Governments began to require that individuals pay the costs of certain health procedures and treatments, and a large debate ensued – it is still swirling around us - about how much tax money governments should devote to health care.

Today, the debate over these issues takes up much public space and of course the results of the reduced funding that has accompanied these changes in thinking are quite astounding. The number on social assistance in Simcoe County last fall had more than doubled from the previous year. In Collingwood about 60 per cent of those who rent housing pay more than half their income on shelter costs. This means tenants have substantial problems meeting monthly expenditures, and to make ends meet they frequently turn to the free food provided by food banks. About 800 visits were recorded each month at the Collingwood Salvation Army Food bank in 2002, double the number from the previous year. This seems like a perverse social policy in a rich society. Since no rental stock is being created the waiting lists for the small amount of subsidized and affordable housing in the Collingwood area is now in the order of five years from the date an application is made. Vacancy rates for rental housing are very low - about 2 per cent - which means that of Collingwood's 600 rental units only 12 are vacant at any one time, and the cost of what is available is high. Homelessness has developed as a problem. It’s estimated that there are 400 residents of Collingwood that have no permanent place to live – they make do with what they can find with friends and relatives since there is neither shelter nor transitional housing in town. The shelter that is available for abused woman and their families has 12 units that are constantly full.

As well, because of the area’s economic success, property assessments in Collingwood increased 17 per cent this year.

The picture is familiar if depressing. Social inequality in Collingwood is increasing. Eighty per cent or more of the residents of the town are doing reasonably or very well, but 15 or 20 per cent of the residents of the town are facing severe economic problems which limit their participation in many of the social organizations that exist. They are cut off economically and then they are cut off socially. This kind of worrisome change is seen more readily in a big city like Toronto where the homeless wander the streets, but the problem does exist here in Collingwood. As new sources of work appear - such as service jobs at Intrawest - more people will flock to Collingwood, but they will find that the inexpensive housing they need and can afford is not available. This will put more stress on the town and surrounding areas. These kinds of social inequalities very much need to be addressed, although too often governments seem uninterested or unwilling to do so. One suspects the same kind of entrepreurial approach will be required to deal with these problems as has been used to address tourist needs or the continuing education needs of those recently moved to Collingwood.

Let me close this snap shot of the current social picture by returning to an issue discussed at the beginning of this lecture. Collingwood’s Black community has largely disappeared, but a new population of colour has arrived, one that is rarely seen. These are the itinerant fruit pickers who come from Mexico and Jamaica for a few late summer months, harvesting the land at a cost we think is fair but which Canadian can’t afford to accept. It is a bit unclear how many migrant workers are brought into this area since they are all but invisible, living on individual farms. It is a pity we do not do more to incorporate them into the social life of the town. They are along way from home and the amount of work they are required to do means they experience a serious sense of isolation. One suspects that they have much to add to Collingwood’s life and that they are a resource that we might take more seriously.

If one were to sum up Collingwood’s social life in the last decades of the 20th century, it would include the rich and complex social opportunities available to and taken advantage of, by most people in the town. Most residents have adequate incomes and lead active and fulfilling lives – although we have been unable to ensure a seamless integration of others into the town’s social life. There are niggling problems of inequality and exclusion that need to be addressed.

These are my preliminary thoughts, some snap shots, of Collingwood’s social life. There is fertile ground to provide a much more well-rounded picture than I have offered, one that will provide us with an even more useful perspective on our own lives.