OTTAWA, TODAY –  Mr. Stéphane Ouellette, President and Chief Executive Officer, Merchant Navy Commemorative Theme Project (MNCTP), reflected on the origins of the MNCTP, tracing its roots back to the Sydney Harbour Fortifications Restoration Project in Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia.

The Sydney Harbour Fortifications played a crucial role in safeguarding the harbour during some of Canada’s most challenging times. Following years of neglect that resulted in structural decay and serious safety hazards, Mr. Dwayne Dalton (Cape Breton resident, teenage old friend, and hero) and I launched the Sydney Harbour Fortifications Restoration Project to preserve the remnants of this once formidable defense network.

Over the past twenty-five years, we have emphasized Cape Breton's pivotal role as the industrial heartland of eastern Canada and a key defense point for Canada's Atlantic frontier. We felt that restoring these fortifications would serve as a major complementary attraction in industrial Cape Breton, boosting tourism, and generating revenue. It would also create job opportunities for guides, interpreters, and other roles. This influx of tourist spending and job creation would greatly benefit a community in dire need of economic support. At that time, the Municipality of the Town of Sydney Mines had already recognized Fort Chapel as a key element in a proposed integrated tourism project at Lloyd's Cove.

It was easily determined that Sydney Harbour is strategically located in respect of coastal trade to and from Upper Canada and the American seaboard, and in respect of inter­ continental trade. In addition, and since the eighteenth century, the harbour's hinterland has contained elements which needed defending - coal seams, steel plant, naval installations, and convoys. For these reasons, the appropriate defense of the harbour have always been a significant consideration of military planners.

The primary convoy assembly points in Canada were Halifax and Sydney. These two ports played a crucial role in what may have been the most significant battle of this century—the Battle of the Atlantic. In Newfoundland, St. John's served largely as an assembly and refueling station for convoy escorts. Today, nearly eighty years after the end of hostilities, many people in North America either remain unaware of or have forgotten the vital role these harbor fortifications played in the longest and most critical campaign of the deadliest conflict in history.

The historical connection between the convoy operations and Sydney Harbour led to strong support for Canadian Merchant Navy Veterans who had fought hard to receive their wartime compensation. Following the enactment of the Merchant Navy Veterans Day Act in 2003, the inaugural Merchant Navy Day Remembrance ceremony was held on September 3, 2004, marking the beginning of new historic traditions that continue to this very day.