THE SOCIETY
Join us to support us. Membership costs just $10 per year. You will receive:
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Advance delivery of EC/NF Society newsletter
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Advance notice of upcoming events
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Discounts on EC/NF society event tickets
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Advance booking of event seats
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Invitations to Members Only events
Please contact us to find out how to join us or to donate to our cause.
MEMBERS AREA
This is a password protected area containing documents pertaining to running the society, for members to download or discuss.
History of the Society
In May of 2018, the Electric City/La Nouvelle France Society was established to focus on the development of a permanent home for the Electric City story, and to use that concept as a means to support local economic and tourism development in southwest Nova Scotia
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The Electric City story has stirred the hearts and interests of Weymouth locals for decades. The Weymouth Waterfront Development Committee worked for a number of years to support the development of the Electric City Research Center.
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Government support has enabled the Society to engage consultants to develop three important documents: an Interpretive Centre Development Plan (2016), an Experience
Centre Feasibility Plan (June 2018) and the Business Plan (2020).
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The Society had amassed a large number of artifacts that were housed in a facility in Weymouth which was to become the permanent home of the Electric City story and the artifacts. Tragically in August 2018, a fire destroyed the building and its contents.
Dismayed but undaunted, the Society forged ahead with their dream of utilizing the story of the Electric City to support growth in the region.
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A number of plays have been produced and the book "Electric City: The Stehelins of New France" written by Paul Stehelin and published by Nimbus in 1983, is available via the shop.
​​The Electric City/La Nouvelle France Society is now a recognized non-profit organization.
Our By-Laws allow us to have up to 12 members on our Board of Directors.
We have an executive consisting of two Co-Chairs, Stacey Doucette and Hal Theriault, a Treasurer and a Secretary. Our Board meets om the third Thursday each month, at 7 pm at our office, 4479 Highway 1, Weymouth, (the former ValueFoods building). Visitors are welcome to attend.
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Our basic fund raising efforts provide for operating expenses like rent, power bills, office supplies, internet, etc., while we pursue major government and other funding to build the interpretive centre.
We have great fun hosting events like a bean supper and Christmas penny sale; Christmas brunch with Santa and Scrooge; sponsoring the Parade of Lights; Historical Society teas; producing plays; hosting Bike Meet and Greets; and holding various prize draws. As always, this takes dedication and the assistance of many volunteers.
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If you would like to join us and help, please get in touch. We need folks to help around the office, including running it when Board volunteers attend meetings elsewhere; assistance with mounting displays; organizing and arranging events; helping with ticket sales and other fund raisers; coordinating memberships; and in several other ways.
The cost of a membership in our Society is $ 10. Benefits of membership include discounts and advance notice of special events and plays, a quarterly newsletter; advance booking of event seats; invitations to members-only events; and other perks to be announced.
Our Vision
and Mission
Vision:
The legacy of la Nouvelle France (1892-1918) illuminates and acknowledges the achievements
and innovations realized by the Stehelins of France in collaboration with the Mi’Kmaq, Black Loyalist,
United Empire Loyalists, Acadians and other residents of Nova Scotia and the imprint it has left on the
Province.
Mission:
To share and illuminate the vision and story of the Electric City/La Nouvelle France, and to
preserve and promote its heritage.
The Team Leaders
Hal Theriault
Hal was born, raised and completed university in Nova Scotia, after which he moved to London, England to study theatre and English Literature. Returning to Canada, he taught English In Lunenburg, Digby and Weymouth then moved to Vancouver BC. There he started a theatre company, Face to Face Productions, writing and performing plays dealing with racism and conflict resolution. Returning again to Nova Scotia he set up a touring theatre company also specializing in anti-racism productions, Basin Productions, which performed for schools, universities, prisons, dinner theatre and festivals throughout the Maritime provinces for eleven years. Hal has written and produced over 200 plays, focusing for the last decade on Nova Scotian stories, with four based specifically on The Electric City saga.
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Hal served for five years as Chair of The Digby Area Arts Council, and another five years as Chair of the Digby Area Tourism Association (DATA); Hal and Stacey are currently on the DATA Board. Hal also worked for 12 years for Bear River First Nation, generating funding for and supervising the construction of their heritage and cultural centre. He then managed it and served five years as an adult educator for the Reserve.
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Hal has worked for about 20 years for the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council, involved with the redevelopment of the National Heritage Interpreter’s course. Hal lives in Digby but travels almost daily to the Society’s office in Weymouth.
Hal and Stacey are often invited by community groups to give talks, presentations, and host discussions about New France and the Society’s plans for an interpretive centre. If you and your group would be interested in hosting one of these meetings, please get in touch.
Stacey Doucette
Board of Trade, the Lions’ Club, the Weymouth Waterfront Development Committee, and was President for several years of the July First Committee, Weymouth’s long-standing major annual celebration. He organized and ran the annual Christmas Parade of Lights. His contribution was recognized recently when he was named Digby Municipality Volunteer of the Year and honoured with other provincial volunteers at a reception in Halifax hosted by the Lieutenant Governor.
Stacey moved to Weymouth from Ontario in 2006, joining his parents who are from the area. He joined several local community volunteer organizations and organized many events. He is a past member of the​
In 2020, Stacey became a certified Heritage Interpreter, a course sponsored by the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council in Ottawa. Stacey completed the intensive eight-week course earning one of the highest marks in Canada.
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Stacey is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the story of The Electric City and making our Society’s interpretive center the catalyst for major new economic development in Southwest Nova Scotia.
He lives near Weymouth with his wife Krissie who is another keen community volunteer. They also maintain a mini-home which Stacey built from scratch, which sits on Long Tusket Lake, not far from New France.