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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 2009-07-15, Page 4Page A4 - Goderich Signal -Star, Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (2as, "1 I;iili ist3'It ' fzaLt ail for 9r'ert! f� •i(.11 l�rHt • Outdoors • SunroomS • Pools ( ird ri Areas GRAND BEND 238-211 Hwy. 83 E. (2 miles from the water plant) 35,000 Sq. Ft. • 50 Sets on Display www.gocasual.ca We also manufacture: UMBRELLAS • COVERS • REPLACEMENT CUSHIONS GODERCH Canada's prettiest town IN THE MATTER SECTION 29 OF THE ONTARIO HERITAGE ACT, R.S.O. 1990, AS AMENDED THE MATTER OF THE STRUCTURE AT PLAN 469 PT.L T A AS RP 22R4452 PARTS 14, 15 #85859 PCL 4 LEASE (LIGHTHOUSE, COBOURG STREET) IN THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO NOTICE OF INTENTION TO DESIGNATE TAKE NOTICE THAT the Council of the Corporation of the Town of Goderich intends to designate the property, including lands and buildings, at the following municipal address as a prop- erty of architectural and/or historical value or interest under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act; Lighthouse, Cobourg Street, (Plan 469, Pt Lot A, as RP 22R4452, Parts 14 & 15) REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Historical: As a result of the inherent natural harbour, and the astute plan- ning of founders, Tiger Dunlop and John Galt, the Port of Goderich was founded in 1827. From the beginning, life in Goderich evolved around activity at the harbour front. Almost two centuries tater it continues to play an integral part in the vitality of the community. • Constructed in 1847 • Architect - Department of Public Works. • Builder - Charman Construction Company Architectural: The Lighthouse was built of evenly -coursed stone, with a string course below the gallery and another between the first and second storey. The Tower was built almost square and straight -sided with small, narrow windows, one to each floor, are located on the sea- ward and landward facades. Window back moulds described as a flattened Greek ovolo are typical of the 1840's. An 8 -sided iron - framed lantern, concrete murette and slab crowns the top of the tower. Any person may, within thirty days (August 14th , 2009) of the publication of this notice, contact the Town Hall for more informa- tion and/or send by registered mail or deliver to the Clerk of the Town of Goderich notice of his or her objection to the proposed designation together with a statement of the reasons for the objec- tion and all relevant facts. If such a Notice of Objection is received, the Council of the Corporation of the Town of Goderich shall refer the matter to the Conservation Review Board for a hearing. DATED at Goderich, Ontario this 15th day of July, 2009 Larry J. McCabe, Clerk -Administrator Town of Goderich 57 West Street Goderich, Ontario N7A 2K5 Story featured on CBC radio Dominique Billthawn sign! -star staff Three decades after the Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia upside down in a frenzy of bloodletting, a UN -backed war crimes tribunal is at last under way to bring the faction's surviving leaders to jus- tice. Thousands of Cambodians worldwide, however, seek a dif- ferent kind of closure. They want to find or account for loved ones who vanished during those dark years from 1975-79, during which the Khmer Rouge killed, tortured, starved, or worked to 'death somewhere between one million and two million people. Former Goderich resident Y-Dang Troeung and her family have re- cently unravelled their own mys- tery - what happened to her uncle, Cheung Kok See, who vanished after being lured back to Cambo- dia from his studies in Moscow. "Not knowing, but wanting to know. And then, not knowing what to do with what you know ... is what creates this constant feel- ing of anxiety, or crisis that I feel like I'm always living with." Y-Dang Troeung's tense voice leads off her 15 -minute docu- mentary on the CBC Radio One's Outfront series. Her piece is called The Lucky One Returns, and tells the story of her family's escape from a tortured nation, and her return to find answers. The documentary originally aired in May, and is scheduled to broad- cast again Aug. 14 at 8:43 p.m. on the CBC One. "I always really wanted to start recording my parent's stories," Y-Dang told the Signal -Star re- cently. "And finally somebody told me about Outfront, a great citizens radio program that allows you to collaborate with producers, provides equipment and training, and then you run with it." Now a doctoral student in Eng- lish and Cultural Studies at Mc- Master University in 'Hamilton, Y-Dang has lead a normal life congruent with her rural Huron County upbringing. "I didn't really know much about [my family's life before corn' ng to Canada] when I was a kid, my parents were just so busy trying to survive trying to rebuild their lives," Y-Dang said. "I didn't become conscious of the weight of their past until I was in my early 20s. I still don't fully know everything about the difficulties they had being displaced across the world so traumatically, but also the struggles of starting over in a new country. As a child your parents kind of shield you." At just 10 months old, Y-Dang Troeung's photo appeared in a 1980 edition of the Goderich Signal -Star. The ink traces the face of the new Goderich resident Photo contributed The Troeung family became the 60,000 and final family to be brought to Canada as part of Trudeau's Indo-Chinese refugee program of 1980. They were sponsored by St. Peter's Church in Goderich. along with those of her family. Her mother, Yok, with her little girl in arms, father Heung, and brothers Meng and Pheng pose alongside Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Minister of Immi- gration Lloyd Axworthy in a me- dia event to welcome the Troeung family to Canada. The welcome ceremony included a photo ses- sion, a tea party with the Prime Minister, and an opportunity for the family to observe a session of Parliament. Today, Y-Dang still looks at the smiling faces of her parents in this photograph and marvels at the re- silience and courage they must of had to survive genocide and then bring their three children all the way to Canada. The Troeung's story is just one of countless tales spun from one of Cambodia's darkest modern hours, the reign of the Khmer Rouge, a communist regime that slowly ascended to power in the name of resistance against the United States during the early 1970s. "I-Dang is the name of the refu- gee camp where I was born. [My family was] lucky to make it to that camp in Thailand," Y-Dang said into a tiny voice recorder in November of 2008, while prepar- ing to board a plane for Cambo- dia. "The Red Cross was only tak- ing one van of people across the border each day. My family had priority because my mother was pregnant with me. The very next day, the Khmer Rouge soldiers ar- rived and bombed and burned the camp we had left, and most peo- ple were killed. My mother likes to say it was me who saved our family." In the late 1970s, Cambodia was under the rule of of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge political party. A short four-year period between 1975 and 4 979 saw the death of approximately one to two million Cambodians through the combined result of political ex- ecutions, starvation, and forced labour. Many of these deaths took place under one roof, the notori- ous Tuol Sleng Centre, or Secu- rity Prison 21 (S-21). More than 16,000 people are thought to have been tortured and killed at S-21. Only 14 are known to have sur- vived their stay. After arriving at the Khao-I- Dang refugee camp in Thailand, Y-Dang was born, and her family began forging a new life. They be- came the 60,000 and final family to be brought to Canada as part of Trudeau's Indo-Chinese refugee program of 1980, as their posed tea party on the hill suggests. The family was sponsored by St. Peter's Church in Goderich and planted their roots in the small ru- ral community. Although by this time, Goderich was also home to Y Dang's aunt, uncle and cous- ins, also sponsored by St. Peter's, there was one family member who couldn't be accounted for, though rumblings among family sug- gest that Cheung Kok See, Yok's younger brother had been impris- oned at S-21. "There was a rumor that my uncle had been lured back to Cambodia under false pretences," Y-Dang said in her documentary. "They told him when he came back, he'd be able get a job as the Cambodian Ambassador to France. He was studying in Mos- cow at the time, and when his plane landed, all of the people on it were arrested and never seen again." In the years since his disappear- ance, his fate at S-21 had only been a rumor. But as Y-Dang and Yok landed in Cambodia, sur- rounded by more than 30 family members, they were closer than See FORMER, Page 5