Canada House was set up by the last commander of CFB Lahr, Colonel Les Corbett, and was
officially opened on 1. July 1994. lt is intended as a meeting place for Canadians who stayed in the area and as a Canadian Resource Centre accessible to the public. lt contains books from the Canadian schools and the Lahr community library, plus records, CDs and videos from CFN/RFC. Of course, we have added to this collection in the past five years, but our strong point still lies in information in English, French and German, about Canada or produced by Canadians.

Canada House is located at Gutleutstr. 3, the former Canadian Forces downtown post office and the office of "Der Kanadier", the Canadian Forces weekly newspaper. For the first year, 1. July 1994 to 1. July 1995, the Canadian Forces "Residual Value Office" was located on the ground floor. When that organization left, it had been assumed that the German Federal Government would allow further use of the building for community purposes at a low rent but, unfortunately, a high commercial rent was demanded, which has caused financial problems ever since.

A special German registered club, the Lahr Canada House Association, was founded pureIy to take charge of the premises. The first executive was headed by Lahr’s Lord Mayor Werner Dietz who was, however, mostly too busy to give his honorary position much time because of the economic and political problems that arose after the Canadian withdrawal. In December 1997 he retired after his second term of office as mayor but there were still few activities organized at Canada House. He wanted to close Canada House at the end of June 1999 but this step was rejected by the annual membership meeting held there on 18. May 1999. At the second general membership meeting held on 29. June 1999 all committee members except Jürgen Binder and Richard Squires resigned. A new committee consisting of people who wish to keep the Canada House Association active was then elected (see complete list with committee positions, contact addresses, etc).

Canada House, however, has had to be temporarily closed for the second half of 1999 because of negotiations for the building to be sold by the Federal German Government to a private businessman. At first we thought we would have to move somewhere else, but the new owner has generously allowed us to stay, under improved conditions.The water and heating pipes have been replaced in the whole building, which dated from the time of the French Forces in the early 1950s. The ground floor has been completely reconstructed for the homecare service run by Mr Sannert, the new owner. On 29. November our application for a Canada House subsidy of DM 12 000 was approved by the members of Lahr city council, to help pay the running costs for the year 2000, but we will still need to recruit new members and do some fund-raising.

Regular opening times, to consult our information section or borrow books, recordings or videos, will remain as before: 16.00-19.00 hrs on Mondays and Thursdays and 10.00-12.00 hrs on the first Saturday of the month. However, during the holiday season the resource centre will be closed on Thursday 23. December, closed on Saturday 1st and Thursday 6. January but open an Saturday 8. January.

There will be the annual general membership meeting on Friday 21. January 2000, at 20.00 hrs. Together with the Lahr German-Canadian Friendship Club we will hold a Scottish evening on Tuesday 25. January 2000, at 19.30 hrs, in honour of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns (born 25. January 1759).
An English-speakers' get-together at 20.00 hrs on the last Friday of the month will start on 25. February. This is intended as a very loose kind of discussion group.

For any questions

TrishaCornforth@DerKanadier.de

More information	Trisha Cornforth
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