Ontario.

• Author: Sourial, Susan
• Position: Legislative Reports

The winter recess was interrupted when the Ontario Legislature was re-called on Sunday, January 25, 2009 to deal with a labour dispute between York University and its teaching assistants. The Minister of Labour, Peter Fonseca, introduced Bill 145, An Act to resolve labour disputes between York University and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3903. The bill was debated over five days and received Third Reading and Royal Assent on Thursday, January 29.

Something about the House sittings during this period was different--even casual observers of the proceedings noticed that each morning the Sergeant-at-Arms led the Speaker's Procession carrying, and laying on the Clerk's Table, the first Provincial Mace that was used in 1792 in Upper Canada's first Parliament at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake). It is made of pine and weighs only 2.5 kilos, about a third of the weight of the 'regular' Mace, in use since 1867.

As Deputy Speaker Bruce Crozier informed the House, the current Mace had been sent for cleaning and maintenance. More specifically, the Mace was being re-plated, all in preparation for a very special 'addition'.

Mine to Mace Project

DeBeers Canada, through the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, approached the Legislative Assembly of Ontario with the offer of a diamond extracted from the Victor Diamond Mine, Ontario's first (and currently only) diamond mine, located near Attawapiskat. The result is that DeBeers. Canada presented the Legislative Assembly of Ontario with three diamonds, two of which were mounted on the Mace. (The third will be part of an exhibit about the Mace.)

The diamonds were handpicked by Ontario's Chief Gemmologist, Ron Gashinski, from among the first commercial production of the Victor Diamond Mine. The Mace was sent to Corona Jewellery who created and mounted the setting. Corona also arranged to have the Mace cleaned and re-plated so that its gilded finish matched the lustre and sparkle of the diamonds.

The mount was crafted of platinum alloy, generously provided by Vale Inco. The setting included one rough and one polished stone and was designed by Reena Ahluwalia, an Ontario jewellery designer.

As part of the project a supreme master diamond cutter, Jack Lu, from Crossworks Manufacturing, cut and polished the diamonds on site in the North Heritage Room. The diamond was laser-etched with the number ONT-1-00001--indicating that the finished stone was the first diamond to be mined, cut and polished in Ontario--and with the Latin motto found on the Assembly's coat of arms: "audi alteram partem" or "hear the other side".

on Thursday March 24, 2009, the Speaker adjourned the House during pleasure in order to permit a ceremony on the floor of the Chamber for the presentation of the refurbished Mace. Jacques Cartier might have been impressed--he was disappointed when some rocks (quartz and iron pyrite) he had collected and taken home in 1542 did not contain diamonds and was the first to use the expression, "Fake as Canadian diamonds".

The House

The Legislative Assembly now has a second Select...