Longstanding Municipal Heritage Committee member and former Chair Joyce Johnston received the 2017 Saugeen Shores Heritage Conservation Award, presented by Mayor Mike Smith during the April 23 Committee of Whole in Council Chambers.

Hub Staff

After years of dedicated service to the Saugeen Shores community, Heritage Committee member Joyce Johnston received the 2017 Saugeen Shores Heritage Conservation Award, April 23 during the Committee of Whole in Council Chambers. The former Heritage Committee Chair quipped that it “felt out of place not presenting the award,” something she had done in the past.

“Thank you very much,” said Johnston after being presented with the award by Saugeen Shores Mayor Mike Smith. “It really is an honour to be recognized this way,” she added.

“I can tell you that I totally appreciate the years doing research getting to know my community better. Anyone that thinks it’s boring needs their head examined,” Johnston said jokingly, adding that it was special being recognized during the country’s sesquicentennial year.

Heritage became important to Johnston as a child, she said, recalling her parents and grandparents telling her great stories about their lives which she would recreate with her 11 brothers and sisters. After graduating high school, Johnston would spend her summers in Hepworth and Port Elgin, it was then that she met her husband Bev.

Johnston attended the State University of New York where she majored in Library Science, but returned to Bruce County every summer. She received a job working for the Bruce County Library and it was in that capacity she presented the library’s book exchange program with the one room schools across the county in what was then Council Chambers.

After graduating she worked in Kitchener before receiving a position in Bruce County where she became County Librarian, a position she held for 22 years.

In 1988, Johnston became a member of the Local Architectural Advisory Committee (LACAC) in Port Elgin. In 1989 she became a member of the Municipal Heritage Committee. Following the the amalgamation of Saugeen Shores, Johnston joined the Saugeen Shores Municipal Heritage Committee, spending many years as Chair. One of the first projects she worked on was the formal designation of the Port Elgin Library.

“Everything that has happened is part of who we are now and heritage,” said Johnston, adding that what we do now as a community will become the heritage for generations to come.

“I say thank you to Council for giving me this award, thank you for your support and encouragement over the years, thank you to this staff you've given us great guidance,” she said, adding that heritage matters in Saugeen Shores.

Mayor Mike Smith thanked Johnston for her years of community service. “The work that you've done here will leave a lasting legacy of some of the things that you've left for our community so that we can remember these buildings and issues that we’ve dealt with and on behalf of the community I just want to thank you.”

Joyce Johnstone thanked Saugeen Shores Council after receiving the 2017 Saugeen Shores Heritage Conservation Award, April 23.