Hello Friends in hemp,
As part of my "duties" on the HIA education committee, I seek out 
information that educates me about hemp in many ways.

The latest of note  is a phone conversation I had today with Ross Fair, 
professor of History at Ryerson College (university?) in Toronto.  He is a 
friend of John Baker of Stonehedge (who was a main focusing person for 
Elorin and the BioFibres Symposium in August).  John's work with old 
"feral" hemp seeds led him to learn some of the history of hemp in his 
home area.

He and Ross shared what they know with each other.  It was from John that 
I learned that the Lieutenant General of Upper Canada imported hemp seeds 
in 1801 (supposedly from England, tho' likely from Russia.) and gave them 
away free to farmers to grow supplies for the Royal Navy.

Ross elaborated on that further, saying the seeds came over intentionally 
both in '01 and '06, that's two hundred years ago, as part of a conscious 
"plan".  He has been doing extensive research in Toronto and some in 
Montreal & Quebec, with plans to do more there, as well as in London, U.K. 
to see the collection of letters there about hemp, pre-1830.

More:  the French habitants grew hemp before the British "took" the St. 
Lawrence Valley and beyond.

By 1800, there were 9000 acres of hemp grown in Lower Canada (closer to 
the sea level than Upper Canada, and now called Quebec). the habitants 
grew it for the French Navy and for their own uses.

By 1763, when the Brits exited the French Crown from the region, it was 
clearly identified in Upper Canada (Ontario) that this was a good place to 
grow hemp, it can be grown here, and it was being grown near Lake Ontario 
and beyond.   It was a cash crop and a survival crop in a barter economy.

By 1800 plans were put forward for the Province to grow hemp for the Royal 
Navy ( Napoleon was threatening the usual source of Naval hemp), thus hemp 
seeds were secured and distributed.  There was clear government support 
for growing hemp in Upper Canada (and likely Lower as well).  Still the 
quality and quantity being produced was nothing compared to that produced 
by serf (slave) labour in Russia.

Yes, the Battle of York (Toronto) in 1813 was largely  about hemp.  At 
least that was the greatest booty that the Americans under Commodore 
Chauncy and General Dearborn got away with.  They filled their 14 ships 
with all the hemp they could fit.  Hemp that was destined originally for 
outfitting the H.M.S. Isaac Brock (named after the hero of the War of 
1812), which was almost finished and was sitting in the harbor during the 
battle...and would have been the biggest warship on the Lake.  Hemp also 
that was for the fleet being built on Lake Erie.
General Shaeffe (shafe) fled the scene with his British Regulars (out 
numbered by about 4 to1 ), but first he torched the H.M.S. Isaac Brock and 
blew up the powder magazine in Fort York,  plus torched some of the hemp 
in the warehouses.
When the Americans could not fit any more hemp into their holds, they 
decided they better torch the rest so they "wouldn't have to face it down 
the barrel of a gun."  Fire seemed to have been on the loose that day, as 
soon the Parliament buildings and library and much of the town also 
burned.

"In 1813, the Americans took to ship,
across Lake Ontario to steal a lot of hemp....."

In revenge for the burning of York, the British burned Washington.  So the 
President's Mansion got so scorched that it needed to be painted white, 
and thereby got a new name, all because of some hemp. Actually a lot of 
hemp.  (a big storm, with several tornadoes, put out the fires in 
Washington that night) Losing their "naval stores" at York and later at 
the battle of Amherstburg (closer to Detroit), (which also included a 
ropewalk, that the retreating British burned) meant that the Americans 
totally controlled Lake Erie and Lake Huron during the war.

The burning of Newark (now Niagara on the Lake), also included burning 
hemp, both in the warehouse and in the fields.

The city of Hull, Quebec (across the River from Ottawa), was founded by a 
hemp farmer, Philemon Wright from Massachusetts.  He and his fellow 
villagers grew hemp, made rope at Wright's 'walk' along the river side 
(where the trains go now, by the Museum of Civilization), sent samples to 
the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded for the quality of hemp and rope 
that came out of Hull.

Philemon was a wily (survival) business man and sold hemp to both sides in 
the War of 1812.

The province gave supporting money for the construction of a hemp mill  in 
1820, near Cobourg (east of Toronto, west of Kingston & Belleville), which 
went down in a flood.... and was not rebuilt due the government's loss of 
interest in hemp in the 1830s.

In the report of the Royal Society in 1802, the president of the Society, 
Joseph Banks mentioned the awareness of "Sunn Hemp", which was grown in 
India and had the benefit of being both useful for fibre and for 
medicine... maybe even said something similar to "recreational".

Ross's research backs up with Dr. Sumach said years ago, there likely were 
strains of hemp in North America before the European invasion.  None of us 
knows whether it was dropped off by the Chinese when they did their Round 
the World Tour pre-Columbus, only that records imply it was here already.

Ross has written an article about much of this for the Ontario History 
magazine, which he hopes to be able to find in pdf and send to me.  I can 
send it on to you all if there is interest.

He's happy to hear of The Hemp SeeDee, and that it is available for free 
for him to download.  And to hear of the stories on the SeeDee that tell 
of another "age of hemp in Ontario", pre-1938.

On the other focus, Errol and I are working still on the video, learning 
the iMovie program, and exploring more deeply what exactly we aim to be 
saying.  More on that later.  We do like what we have done so far, if 
anyone wishes to encourage the work of the Education Committee, or join 
it, please let me know.
We certainly welcome graphics, images, powerpoints, promotional photos, 
historical pictures, to help us put life to the songs, and to let people 
know what did happen, what is happening and what can happen with hemp on 
Earth, especially North America.
I would like it to be able to explain to "environmentalists" and their 
organized groups, why hemp offers practical alternatives to 
oil/pollution/greed that they can support and give us all grassroots 
encouragement for the long run.

A future project of the HIA education committee plans to be "how to" 
manuals for growing and processing hemp so that many bioregions can easily 
use hemp as a crop and natural resource, without having to re-invent the 
wheel, or make the mistakes we have done.  Such promotion of hemp as to 
make it look feasible and practical, will help keep it de-centralized in 
the long run, and each region can share what they learn so all can profit, 
and Earth can be a happier and hempier place.

Ideas, suggestions welcome.

Robbie
in Willaloe (in the hills half way between Wilno and Killaloe)