TIME CAPSULE MISSING
North Sydney officials wondering what happened to it.
A family, a local municipal councillor and a bank are in the throes of the ultimate scavenger hunt.
A time capsule that was first locked away by North Sydney town officials in 1927 to mark Canada’s Diamond Jubilee, and opened on July 1, 1967 to mark Canada’s Centennial, has gone missing.
Following the official ceremony, the time capsule was filled with items of historic value to represent 1967 and sealed with instructions to be reopened on July 1, 2017.
The copper box was created and designed by Charles B. Musgrave, the grandfather of Mabel Musgrave-Comeau, a native of North Sydney who now lives in Halifax.
“I’ve been working with the local councillor, Earlene MacMullin. The plan was there would be a celebration in North Sydney to mark Canada’s 150th birthday and my brother Cecil G. Musgrave Jr. would be opening the time capsule. But, when she went to locate the time capsule, they can’t find it.”
Fifty years ago her father, Cecil G. Musgrave Sr., went to North Sydney’s town officials to tell them about the time capsule.
“At the time they thought he was crazy, but he was persistent and it was finally located in the vault of the Bank of Nova Scotia,” she said. “They had a big celebration and put the items on display for people to see.
“Town officials filled the box with items of historic items from 1967 and it was sealed along with a letter from my father addressed to his infant son, Cecil G. Musgrave, Jr., who was to open the time capsule in 2017.”
Musgrave-Comeau said the family assumed the time capsule went back to the bank.
“Nobody thought the town of North Sydney was going to disappear with amalgamation, and there in lies the problem,” she said. “It was put away for another 50 years, but now we can’t seem to track it down. This is a time capsule for the Town of North Sydney, so someone has to know its location.”
Her father is deceased, but according to Musgrave-Comeau, who worked with the RCMP for 35 years, her brother is prepared to attend the opening of the time capsule, along with their siblings.
“According to the stories, her recollection and the newspaper clippings from the (Cape Breton) Post stated that it went back to the vault, so it is documented and someone must know something,” said Dist. 2 Coun. Earlene MacMullin. “I’ve gone to the mayor, the CAO, and every department within the CBRM has been contacted; but no one seems to have any information. Officials with the North Sydney Historical Society and Scotiabank were also contacted, and there doesn’t seem to be a record of it anywhere, it’s a mystery.”
MacMullin posted the story on Facebook in the hopes that someone in the community may have information and come forward.
“It would be fantastic to find it and have an official opening of the time capsule as part of
Bartown Festival celebrations in downtown North Sydney to mark Canada’s 150th,” MacMullin said. “If we can’t find the time capsule, at least we could confirm where it went.”
Scotiabank officials in North Sydney have been contacted regarding the missing time capsule and are making inquiries.