Kin Canada is celebrating its 100th birthday, and what better place to celebrate than right here in Timmins!

To kick off the celebrations, an early morning flag raising was held at City Hall with members of all local clubs.

Once the flag was raised, members put their excitement on display by singing the “Kinsmen Chant”

“It is an extraordinary experience to be able to be standing on the shoulders of the giants that came before us, that created this amazing association.” – Erin Thomson Official past National President of Kin Canada.

The line ” there is nothing to do in Timmins” is unfortunately a common one. In the past, the number of Kinsmen members were up to 50… Now there are only 14.

“They (Service Clubs) did good work, with all volunteers and they helped their community. We need a lot more of that now. In fact, when people approach me on the streets and they’ll say “gee there’s really nothing to do in Timmins” I’ll look at them and say… join a service club. You want something to do in Timmins… Join a service club. Follow some of these people around on weekends, see what they do.” – Timmins Mayor George Pirie.

Without the local Kinsmen club there are a few things that wouldn’t be around in Timmins.

“The Timmins Kinsmen helped build Participark (Mountjoy Historical Participark) many years ago. In South Porcupine there was a splash pad that the South Porcupine Kinsmen built” -Said Thomson.

The point that Thomson and Pirie both wanted to make is that, without this kind of club… There are a lot of things around the community that wouldn’t have been accomplished or made possible.

100 years are in the books, and now the current members look forward to the next 100 years and look forward to hopefully setting up a good and stable future for the next generation of Kinsmen members.

Filed under: Local News