Thursday 13 June 2013

Who is Dragon Boating in Cape Breton?

Did you hear the announcement on 94.9 the Cape (http://949thecape.com )? The Cape Breton Building and Construction Trades Council have agreed to sponsor the Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival again this year.  Big BIG thank you to them for their generous support!!

In the announcement they made reference to something that people often confuse, and I think it’s time I tell the true inspirational story about WHO is Dragon Boating in Cape Breton , WHY, and HOW the Building and Construction Trades Council has made it possible.   The whole story will actually take a couple of days to tell properly, for now I’ll start by giving the general overview.

There are actually 3 formal societies of people involved in Dragon Boating in Cape Breton.  They are the:  

1. Cape Breastoners Dragon Boat Team Society, formed in 2001. They are a group of Breast Cancer Survivors. Their purpose is to be a positive support of Breast Cancer Survivors for Breast Cancer Survivors. They help one another to heal physically and emotionally after suffering the traumatic experience they all know too well. Their home is at the Mira Boat Club where they store their boats and equipment.

2. Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival Society, formed in 2007. A sister society to the Cape Breastoners, the purpose of this organization is to run the Cape Breton Dragon Boat Festival (CBDBF) every year, and the mission of the Festival is to raise awareness about breast cancer and healthy living.  Every year the team participants collect thousands of dollars in pledges for the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation, including the Cancer Centre, Palliative Care, and other areas of great need.  Meanwhile, IF  the festival itself makes a profit from the sponsorship,  registration fees,  and sale of merchandise, after paying the operating cost of running the festival,  those profits are donated back to the community to the Cancer Centre, Cape Breastoners Dragon Boat Team, and Special Olympics of Cape Breton.  

3. Sydney Harbour Dragon Boat Club, formed in 2012. The purpose of this organization is to make the sport of dragon boating accessible to the general public. They have a partnership agreement with the Festival Society, to use our boats and equipment in exchange for taking care of them and storing them all year round. They also help train steers people and provide orientation sessions for the teams once they have registered for the festival.

Obviously  Cape Breton isn’t a huge community, and we are all friends, so the story in the community sometimes gets blurred about who’s who.  When people hear dragon boat they think Cape Breastoners and/or Festival and/or Club are all the same big beast because we are all friends, and we all support one another in our efforts.

Now, HOW are the Building and Construction Trades Council involved? Well, they are the generous donors that make all this possible.  Between 2001 and 2007, they provided roughly $100 thousand worth of equipment, supplies, and infrastructure for the Cape Breastoners to operate from the Mira Boat Club.   For the past 7 years they have annually sponsored the CBDBF to the tune of $20 thousand each year in sponsorship, registration fees, and in-kind donations.  In 2010, they provided a $20 loan so the Festival Society could purchase boats and equipment eliminating the need to rent and transport boats from Toronto.  Then in 2012 and 2013 they provided in-kind donations to help the Sydney Harbour Club establish a home in Sydney River making the sport of Dragon Boating accessible to the general public 6 months of the year when it’s warm enough to paddle.


The positive impacts and spin-off effects on the Cape Breton Municipality and surrounding community of the investment made by the Building and Trades Council and Unionized Contractors is immeasurable. Every year thousands of people are benefiting from their generosity. THANK YOU!

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