A snapshot in time: capsule buried in Calgary's Confederation Park in 1967 opened on Canada Day
Now 90 years old, Denis O'Brien remembers gathering at Confederation Park in the summer of 1967 to create a time capsule for the future as part of Canada's centennial celebrations.
On Saturday, nearly 50 years later, O'Brien was on hand along with thousands of others as Mayor Naheed Nenshi opened that capsule, marked Aug. 7, 1967.
"I feel good that I'm still alive to come here and see it be opened," O'Brien told CBC News as Nenshi and IODE member Shirley Lamont opened the capsule.
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Inside, along with a set of centennial coins and some documents, were newspapers with headlines not all that far removed from today.
One front page story focused on the possible merger of right-leaning political parties, another about high rates of suicide and violent crime and another about a lack of demand for fluoride pills.
Over the coming days, archivists will do the delicate work of opening the rolls of documents found inside — and O'Brien's name will be found on one of them.
He was one of hundreds who donated $5 each — not a small amount back in 1967 — to have their names immortalized in the capsule.
Another capsule was created Saturday, complete with a banner signed by visitors to the Canada 150 celebrations.
The new capsule, however, will be a little more high-tech.
"This scroll that people are signing, we're going to take a picture of it or a video, and it's going to be put on a memory stick and that memory stick is going to be in the time capsule," said city archivist Bryan Bance. "It's going to be buried and recovered in 50 years for the 200th anniversary."
O'Brien says he's hoping his grandchildren will be on hand in another 50 years to see that one opened too.
