Movers are carefully wrapping one of the most precious pieces of cargo ever shipped in the country. It's the table from the 1864 Quebec Conference where the Fathers of Confederation wrote the British North America Act, creating Canada as a country.
The table, which up until this point had been housed at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building, is being lent to the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa to be part of an exhibit called “1867”.
Historians have tried to follow the table's journey from Quebec City to Regina in the 1800's, but they have never been able to prove with absolutely certainty that it is, without a doubt, the Confederation table. There may have been several tables pushed together under a red table cloth.
It is known, however, that a table from the Quebec capital was shipped to Ottawa just prior to 1867 and placed in the federal cabinet meeting room. By 1892, that table was sent to the North West Territorial capital in Regina and later moved to the Saskatchewan Legislative Building when it opened in 1912.
That table has remained at the Legislative building ever since. It was used by early governments of the day and by an early Saskatchewan assembly.
Movers are taking special care with their precious cargo. It's being shipped in a special trailer reserved for valuable works of art and antiques.
The table has a long history in Saskatchewan and will be returning to the Legislative Building when the one year loan period is completed.
