Articles from:August 2022

• Public invited to learn history of Shickluna Shipyard at dig site open houses

  Friday, August 05, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 5 August 2022 – R0087

  To the untrained eye, the bits of broken glass, china and rusted metal might not look like much, but the more-than-100-year-old fragments tell an important story about St. Catharines’ maritime and industrial past.

  Artifacts found at the site of what was once the Shickluna Shipyard will be on display during a series of open houses that will provide the public an opportunity to visit the archaeological excavation site and learn about its history.

  The site, on the banks of Twelve Mile Creek near the Burgoyne Bridge, will welcome visitors Wednesday, Aug. 10, Saturday, Aug. 13 and Sunday, Aug. 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.

  “We look forward to sharing the results of our research with the public through a series of tours and displays at the excavation site,” says Kimberly Monk, a maritime archaeologist and Adjunct Professor with Brock University’s Department of History. “Visitors will have the chance to learn about the site’s history, view the archaeological excavation and see the documents, maps and artifacts that inform our study of this historic canal landscape.”

  A team of Brock field school students and volunteers, led by Monk, have been excavating a worker’s cottage and boathouse at the site since July 11. This year’s work is a continuation of five weeks of excavation completed in 2019.

  Now an empty lot, the site was once a busy industrial hub. It was first used as a shipyard by Russell Armington from 1828 to 1837 and then by Maltese immigrant Louis Shickluna from 1838 to 1880. Joseph Shickluna was the last to run the shipyard from 1880 to 1891 before it was leased to the St. Catharines Box and Basket Company until 1901. The ships built there supported the trade of bulk goods, such as grain, coal and lumber, throughout the Great Lakes region.

  The dig’s students and volunteers have found plenty of evidence of the site’s once bustling status. They recovered more than 4,000 artifacts during the 2019 field season and are on track to recover more than twice that quantity this year, says Monk.

  “Despite some weather setbacks, deeper contexts have resulted in an increased quantity of cultural materials and features that will aid our understanding of this significant maritime site,” she says.

  Even little bits of rusted iron provide insight into the past, says student Manel Belhadji-Domecq, who has been helping to clean and catalogue metal artifacts in the field school’s lab.

  “Even garbage tells a story,” she says. “What we throw away or leave behind is a consequence of the way we live and the things we use. The pieces we can identify tell us about the people who worked here and their activities.”

  In addition to glass, china and metal, the team has found leather, bone, wood, plastic and brick artifacts, and will feature a selection from the 2019 and 2022 field seasons during the upcoming open houses.

  While the project, which involves faculty from both Brock University and McMaster University, is funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Development Grant, Monk says the support of community businesses and local volunteers has been key.

  “My deepest gratitude to our community sponsors for their support and generosity of the Shickluna Shipyard project,” she says. “Their various contributions are critical to the success of the work.”

  The open houses are free and open to adults and children aged 12 and up. Preregistration is required via Eventbrite.

  Visitors are asked to wear closed-toe shoes for safety on site and to leave pets at home. Those unable to walk the site will be able to talk with volunteers and view photographs. Parking is available at Rodman Hall courtesy of Nino Donatelli.

  Questions about the event can be sent to [email protected]

  What: Shickluna Shipyard Archaeology Open Days
  When: Aug. 10, 13 and 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day
  Where: 45 Renown Road, St. Catharines

  A video about the Shickluna Shipyard archaeological investigation is available on YouTube.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 905-941-6209 

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock experts weigh in on housing prices, market trends

  Friday, August 05, 2022 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 4 August 2022 – R0086

  More movement is being predicted in the housing market as prices drop, but not necessarily because houses in general are becoming more affordable, say Brock University experts.

  Reflecting on a recent survey by a Canadian insurance company that found 32 per cent of Ontario’s homeowners plan to move within the next year, Professor of Finance Ernest Biktimirov says those plans appear to be coming out of necessity.

  “Homeowners need to sell their more expensive house and start shopping for cheaper options,” he says. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to maintain their mortgage payments.”

  Bank of Canada interest rates, which are being hiked to fight inflation, are hammering mortgage holders hard, he says. “It looks like these homeowners are being forced to move.”

  Meanwhile, young people and others aiming to buy their first home will be priced out of the market with such rising interest rates, says Professor of Accounting Fayez Elayan.

  “I financed my home with a mortgage payment of around one per cent,” he says. “Now, it may go to around five per cent.”

  Although housing prices may be lower, the decrease is not enough to compensate for interest rate increases, says Biktimirov, adding that he thinks price drops will also cut down on housing speculation.

  “Affordability became worse,” he says. “I recommend that first-time homebuyers wait a little bit before they purchase their home because I think still there is room for house prices to go down.”

  Elayan predicts that, as prices decrease, more houses will be on the market, but they will sit for a longer time compared to the quick sales before the interest rate hikes.

  “You need to have three houses listed in the market for 30 to 60 days in order to make one sale,” he says, adding that most homeowners’ salaries have not kept up with inflation.

  For the moment, the housing market appears to be “frozen,” says Associate Professor of Finance Tatyana Sokolyk.

  “The rental market is extremely hot, but in terms of buying and selling, it’s actually very quiet,” she says. “It seems like people are still trying to figure things out and are paying attention to this topic in media.”

  Sokolyk is part of a research team examining how ‘news media sentiment’ — people’s attitudes and beliefs expressed in news media — affect the prices of houses in both Canada and Australia.

  She, Biktimirov and Professor of Information Systems Anteneh Ayanso found that, overall, media sentiment has strong predictive power in the Canadian market compared to Australia.

  Media sentiment related to housing affordability, construction, economic outlook and housing selling activities has significant impacts on house prices, but not in the areas of government policy, property size and features, and real estate agents, according to the research.

  Sokolyk says people are waiting to see if the Bank of Canada will continue raising interest rates and will have to decide the extent to which the transaction cost — the costs of buying a property plus the costs of selling, now currently at around eight per cent — will eat into the price they receive for their home.

  Sokolyk, Biktimirov and Elayan predict interest rates will continue rising over the next month or so and housing prices will decrease in the short term.

  Ernest Biktimirov, Professor of Finance at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, and Fayez Elayan, Professor of Accounting at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, are available for media interviews on the topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Doug Hunt, Communications and Media Relations Specialist, Brock University [email protected] or 905-941-6209

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  Categories: Media releases