50-year-old time capsule at Abbotsford Airshow shares messages from the past

A time capsule from 1970 buried in front of the Abbotsford International Airport was unsealed Friday morning.

Filled with artifacts and messages from politicians of the day, it was buried to commemorate the Abbotsford Airshow being designated as "Canada's National Airshow"that yearby Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister at the time.

The time capsule was placed beneatha cairn made withrocks from every province in Canada.

Federal Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan and AbbotsfordMayor Henry Braun watched on asAbbotsford Airshow Society chairperson Steve Stewart did the honours.

Sajjanremembered growing up in the Fraser Valley and going to the airshow as a kidin what he called his "berry-picking days."

"A lot has changed between 1970 and 2020. It has brought a lot of unique challenges for not only Canada, but for the entire global community," Sajjan said to the small crowd.

"Let's celebrate the last 50 years and look forward to the next 50 years."

Inside the capsule, a letter from Pierre Trudeau writtenon a typewritercongratulates the airshow as it prepares to hold its show that year.

Trudeau wroteabout how far technology hadcome.

"The progress of aviation in the past 100 years is a tribute to the genius of man and to a rapidly expanding technology," he wrote.

"It stretches the imagination that a few secondsof free flight in a crude machine little more than half a century ago has already culminated in man stepping on the moon."

Neil Armstrong had become the first man to step on the moon just one year earlier, in the summer of 1969.

Former U.S.president Richard Nixon, along withCanadian politicians and other dignitaries,also submitted greetings and messages of hope for those livingin 2020.

2020 Airshow to belivestreamed

As Stewart pried open the lid of the capsule,he did so knowingthere would be no airshow this yearbecause of COVID-19. Instead, a virtual event is being livestreamed in its placeon Saturday, Aug. 8.

Abbotsford Airshow president Jim Reithsaid that would have been hard to imagine back in 1970 for many reasons.

"It would have been outrageous to consider that our 2020 airshow would be cancelled due to a global pandemic," Reith said.

After the old capsule was opened and its letters from the past unsealed, a new one was placed back in the cairn. It will be openedAug. 7, 2070.