An excerpt from the summer edition of British Columbia History.

MSC130-06634-01 courtesy of the British Columbia Postcards Collection, a digital initiative of Simon Fraser University Library

1. Film Treasure

The steamship slices through the water on its approach to Fintry Estate on Okanagan Lake. Passengers are seen walking near the bow, and the camera soon cuts to a huge piston and flywheel that power a massive paddlewheel. Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp would be right at home in the gears, à la Modern Times. These images are among two minutes of rare 16-millimetre footage of the SS Sicamous during the winter of 1932.

Restored, scanned, and digitized by the Okanagan Archive Trust Society, the original film was donated by a man whose family collection included more than 300 films created by Louis and Rudolph Pop. The Vancouver brothers travelled the province as taxidermists and furriers, always with a camera in tow. They also created dioramas for the Royal BC Museum.

The CPR’s SS Sicamous delivered mail, passengers, and cargo on Okanagan Lake between 1914 and 1936. She now rests on the beach at a marine heritage park in Penticton. The interior has been beautifully restored by the SS Sicamous Marine Heritage Society, which also operates a museum. See the 1932 footage and read more here: https://tinyurl.com/y8nwcnht.

2. Next Great Save

Two BC historic sites are in the money following the National Trust for Canada’s Next Great Save competition. Duncan Train Station (1912), operated by the Cowichan Valley Museum, got the vote out to earn the first prize of $50,000. The money will be used to make the station more energy efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 74 per cent. Plans include storm windows, extra insulation, a heat pump, repairs to siding, and a rebuilt chimney.

There was so much interest in the competition that second and third-prize dollars were later added. Hope Station House (1916), recently destined for demolition and now owned and operated by the Sunshine Valley Tashme Museum, earned $5,000 for placing third. This will help kickstart restoration work. Some 8,000 Japanese Canadians disembarked at Hope Station on their way to Second World War internment camps—including 2,644 Japanese Canadians forced into the nearby Tashme internment camp. The second-place prize of $10,000 was awarded to a small Acadian museum, La Vieille Maison at Meteghan, Nova Scotia.

The totem pole carved by Louis Snow is revealed. Photo: Michael Wigle

3. Home Again

An act of healing, a totem pole has been returned to the Nuxalk community at Bella Coola by the Royal BC Museum and is now standing in the foyer of Acwsalcta School. The Nuxalk people say the totem/entrance post was taken without permission in 1913; the museum’s position is that it was purchased. Negotiations and a lawsuit resulted in the totem being lifted by crane through the roof of the Royal BC Museum, boxed up, and transported 1,000 kilometres by truck to Nuxalk territory.

A convoy of cars and pickups ushered the pole back home, to be greeted by 300 people in the school gymnasium and a repatriation ceremony. After a cloth was lifted from the totem, Nuxalk chiefs and then the entire community reached out to touch its surface. Hereditary Chief Yulm Snuxyaltwa, great- grandson of carver Louis Snow, says, “The totem tells us who we are and where we came from.” Next year it will be moved to a village site abandoned during the devastating 1862 smallpox epidemic. It will eventually crumble and return to the rainforest, part of its natural cycle.

Rendering of the Royal BC Museum Collections and Research Building. Image: Government of BC

4. Breaking Ground

The contract has been awarded for construction of the Royal BC Museum Collections and Research Building at Maple Bay, in Colwood. Work on the 15,200–square metre facility is expected to begin this summer, with an opening planned for 2026. The project cost is expected to reach $270 million, up substantially from a 2021 estimate of $170 million.

Last year the BC Historical Federation and Friends of the BC Archives collaborated to consult their members about the proposed facility and services it would provide. Numerous concerns and questions were documented and shared with the museum—transportation issues, improvements in access to digital records/images, and reduced licensing fees for BC Archives materials. Communication has subsequently opened up between BC Archives’ staff and the province’s historical community. BC Archives announced in April that licensing fees have been dropped; reduced processing fees remain.

Grace Dove stars in Bones of Crows. Photo: Farah Nosh, courtesy Ayasew Ooskana Productions

5. Through an Indigenous Lens

It has screened at Canada’s most prestigious film festivals, won audience awards, and travelled to Indigenous communities across BC and beyond. Bones of Crows, written and directed by Métis/Dene director and playwright Marie Clements, is a period drama starring Prince George–raised Grace Dove (Alaska Daily, The Revenant), who portrays Aline Spears, a Cree residential school survivor who becomes a code talker for the Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. (BC child actor Summer Testawich plays Aline as a youngster, and Carla Rae portrays an older Aline).

The multi-generational story was filmed in part at Kamloops Indian Residential School and traces a century of emotional, sexual, and physical abuse and starvation that was experienced by children torn away from families. It explores the triggers that still ripple through generations, but it is also a powerful story of Indigenous resilience.

As the film heads to theatrical release, Marie Clements says, “It’s been amazing to feel the audience reaction to Bones of Crows as almost having its own life force. As a filmmaker you hope that your story will have a life of its own once it is complete but with Bones of Crows I feel it has ignited a dialogue with audiences, and they are not only ready to receive it but need and want to engage in a way that is bigger than we could have imagined.” A five-part series will also air later this fall on CBC and APTN.

Olympic gold medal (left) and Percy Williams (right). Image: olympic.ca

6. Newly Minted

Two of Percy Williams’s gold medals that were stolen from the BC Sports Hall of Fame 43 years ago are back on display in the hall. In a rare move, the Canadian Olympic Committee and International Olympic Committee worked together to recast the 1928 medals from their original moulds; Brian and Tracey Mead, who are members of his extended family, then donated them to the museum.

Williams was told by doctors when he was 15 to avoid sports because of acute rheumatic fever. Seven years later he stunned the sprinting world with two upset wins at the Amsterdam Olympics: the 100 and
200-metre races. It caught Games officials off guard—they rushed to find a Canadian flag for the award ceremony.

When Williams returned home to Vancouver, a school holiday had been declared, and there were 25,000 people on hand to greet him. The following year he set a world record of 10.3 seconds in the 100-metre race, and won gold at the 1930 British Empire Games.

“We are very happy to have played a small part in renewing Percy’s story,” said Tracey Mead. “He was a great Canadian athlete, and now his accomplishments will be back on display.” Williams took his own life at age 74 while suffering from depression and arthritis. He remains one of Canada’s greatest Olympic athletes.

Mark Forsythe travels through BC and back in time, exploring the unique work of British Columbia Historical Federation members.