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An excerpt from the Summer 2025 issue of British Columbia History.
One of many posters and memes circulating on Canadian social media in defiance of the trade dispute with the US. Photo: CanadaMemes.com
A British wartime slogan has been rebooted during the Trump trade war launched against Canada. The original slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On,” appeared in 1939 to raise morale as Britain faced the threat of invasions and bombings during the Second World War. It was one of three posters created by the Information Ministry and saw limited use at the time, but it was “rediscovered” at a bookstore in 2000 and quickly co-opted as an advertising slogan. Today it’s appearing in social media posts to promote buying Canadian products in reaction to punishing tariffs and threats to Canada’s sovereignty. Variations include “Keep Calm and Move to Canada” and “Keep Calm, I’m Canadian.”
Katzie house post created by Carlyn Andres features a frog motif. It is one of four house posts in the main exhibition hall created by local First Nation artists. Photo: Mary Forsythe
The ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new museum and cultural complex came two years later than expected, but Fort Langley’s salishan Place by the River is finally in the hands of its staff, who are now moving the collection across the street from the old museum. The facility is a collaboration between the Township of Langley and local First Nations: Kwantlen, Matsqui, Semiahmoo and Katzie. The opening of the three-storey, 39,340 square foot (3,654 square metre) arts, culture, and heritage centre was delayed due to construction deficiencies. In the coming year salishan Place by the River will begin sharing settler and Indigenous stories. An Indigenous drum motif stamped into the floors welcomes visitors and symbolizes the human heartbeat. The new complex includes a Fraser Valley Regional Library branch and anchors an impressive cultural district that includes the BC Farm Museum (with its own expansion plans) and the Fort Langley National Historic Site.
Whale Interpretive Centre at Telegraph Cove, before the fire. Photo: killerwhalecentre.org
The largest public collection of marine mammal skeletons in the province was incinerated when fire tore through the Whale Interpretive Centre (WIC) at Telegraph Cove. The fire on New Year’s Eve also destroyed part of the Telegraph Cove Resort, which owns the museum space. However, their cabins and hotel remain standing and they are operating this summer. About a third of the historic boardwalk and other businesses were lost; both the resort and Whale Interpretive Centre are in the midst of rebuilding campaigns. The WIC’s collection of articulated skeletons was gathered and conserved over a 45-year period, highlighting local species like humpback, minke, killer whales, otters, and sea lions. Mary Borrowman, director and manager at the WIC says, “We are taking it one step at a time but we do plan on working with the owners of Telegraph Cove Resorts to rebuild.…The support from the North Island community has been amazing and also from all over the world. It is what is encouraging us to carry on and come back stronger.” Find campaign information for WIC at CanadaHelps.org: https://tinyurl.com/fyzun85w.
Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria website banner. Photo: oldcem.bc.ca
“Learn about the famous, the infamous, the cruel, the gentle, the rich and the poor.”— Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria
A wander through a local cemetery with a knowledgeable, engaging guide at your side is a great way to soak up local history. The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria offers a remarkable array of walking tours—most of them at the beautiful seaside Ross Bay Cemetery. If you’re visiting the capital this summer, hook up with their enthusiastic volunteers (a.k.a. taphophiles) for a tour. Sunday options include Murder Most Foul, Métis Connections, Victoria’s History in Songs and Sea Shanties (sung graveside at mariners’ plots), Detecting Queer Lives, Skeletons from Victoria’s Closet, Emily Carr Tour and more. Details about tours and other excursions can be found on the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria website: https://oldcem.bc.ca. Can’t get to Victoria? Watch more than a dozen tours on their Youtube channel: https://oldcem.bc.ca/tours/youtube/.
Stirring Up Ghosts homepage
Bruce Coughlan and his band, Tiller’s Folly, have been writing and singing songs about BC history for almost 30 years, travelling to schools and performance venues across the province. Their stories in song range from George Vancouver’s arrival at Spanish Banks and early encounters with First Nations, to voyageurs paddling the Fraser River and the exploits of gold rush figures like the Cariboo’s John Cameron. And there are ghosts, including Victoria’s Kitty O’Reilly.
Many years have come and have gone A story’s told so the legend lives on That a maid with a blue dress on Still haunts the house by the harbour And there, I fear the ghost of fare Kitty O’Reilly Will haunt evermore
The songs and stories behind Tiller’s Folly are now gathered together by Coughlan on the website Stirring Up Ghosts, where you can read more about the people, places and events in Pacific Canadian history, heritage, and culture—and hear the songs performed. Have a listen: https://stirringupghosts.ca/stirring-up-ghosts. •
Mark Forsythe travels through BC and back in time, exploring the unique work of British Columbia Historical Federation members.
Richmond Art Gallery presents two new summer exhibitions from now until Aug. 24. Curated by Rebecca Wang, The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring features Qiu Anxiong (Shanghai) and Howie Tsui (Vancouver) who find inspiration in ancient mythology and martial arts fiction. Curated by Zoë Chan, Enigmas & Dreams: Works on Paper by Alvin Jang & Anna Wong highlights two under-recognized local Chinese Canadian artists whose radically differing works embrace experimentation, improvisation, and the unconscious.
“The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring brings together for the first time the work of two contemporary artists that draw on the cultural legacy of the Song dynasty (960–1279), a period widely regarded as the pinnacle of artistic achievement in Chinese history,” says Wang.
“Richmond provides a unique context for this exhibition, as more than half of its population consists of Chinese immigrants and people of Chinese descent. While the cultural references may particularly resonate with the Chinese community, the compelling visual language offers an enriching experience for all visitors, as the works speak to prevalent global issues such as urbanization, ecological loss, and diaspora.”
Qiu Anxiong draws on the aesthetic and philosophical sensibilities of Song dynasty court and literati painting in his animated films, which adapt the earliest encyclopedic cosmography, Classic of Mountains and Seas (c. 400 BCE–200 CE). The exhibition will mark the first time all three films in his major series The New Book of Mountains and Seas (2006–2017) will be presented together in Canada.
Howie Tsui transposes the wuxia (martial arts fiction) world into his paintings, lightboxes, and videos. Gif Roulette (2020–ongoing) and Jumbo (2024)—both debuting in Vancouver—draw on looping fragments from the films and animations that shaped his youth, and extend the wuxia realm to the now-sunken floating restaurant Jumbo Kingdom in Hong Kong. Presenting the two artists’ distinct practices and perspectives, The Roaming Peach Blossom Spring explores the cultural complexity within shared ethnic identity and encourages dialogue across its diverse subgroups.
Enigmas & Dreams: Works on Paper by Alvin Jang & Anna Wong pair the work of two local artists. Alvin Jang presents two sci-fi-inspired series: The Colony (1982), which depicts a colourful world overrun by a dense population of worms, and Pillow Talk (2000), which evokes the surreal realities of hallucinations, dreams, and fantasies. These are accompanied by a series of abstract drawings and prints from the late 1960s, by the late Anna Wong. Bringing to light the hybridity of her visual vernacular, Wong’s work reveals the lively gesturality of Chinese brush painting and the experimental mark-making of Abstract Expressionism.
“I wanted to curate an exhibition that would work well in conversation with The Roaming Peach Blossom, and was drawn to both Alvin Jang and Anna Wong for their focus on drawings and their instinctive way of working,” says Chan.
“Alvin and Anna seem compelled to create through the relinquishment of logic, using each work instead to further experiment and play, rather than to stick to restricted, circumscribed paths. Eschewing straightforward interpretation, these enigmatic works resist fixed structures or finality in a really exciting way.”
She adds, “As deeply dedicated artists, both deserve much more recognition for their unique art-making and aesthetics. Jang has maintained a daily studio practice from his home in Steveston since the 1970s, while Wong, who grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown, studied and taught at the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York for several years.”
Enigmas & Dreams also features a specially commissioned title wall by Brother Jopa, a Vancouver-based lettering artist, designer, and muralist, who specializes in hand-drawn typography and calligraphy.
Sarah Lim is pictured at centre holding the microphone.
June is a vibrant month with a wide array of celebrations and festivities across the province including National Indigenous History Month, Pride Month, Dragon Boat Festival, and over in my hometown in Prince Rupert, the beloved Seafest Parade.
As someone born and raised on Ts’msyen territory, I was exposed to Indigenous worldviews and cultures at a young age that were different than those of my Chinese immigrant parents. This is one of the many reasons I was drawn to the mission of the BC Historical Federation and its commitment to public history.
To have the opportunity to uplift the often sidelined or hidden histories of a vast range of communities is a real honour; however, this is not without challenges. Stories of residential school denialism and the harm this causes survivors, their families, and their communities continue to emerge. While moments like these can be quite alarming and discouraging, they serve as a reminder that we must all continue to be vigilant, to learn, and to bring others along on the complex and challenging journey towards truth, healing, and acts of reconciliation.
As we begin a new year at BCHF, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Rosa Flinton-Brown for her leadership as BCHF President from 2022-2025, and who continues to do integral work as Treasurer. A special welcome to our new directors who have joined the 2025-26 board: Lorne Hammond, Chloe Heuchert, and Chad Soon.
I look forward to connecting with you over the next few years and to the work that lies ahead of us. Don’t hesitate to reach out and say hello!
Warm regards,
Sarah Ling BCHF President
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The summer edition of British Columbia History magazine features a theme of shipbuilding.
Stories include:
Plus we have regular contributions from Front Words columnist Mark Forsythe and books editor Dalys Barney, and Snuneymuxw Titumels William A. White reflects on the meaning of the visit of the Coast Salish cultural specialist Willie Pierre to the Nanaimo Museum.
Not yet a subscriber? You can purchase single issues of British Columbia History magazine online or receive all four annual issues by becoming a subscriber or member of the BC Historical Federation.
I am honoured to receive a Centennial Legacy Fund grant from the British Columbia Historical Federation, for my work on a photographic mass biography of First World War soldiers of Japanese descent.
Since the day I led “Lest We Forget Cenotaph Research Project” workshops at Library and Archives Canada, I wanted to show students the ethnic diversity in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. What I discovered in aging yellowed envelopes was a paper trail of the history of a visible minority group’s political stance.
The Japanese Canadian community was eager to enlist in the Canadian army. The right to vote and equal rights were at stake. Is there among your ancestors a pioneering spirit who hoped for a better future for all Japanese Canadians by answering the call to arms?
Patriotic, they were keen to serve under the Anglo-Alliance of 1902 between Great Britain and the Empire of Japan – many of the soldiers upon immigrating to Canada were naturalized British subjects.
While there is a photographic honour roll of the fifty-five war dead, there does not yet exist a collection of photos of the remaining original Japanese Canadian volunteer soldiers. The battalion was organized and sponsored by Mr Charles Yasushi Yamazaki whose presentation trophy I helped save from the auction block last December. Writing these soldiers’ biographies is the simple part, unearthing the photos is the ultimate challenge. In order to do this, I am appealing to the public for help.
These warriors were very popular among their white comrades, and more than a few served as personal batmen to officers. King George V and Queen Mary took special interest in them on their hospital visits. Several had served in their youth as soldiers in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and were revered by the enemy. Many were married men with children – a complete anomaly compared to white soldiers, who were mostly between the ages of 18 and 25, single men.
The loss of life was heavy, with 25 per cent of the original battalion laying down their lives on foreign battlefields. They proved their loyalty to a country that would betray them twenty years after they returned home as heroes. Despite their service and sacrifice to Canada during the First World War, veterans whose battle honours include Vimy, Passchendaele, Arras and Hill 70, they were interned during the Second World War and several injuriously exiled to Japan in 1946.
Now, with the digitized archival government records made easily accessible by the Landscapes of Injustice initiative, the full story of internment and dispossession can be told. It is possible to piece together these soldiers’ stories post-Armistice.
Several went on to start farms on land that was granted to them via the Soldier Settlement Board, only to be stripped of them by the same board during the Second World War (to give to a white returning soldier). Others resumed their careers in the fishing industry only to have their boats confiscated and sold without consent in 1942.
How could a hero in one war be treated as an enemy alien in another? The irony is not lost on me and I endeavour to collect, preserve and tell the history of British Columbia, Canada and Japanese Canadian soldiers of the Great War.
The timing of compiling this mass biography project comes on the heels of advocacy work I have been doing. Last spring, I was successful in my bid to have the names of two fallen Japanese Canadian soldiers included on the City of Richmond’s cenotaph.Private Hikotaro Koyanagi and Private Kazuo Harada were finally recognized after over one hundred years of being forgotten.
Here are the names of soldiers whose photos I am searching for: Manza Araki, Kaiza Chiba, Seijiro Chiba, Chutaro Chujo, Taichi Fujii, Sataro Fuji, Yoshimatsu Fukaye, Yichimatsu Fukushima, Bunshiro Furukawa, Shinjiro Goto, Bunkichi Hamade, Teizo Hamamatsu, Saburo Harada, Mosaburo Hayashi, Tsunenejio Hirai, Takaji Hirota, Robert Rikuzo Hoita, Takezi Hoshizaki, Masakichi Ehara, Niichi Ikeda, Tomasaburo Inohara, Kandayu Inouye, Kosho Matano, Mosaki Iwasaki, Kinnosuke Iwasaki, Hirokichi Isomura, Shigeshi Iwashita, Sakuziro Izukawa, Takakichi Kaji, Otoji Kamachi, Tsurumatsu Kamei, Soichi Kanda, Kameji Katena, Katamasa Kato, Yoshio Kawai, Kinjiro Kawase, Kiichi Kimoto, Shigeru Kondo, Yeisaku Kubodera, Jennojo Kubota, Kuwajiro Matsuda, Nobio Matsuda, Zenkichi Matsumoto, Tamotsu Mikuriya, Tomejiro Miyagawa, Suketaro Miyahara, Eigoro Miyata, Noboru Murakami, Sakutaro Murata, Saburo Muto, Eijiro Nagai, Sasuke Nakagawa, Manichi Nakamura, Tomoyoshi Nakamura, Shigeji Nakata, Masaji Nakauchi, Takashi Namba, Tanizo Naruse, Masaru Nishijima, Yasunobu Nishimura, Tsunezo Nonaka, Ryotaro Obayashi, Tosabura Okutsu, Sentaro Omoto, Toshimitsu Omoto, Tomoichi Otsubo, Kantaro Saito, Yashichi Saito, Yasukichi (Yashichi) Sakamoto, James Den Sato, Saburo Sato, Yoshikatsu Sawada, Jinsiro Shiga, Kichiji Shimizu, Jihei Shimizu, Ichimatsu Shintani, Genseki Sobuye, Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Yasaku Tajino, Kanae Takahashi, Yasuo Takashima, Kanichi Tohana, Thomas Tomoda, Kiyozo Tomoguchi, James Jitsui Tsubota, Masataro Uyeda, Nobuichi Uyeda, Raymond Kenji Uyehara, Nobuhei (Nobuhu) Watanabe, Otojuro Yamamoto, Otamatsu Yamamoto, Zenkichi Yamasaki, Hiroma Yano, Torakichi Yasuda, Kaura Yoshihara, Matakichi Yoshikawa, Kazuo Yoshizawa.
As we mark the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 2025, let Canadians know and remember that it would take four more years after 1945 for freedom to come to all interned and dispossessed people including veterans of the First World War.
On April 1, 1949, Japanese Canadians were finally able to freely move back to the coast of British Columbia. Today, we stand on the shoulders of these men; let us remember them by putting faces to their honoured names.
Please scan high resolution photos and email them to me at jcanadianscef@gmail.com by December 31, 2025. You will be acknowledged and given photo credit. Thank you for your kind assistance.
This summer, the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery invites visitors to experience the forest like never before—through the hands of artists, the lens of history, and the echoes of culture.
WOOD is a visually striking group exhibition featuring eight acclaimed contemporary artists from across Canada. From traditional birch bark biting to immersive audio/visual installation, sculpture, weaving, and carving, these artists showcase the incredible versatility of wood as both medium and message.
Participating artists include Peter von Tiesenhausen, Samuel Roy-Bois, Xiaojing Yan, Rita McKeough, Susan Point, Pat Bruderer, Stephen Noyes, and Nadia Myre. Together, they demonstrate how wood can shape—and be shaped by—cultural, environmental, and artistic identities.
The artists featured in WOOD bring a wide range of perspectives and practices to the exhibition.
Peter von Tiesenhausen is an Alberta-based artist known for his land-based works and environmental stewardship; his practice blends sculpture, installation, and performance to address themes of time and transformation.
Samuel Roy-Bois, originally from Quebec and now based in British Columbia, is celebrated for his large-scale installations that blur the boundaries between art, architecture, and everyday life.
Xiaojing Yan, a Chinese-Canadian artist, combines traditional Chinese materials like lingzhi mushrooms and ink with contemporary sculptural forms to explore cultural identity and transformation.
Rita McKeough, a beloved figure in Canadian media art, has spent decades creating immersive installations and sound works that fuse activism, humour, and empathy.
Susan Point, a Coast Salish artist from Musqueam, is internationally recognized for revitalizing Coast Salish design through contemporary wood carving, serigraphy, and public commissions.
Pat Bruderer (Half Moon Woman) is one of the few remaining practitioners of the ancient Indigenous art of birch bark biting and is a passionate cultural educator and knowledge keeper.
Stephen Noyes blends traditional woodworking with modern design, crafting refined objects that speak to place and material and using cedar gathered from both British Columbia and Washington state to craft the burden basket on display.
Nadia Myre, a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, is a multidisciplinary artist whose work in beading, sculpture, and participatory projects has been shown around the world, including a retrospective currently showing at the National Gallery of Canada, and the Biennale of Sydney. “The incredible challenge and compensatory reward of group exhibitions that illustrate the diversity of any given medium, such as WOOD, is that a vast landscape of past and present, traditional and contemporary, political and personal, and all points in between starts to be seen,” says Nelson Museum curator Arin Fay, “like the forest for the trees.”
Running concurrently in Gallery B is Deep Roots, an art/history exhibition that looks at the community’s connection to the forest, past and present. Through archival photographs, artifacts, contemporary artworks, film, and written reflections, Deep Roots reveals the ongoing relationship between people and place—and the many ways that connection has evolved over time.
Together, WOOD and Deep Roots invite visitors to reflect on the forest not just as a resource, but as a source: of creativity, memory, meaning, and identity. These exhibitions are more than the sum of their parts—they are a reminder that these multi-faceted stories, rooted in wood, are still growing.
Vancouver Heritage Foundation has some walking tours coming up!
June 25 at 6 p.m and July 5 at 10 a.m.: Walking the Line with John Atkin
From 1891 to 1954, the BC Electric interurban Central Park Line ran between New Westminster and Vancouver. At its peak the Central Park Line operated with 16 Stations. Following some of those stations from west to east, this set of walks will be exploring the history, heritage and legacy of BC Electric interurban Central Park line. The June 25 tour will explore the area around the Lakeview Station and the July 5 tour the area around the Gladstone Station.
June 28 at 10 a.m.: Sunsets Sunny Slope with Rob Howatson
As the hill steepens, the neighbourhood lore deepens. Join native South Vancouverite Rob Howatson for a stroll around Lower Sunset, where quiet residential streets meet the noisy bustle of the city’s largest industrial area.
If you are interested please use the link here to register.
Effective July 1, Johnson Insurance Group Benefits and Travel operations will come together with belairdirect and rebrand as belairdirect group benefits and belairdirect travel insurance, respectively.
To further support their system integration to belairdirect, their Group Benefits and Travel departments will be closed from Saturday, June 28 at 2 p.m. PST to Wednesday July 2 at 3:30 a.m. PST for planned system upgrades.
All services will resume on Wednesday, July 2.
The 2025 LiterASIAN Festival arrives with the theme of "Origins," an exploration of heritage and resilience that reflects two significant milestones: the 30th anniversary of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and the centennial of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Join award-winning Chinese Canadian community historian, curator, and author Catherine Clement in exploring the human experience of the Chinese Exclusion Act as revealed through the stories of the lives it touched – and that are featured in her new book, The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Date: Saturday, June 28
Location: Chinese Canadian Museum (51 E. Pender St.)
Time: 3 - 4:30 p.m.
Cost (includes museum admission): $15/general admission visitor; free for CCM annual pass holders *GST not included
Register: Registration link here
Book Pre-orders: Pre-order book here
On display at the Royal BC Museum until mid-January, the 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine features a vibrant, kaleidoscopic paint job that has become a fan favorite. This iconic car was used by the Beatles in 1965 when they drove to Buckingham Palace to receive medals from the Queen. Originally painted Valentine Black, Lennon had the car repainted in 1967 by artist Steve Weaver, who incorporated elements of the psychedelic era and Romany designs. This customization was completed just before the release of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Weaver used latex house paint for the design, which has proven vulnerable over time. The Royal BC Museum has carefully monitored the car’s paint condition and undertaken conservation efforts to preserve it.
In 1987, Jim Pattison generously donated the vehicle to the museum after its display at Expo '86 in Vancouver. The Rolls-Royce has remained in operational condition for over fifty years, with its powerful engine supporting the brakes—a necessary feature given its substantial weight of 3,000 kilograms.
This iconic car is part of the Museum’s exhibition, Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change, opening on May 30. The exhibition will feature artifacts that highlight music’s powerful role in social and political change, including items from Neil Young, Elton John, Tegan & Sara, and Chuck D of Public Enemy.
British Columbia Historical FederationPO Box 448, Fort Langley, BC, Canada, V1M 2R7Information: info@bchistory.ca
With gratitude, the BCHF acknowledges that it carries out its work on the traditional territories of Indigenous nations throughout British Columbia.
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