Blog & News

The Museum of Surrey will celebrate International Women’s Day with a free event featuring Canadian Nurses in Wartime. It will presenting a theatrical performance of a poem highlighting women’s contributions in the war. It's on March 9 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Register by phone:  604-592-6956.

Coming soon to mailboxes and the Zinio virtual newsstand, the spring issue of British Columbia History is dedicated to Doukhobor history. It is guest edited by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff, who runs the Doukhobor Heritage site at doukhobor.org.

Among the stories included in this issue:

• "Preserving and Celebrating Doukhobor Culture in Art," by Vera Polonicoff

• "The Doukhobor Jam Factory at Grand Forks," by Jonathan J. Kalmakoff

• "Living Language at Twin Rivers School," by Addison Oberg

• "Reflections on an Apology," by Robert Chursinoff

• "Village in the Kootenays: Creston and the 1931 census," by Robert and Patricia Malcolmson

• "A Question of Perspective: James Harold Trigg's First World War internment photos," by Wayne Norton

Plus Dalys Barney debuts as our new books editor.

You can subscribe or buy single issues here.

Heritage activist and community historian Laura Saimoto's engaging presentation to the Vancouver Historical Society on the Rupert-Renfrew neighbourhood of East Vancouver was given to a large crowd at the Italian Cultural Centre.

She highlighted heritage gems of the neighbourhood including the lost streams that feed into the Still Creek and Burnaby Lake watershed, and the Renfrew Heights 1940s returned-servicemen's housing development by the federal government, once referred to by its residents as "The Projects." A number of the "Project Kids" attended the talk and contributed their memories.

The Ymir hospital operated from 1903-25. The building burned in 1930. (Greg Nesteroff collection)

Donna Sacuta of the BC Labour Heritage Centre has written an overview of the six Miners' Union hospitals that operated in the Kootenays, calling them "a radical response to the critical need for inclusive health care in BC’s mining communities more than 100 years ago."

Join the BCHF team!

Looking for fulfilling volunteer work? We are looking for you! We're seeking an administrative support person to help us with tasks related to finance, membership, and subscriptions.  

Time required? Two hours per week.

Location? From home, but would be helpful to live in a place that has a Coast Capital bank. 

Start? April 1.

Interested? Contact jane@bchistory.ca or rosa@bchistory.ca

On Feb. 29 from 7:30 to 9 p.m. via Zoom, the UVic Committee for Urban Studies presents Civilizing the (Civic) Museum: Decolonial Work at the Museum of Vancouver with Vivian Gosselin, director of collections and exhibitions.

For decades, marginalized communities, public intellectuals and academic scholars have called out museums for their role in reinforcing – wittingly or unwittingly – colonial attitudes, racial and social inequality, environmental disconnect and excessive consumption.

In response to these criticisms and accompanied by much soul searching, (many) museums are deliberately leveraging their power as cultural influencers to make space for stories that challenge dominant narratives of progress and belonging (and not belonging).

The Museum of Vancouver has adopted models of co-creation and prioritizes community-led initiatives to pursue this goal. These practices support broader and more inclusive ways of conceiving the city’s past, present and future. This presentation will draw on examples of work at the museum to discuss how valuing and representing diverse knowledge, histories and experiences of the city in the museum space can help build more resilient communities.

Gosselin's work on historical and environmental literacy seeks to make the museum a more responsive, empathetic, and democratic public space that prompts people to recognize their own capacity to effect positive social change.

She has led and co-curated several exhibitions that have been recognized nationally and internationally. She has authored several articles on participatory museology and intercultural curation and is co-editor of Museums and the Past: Constructing Historical Consciousness (UBC Press).

Gosselin is currently involved in developing sustainable exhibition design practices with a team of city staff, architects and designers committed to creating a no-waste city. Rather than talking about radical innovation, she prefers to focus on the power of small wins as a mean of furthering the social work of museums.⁠

Gosselin is a member of the advisory group of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice. Since 2019, she has been a member of the advisory group for the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice. She earned her PhD at the University of British Columbia.

Aimee Greenaway, who joined the British Columbia History magazine team as Books Editor in 2018, is excited to move into the Managing Editor role with support from the amazing K. Jane Watt.

Aimee is a sixth generation Nanaimo resident and grew up in the former coal mining town of Extension.

Her passion for local history was sparked by her own genealogy research, and BC history courses at Vancouver Island University (graduated in 2002 with a Bachelors of Arts in History and a Bachelor of Education). She worked at the BC Forest Discovery Centre from 2006-2011 and wrote a column on logging history in the Cowichan Valley Citizen. Aimee has worked at the Nanaimo Museum since 2011, and is the curator.

Aimee lives on a farm, and when she's not thinking about history she is usually playing the harp.

The 2024 intake period for the Heritage Legacy Fund opens on Friday, March 8. Heritage BC is now accepting eligibility checks for all potential projects and programs.

The Heritage Legacy Fund supports a financial assistance program for heritage awareness, heritage conservation, and heritage planning. Program funds are used for community initiatives that conserve and increase the understanding and appreciation of heritage resources. Heritage resources may include existing heritage buildings, structures, sites, cemeteries, districts, cultural landscapes, or intangible heritage such as language and customs.

The Heritage Legacy Fund also supports Indigenous Partnership projects. Program funds will be used to support communities and heritage organizations in working towards reconciliation with Indigenous peoples through collaboration.

For detailed guidelines and eligibility requirements for the 2024 cycle, please visit our website and review the information available. Visit https://heritagebc.ca/funding/heritage-legacy-fund/

For questions about the grant ready or to start your eligibility check, reach out to Imogen Goldie at igoldie@heritagebc.ca

Image of the Gibsons Landing Heritage Playhouse by Rik Jespersen

The BC Black History Awareness Society is marking its 30th anniversary with Black History Month events in Greater Victoria. Among other things, the Royal BC Museum is celebrating Black History and Heritage Day on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

Read more in the Victoria News.

Passengers from the Komagata Maru, 1914. (City of Vancouver Archives CVA 7-127)

The Komagata Maru Lesson Plans Project was initiated in 2023. With six lesson plans, the project encourages students to examine key facts and events behind the Komagata Maru tragedy. Furthermore, it challenges students to engage in discussions and think critically about the event while learning about the biographies of key people such as Gurdit Singh, the man who chartered the ship to come to Canada.

Read more here.