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Jennifer Iredale with her certificate at the BC Historical Federation conference in Princeton.
A story exploring the history of basket making at All Hallows in the West school in Yale has won the BC Historical Federation’s Anne and Philip Yandle Best Article Award.
Well Made Baskets: Nlaka’pamux Basket Makers and All Hallows School, by Jennifer Iredale, appeared in the Fall 2022 issue of British Columbia History magazine. It was chosen by a panel of judges from among two dozen eligible articles published in the magazine last year.
One judge said the “research and storytelling skills are impressive” while another called it a “fascinating story that brings new history forward. Although nothing can justify residential schools, this is a story that portrays positive relationships — something that is needed today to foster reconciliation. Very well researched and features Indigenous voices.”
The award comes with $250 and a certificate, which were presented to Iredale during the federation’s annual conference in Princeton on Saturday.
“I was so surprised and thrilled to hear that my article was selected,” Iredale said.
“I am deeply honored. Much of the credit for this article goes to my friend and colleague, the late Irene Bjerky, whose research underpinned this article and whose friendship and generous sharing of genealogical and basketry information was – and is – an inspiration towards revitalization and preservation of Nlaka’pamux basketry knowledge and practice.
“Sharing the stories, history and practice of Nlaka’pamux cedar root basket making contributes to revitalizing and keeping this unique heritage alive. I am sure Irene would be as grateful as I am that this article, and through that the basketry tradition, has been recognized and honored with this award!”
Iredale, who makes her home in both Victoria and on Mayne Island, is a past curator for BC’s provincial heritage properties and began her career at Barkerville in the 1970s. She is also the editor/author of Enduring Threads: Ecclesiastical Textiles of St. John the Divine Church, Yale, British Columbia and has curated numerous websites on BC history. In 2015, she received a Distinguished Service Award from the BC Museums Association.
To continue Bjerky’s legacy, the Piyi?wi?x kt/Beeya.wEE.hh kt Language Foundation Society in Lytton, with private donations and a contribution from New Pathways to Gold, has established a cultural fund in her honour and memory to advance basket-making – TseeyA/Ćy̓éh.
An honorable mention was also given to Catherine Clement for her article, Discovering the Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, published in the Winter 2022 edition, which explained the genesis behind her project to collect Chinese immigration forms for an exhibition that opened July 1 at the new Chinese Canadian Museum of BC in Vancouver.
“The layer of personal experience enhances the significance of the paper trail and gives this subject a much more immediate and sharper focus,” one judge remarked.
Philip Yandle was the founder, editor, publisher, printer, binder, and distributor of the BC Historical News (now British Columbia History) from 1968 to 1977. His wife Anne Yandle was also very active in the BC Historical News for almost 40 years and served as the book reviews editor until her death in 2006. The following year, the BC Historical Federation renamed its Best Article Award Award in honour of the Yandles.
Jennifer Irwin (right) receives her award certificate from BCHF awards chair Anna Irwin.
The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce the Chinatown Storytelling Centre has received the second annual Storytelling Award for its use of new technologies and social media to highlight and share stories of Vancouver’s Chinatown and the Chinese Canadian community.
The Storytelling Award recognizes excellence in storytelling in non-traditional formats. The award is open to organizations, groups and individuals who engage the hearts and minds of visitors while exploring BC’s rich heritage. It seeks to reward those who dream big, push boundaries to innovate and take risks, regardless of organizational size or budget.
The Chinatown Storytelling Centre uses modern technologies and techniques to highlight and showcase previously silenced stories within Chinatown and the Chinese community both past and present. The Storytelling Centre contains artifacts, text panels, and audio-visual vignettes to articulate community and family narratives.
With the use of the internet and other emerging technologies, the Centre continues to evolve with a dizzying array of programming. Events, interviews, panel discussions, guest speakers, and stories are recorded for future generations. The nomination states: “stories previously buried in family heirlooms and photo albums are being brought to life with a new generation of storytellers and curators at the CSC. The organization’s mandate is not simply to shine a light on stories within the community but to help save the community social and cultural infrastructure support.”
The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala in Princeton on July 22.
Shawn Lamb in the archives named for her in 2006. (Nelson Museum and Archives)
The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce Nelson’s Shawn Lamb (1938-2021) is a posthumous recipient of a Certificate of Appreciation.
Certificates of Appreciation are awarded by the BCHF to individuals who have given exceptional service for a specific project or long service in the preservation of British Columbia’s history.
Described as “totally unselfish, talented, generous and caring,” Lamb is honoured for a lifetime of service to the museum sector and for her dedicated work to establish the Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery, formerly Touchstones Nelson Museum. Lamb previously won Nelson’s Citizen of the Year in 1994 and received the Freedom of the City in 2009.
The first archivist and paid staff member of the Nelson Museum, Lamb worked with wholehearted spirit and was a prolific figure in Nelson. She worked tirelessly with the public, community groups and researchers to connect them to their family’s or Nelson’s past and was an active public historian, hosting Turning Back the Clock on Shaw TV (you can watch a clip from an episode below), publishing books and regularly contributing to local newspapers.
She maintained an active role in developing Nelson’s collection and exhibition program, culminating in the creation of the “A Visual Memoir: 25 Years at the Nelson Museum with Shawn Lamb” exhibition in 2009. The exhibit, which commemorated her quarter-century with the organization and coincided with her retirement, highlighted key stories and materials from her career.
Her legacy lives on today through the Shawn Lamb Archives at the Nelson Museum Archives & Gallery, which were dedicated to her in 2006 and through the countless number of individuals she worked with and mentored during her career. Lamb passed away in 2021 at age 83.
The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala in Princeton on July 22, where family members were on hand to receive it.
Shawn Lamb is seen on Ward Street in Nelson in 1947. (Nelson Museum and Archives)
A young Shawn Lamb. (Marjory Young album via Nelson Museum and Archives)
Shawn and Fran Lamb performing at Mount St. Francis extended care hospital on Sept. 9, 1977. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)
Working on restoring the 1922 Ladybird speedboat at the museum with Ken White, circa 1980s. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)
Shawn Lamb is seen far right along with Gerald Rotering, Jeremy Addington, David Lawson, and Corky Evans on May 2, 1994 during an exhibit on the closure of David Thompson University Centre. (Courtesy Nelson Museum and Archives)
Working on the Wingin’ It airplane exhibition at Nelson Museum in 1994. From left, Henry Stevenson, Bert Learmonth, Shawn Lamb and Judy Mulloy. (Nelson Museum and Archives)
Shawn Lamb and the propeller from the tug Hosmer outside the Nelson Museum, circa early 2000s. (Nelson Daily News via Nelson Museum and Archives)
Shawn Lamb and Dan Dalgaard, principal at Central Education Centre, gently pick through a 101-year-old time capsule in May 2009. (Chris Shepherd/The Express via Nelson Museum and Archives)
Shawn Lamb in May 2018 during her 80th birthday party at what was then Touchstones Nelson. (Nelson Museum and Archives)
Robin Fisher receives the Lieutenant Governor’s award for historical writing from former Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon (right) at the BCHF’s conference in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people. Chief Bonnie Jacobsen is at left.
The British Columbia Historical Federation has awarded the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing to Robin Fisher, author of Wilson Duff: Coming Back, A Life (Harbour Publishing). The 40th annual award was presented Saturday by the former Lieutenant Governor, Judith Guichon, at the BCHF’s conference in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people.
The book explores the life and legacy of the pioneering anthropologist and museologist, who was central to shaping a new understanding of First Nations’ cultures through his work at the Royal BC Museum and University of British Columbia. Wilson Duff’s personal story was also tragic; he suffered from depression and took his own life at age 51.
Historian and academic Robin Fisher (pictured), who lives in Nanaimo, was on hand to receive the award that includes a $2,500 prize, the largest for historical writing in BC, and a medal.
Second place, which comes with a $1,500 prize, went to Sean Carleton for Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia (UBC Press), an examination of how early state schooling in BC taught students the legitimacy of settler capitalism.
Third place, which comes with a $500 prize, went to David Rossiter and Patricia Burke Wood for Unstable Properties: Aboriginal Title and the Claim of British Columbia (UBC Press), a history of Crown attempts to solidify claims to Indigenous territory. Rossiter accepted in person.
The Community History Award, which comes with a $500 prize, went to John Adams for Chinese Victoria: A Long and Difficult Journey (Discover the Past), which explores the lives of the people who shaped Canada’s oldest Chinatown.
Honorable mentions were presented to Incredible Crossings: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries That Connect British Columbia (Derek Hayes, Harbour Publishing); So You Girls Remember That: Memories of a Haida Elder (Gaadgas Nora Bellis with Jenny Nelson, Harbour Publishing), and A Social History of South Asians in British Columbia (Satwinder Kaur Bains and Balbir Gurm, South Asian Studies Institute).
The award recipients were chosen by a three-member panel of judges from among books published in 2022 and submitted for the competition.
The conference was the first in-person gathering of the BC Historical Federation since the pandemic began in 2019, and was hosted by the Princeton Museum & Archives. Presentations were wide-ranging: a Depression era coal miners’ strike told through story and song, the little known institution of the Chinese laundry; local settler and Indigenous history; a Trail newspaper; the exploits of Bill Miner in Princeton; how museums must adapt to changing technologies, and more.
All presentations will soon be available on the BCHF’s YouTube channel. The Federation was honoured to visit Princeton. It has been two years since an historic flood destroyed homes, roads, water and gas lines. One third of the community of 3,000 had to be evacuated. Mayor Spencer Coyne described how a 14-foot tidal wave washed through the town when dikes were breached. Recovery efforts continue, and Coyne is urging better emergency coordination between local, regional and provincial governments in the future. He added: “We are the face of climate change.”
The British Columbia Historical Federation encourages interest in the history of British Columbia through research, presentation, and support in its role as an umbrella organization for provincial historical societies. Established in 1922, the Federation currently provides a collective voice for over 100 member societies and 24,000 individuals in the provincial not-for-profit historical sector.
Ken George peers through the bighouse wall at Q’Puthet Unwinus S’ulsalewh/Elders singing welcome songs they heard as children, at the official opening of the Sway A’ Lana with Bear and Eagle carving by James Johnny Sr. (Snuneymuxw), July 30, 1985. At the ceremony Anderson Tommy, wearing vest, recalled being told by his elders, “You will hear our teachings and songs echo, long after we are gone.” Left to right: Ken George, Kay George (Q’Puthet Unwinus Cultural Co-Ordinator) with Sulsalewh/Elders Eva Thomas, Margaret James, Emily Manson, Anderson Tommy, Mamie Frenchy, Hazel Good. hay ’ul’ ’i’y mut st’ i lums/it was the most beautiful singing! (Composite image created by William A. White)
By William A. White
In 1998, I wrote a very brief paper that compared and contrasted the very small display case accorded the Coast Salish People at the Royal British Columbia Museum and the display cases of its neighbours, identified as the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ts’msyen, and Haida Peoples. The Coast Salish case used to sit just to the right of the Mungo Martin longhouse [1] in the First Peoples Gallery, after eight or ten major display cases housing Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida materials. Immediately in front of the display case were a number of full-size totem poles and at least five or six display areas dedicated to northern cultures.
The Royal British Columbia Museum sits right in the middle of territories and principal villages of the Central Coast Salish consisting of the Island Hul’q’umi’num’, Northern Straits, Klallam, Nooksack, Upriver Halq’eméylem, Downriver Halq’eméylem, Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw. e territory and people of the Central Coast Salish and the Puget Sound Salish—in fact, those people who established villages and undertook a rich ceremonial life prior to and after the arrival of the Europeans on this very stretch of the coast—seemed non-existent. At least, that was the impression given upon viewing the content of the Salish case and comparing it to its immediate neighbours.
A closer examination of the writings of RBCM officials may reveal why this was the case. Peter Macnair, Alan Hoover, and Kevin Neary described Coast Salish art as conservative, “changing not at all from the point of European contact through to the 1890s when the last significant examples were probably produced.” [2]
It is unfortunate that RBCM offcials were not able to appreciate the significance of the fact that the art form had not changed and unfortunate that this significant cultural institution perpetuated this belief through the use of several ritual pieces. [3]
The anthropologist Wayne Suttles, on the other hand, summarized the social and cultural context of the Hul’q’umi’num’ Sxwayxwey by saying, “The artists who made and assembled these masks and costumes may have drawn from various sources and experimented over the generations to impress and mystify those people who came to the potlatch.” [4] He concluded that “they would be pleased to know that they are still impressing and mystifying.” [5]
In this display, the context, continuity, and antiquity of the art form was clearly lost to offcials from the Royal British Columbia Museum. The exhibit contained approximately sixteen pieces reflective of a very complex ritual and ceremonial world, [6] yet teachers conducting school tours, tourists, and perhaps our own young people would not have any idea of the connectedness of any of the sixteen pieces and would not learn about the complex world of the people who created them.
A child, in particular, would not learn anything about the territory, ancestry, antiquity, or value of the people who produced the pieces displayed in this very small display case. e people, the land in which they operated, the environment available to them, and the various personalities are nowhere to be found within the display case.
The Coast Salish represent the largest cultural group in the province, the group whose homeland is now the most heavily populated. e Coast Salish are also the most conservative on the coast and have retained many of their traditional spiritual activities, unlike their immediate neighbours to the north and south. [9] In fairness, perhaps the stark display represented consistent requests from representatives of the Traditional Coast Salish community to refrain from displaying or discussing sacred objects. If this is the case, the museum curators took the request too far and, in fact, used little imagination with the materials collected and available for display.
I suspect, however, there was much more at work here than respecting the wishes of traditional community members. Immediately preceding the Salish exhibit were display cases for the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ts’msyen, and Haida Peoples. Viewed in the context of their immediate neighbours, the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish displays were minimal, unimaginative, and stark.
The manner in which both the Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish objects were displayed served as yet one more vehicle that relegates First Nations people/culture/material world to a status less than others.
The major problem, of course, is when a young museum visitor views the simplistic display and contrasts it to other cases in the immediate vicinity. What impression is made when a young Indigenous student from the Coast Salish or Nuu-chah-nulth notes the cultural complexity clearly displayed of other coastal groups, such as the extensive Haida village, [10] or at the other end of the floor, the reproduced Mungo Martin house, or the cave of masks? What happens when a child from any of the fourteen First Nations [11] on Vancouver Island—from Snaw’naw’as in the north to any of the WSÁNEĆ—views the Haida Village, the Mungo Martin bighouse and looks for anything representative of their own people?
What impression does a First Nation student form about their place in the world and, more importantly, about their place in history? The answer is simple and destructive. The exhibit denigrates and assigns the people to a second-class status against Kwakwaka’wakw and Haida art from the Northwest Coast, which has been enshrined in academia as the nest art and the art that is truly representative of the coast even as the museum is surrounded by the ancestral owners who have inhabited this area from time immemorial. These ancestral owners consist of the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, T’sou-ke, Sc’ianew (Beecher Bay), Stz’uminus, Quw’utsun, Snaw’naw’as, Snuneymuxw, and Penelakut.
Salish Bear Pole in Qualicum, circa 1960, by Hwunumetse’ Simon Charlie (1919–2005) from Cowichan First Nation. Hwunumetse’ Simon Charlie was an internationally renowned master carver, esteemed by Coast Salish artists for his significant role in the revitalization of Coast Salish art. (Photo: City of Vancouver Archives AM1052-: AM1052 P-1944)
In 1944, Alice Ravenhill complimented “the very high standard of perfection” used by Coast Salish artists who produced spindle whorls. She added, “the men did not possess the outstanding skill in the bold sculpturing of wood or in the fine carving of bone, ivory and horn so highly developed among the Haida and Ts’msyen.” [12] The historian Robin Fisher describes the same impression.
“Coast Salish art was quite different from that of the northern coast. In the eyes of many European beholders, it was also less impressive than Haida art.” [13] The manner in which the museum chose to introduce and to label its exhibits further reinforced this unfortunate classification and further inscribed this hierarchy of coastal art, accelerating the academically driven mythical image of “true” Northwest coast art. The label for Nuu-chah-nulth art suggests their “sculpture is easily distinguished” and contains a brief reference to the Tloquana (wolf ritual).
Meanwhile, the Ts’msyen exhibit drew attention to such phenomena as spirit names, frontlets, and further described their sculpture as the “most refined and sensitive of all Northwest coast carving.” In contrast to these two labels, the label introducing the Haida display case discusses their concave orbit, crest figures, and further suggests their at design materials reached an “intellectualized perfection.”
In light of the horrendous period of oppression by both church and state regarding traditional culture and traditional cultural practices—which in effect helped destroy social interactions and material representations of the sacred—the RBCM exhibit continues the process of reminding all British Columbians and especially Coast Salish people that their culture was simple and perhaps even non-existent. In fact, our culture is rich with oral history, vibrant, and on several fronts unchanged even with the arrival of the Europeans to the coast. The Coast Salish as a group, however, like their neighbours to the north and south, is under severe stress.
This work suggested a clear flaw in the way museum professionals receive training about the northwest coast. This is problematic for many reasons. The museum as arbiter of culture does not have a moral or social right to continue the oppression of any culture. The Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum sits in the heart of Coast Salish territory and clearly operates with little understanding of this fact.
The manner in which Coast Salish materials were displayed, and the simplistic language used to label the belongings, served to denigrate the cultural knowledge of the old people, particularly those with traditional training, and served to remind the very young there is little purpose to know anything about their own people, their own past, and—perhaps the most damaging of all—the value of their own old people.
Students may have left the exhibit area believing the Coast Salish did not inhabit the area immediately surrounding the capital city. This would be particularly damaging for young Coast Salish students who have to explain why so little is contained in the museum about their own people. Worse still, museum visitors would learn that the Coast Salish could not build structures or carve images as impressive as those of its immediate neighbours. Without a substantial shift from the academic fascination and categorization of their world and others, impressionable young artists may take on the ethnocentric viewpoint of the Euro-Canadian that leads one to worship the intellectual perfection of Haida forms over Coast Salish artforms.
Traditionally trained Elders continue to reinforce behaviours that provide a sense of belonging, a strong sense of family, a strong sense of responsibility to each other. The Royal British Columbia Museum is a world-class museum that has denigrated Coast Salish Culture and denied their right to announce the future. Significant changes have to be made in the manner the Coast Salish exhibits are planned and implemented, and changes have to be made now.
1. This location information is based on the position of cases in 1998. My overall observations have remained true over time even as the specific position of belongings and cases has been adjusted.
2. Peter L. Macnair, Alan L. Hoover, and Kevin Neary. The Legacy: Continuing Traditions of Canadian Northwest Coast Indian Art. Victoria: British Columbia Provincial Museum, 1980: 39.
3. Wayne Suttles. “The Halkomelem Sxwayxwey” in American Indian Art (Winter 1980): 56 – 65.
4. Suttles, 64.
5. Suttles, 64.
6. Thee sixteen Coast Salish cultural belongings included highly significant belongings used in ritual cleansing, weaving instruments, baskets, and utilitarian items.
7. Pamela Amoss. Coast Salish Spirit Dancing: The Survival of an Ancestral Religion. Seattle: University of Washington Press,1978: 35
8. See “First Nations Traditional Values” Floy C. Pepper and William A. White, 1995. Prepared for “A First Nations Sensitivity Curriculum Review and Recommendations” by Philip Cook, Chair Cross Cultural Portfolio. School of Child and Youth Care, 1996.
9. Barbara S. Lane. “A Comparative and Analytic Study of Some Aspects of Northwest Coast Religion” Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Washington, 1953: 1, 6.
10. The Royal British Columbia Museum is surrounded by the ancestral owners who have inhabited this area from time immemorial. These Nations consist of the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum and T’sou-ke.
11. These Nations are the Esquimalt, Malahat, Pauquachin, Songhees, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum, T’sou-ke, Beecher Bay, Chemainus, Cowichan Tribes, Nanoose, Nanaimo and Penelakut.
12. Alice Ravenhill. A Corner Stone of Canadian Culture: An Outline of the Arts and Crafts of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia. Victoria: Occasional Papers of the British Columbia Provincial Museum. Number 5, 1944: 74.
13. Robin Fisher. “The Northwest from the Beginning of Trade with Europeans to the 1880s” in The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas. Ed. Bruce G. Trigger and Wilcomb E. Washburn. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 1996: 121.
William A. White, B.A. (University of Victoria), is a Cultural Historian, traditionally trained Snuneymuxw Elder, and a cultural teacher. He recently weighed in at the public engagement session in Nanaimo for the Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM), a process designed to gather input from across BC to plan the museum’s future. The representation of Coast Salish People in this provincial institution has been on his mind for many years—since the opening of the First Peoples galleries, on January 18, 1977. Since then, millions of people have visited this “world-class” facility, and hundreds of thousands of students have learned about Indigenous Peoples through its displays. White worries about the ongoing and legacy impacts of their teachings about Coast Salish People in terms of their relative worth as Indigenous People on the west coast, and he urges action as new RBCM experiences are created in the coming years.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
We are grateful for the generous donations that make this award possible. Because it was the decision of the judges not to award the BCHF Centennial Legacy Fund in 2022, funds gathered last year were disbursed along with donations made to the fund this year.
We would like to introduce the winners of this year’s round of awards:
Barriere and District Heritage Society team, 2023. (Courtesy of the Barriere and District Heritage Society)
Twenty years after the 2003 McLure wildifre, the Barriere & District Heritage Society will be conducting interviews and gathering photos to create a small travelling exhibit illustrating the fire’s force, its destruction, and its legacies.
Upper Phoenix cemetery gates. (Courtesy of Boundary Historical Society)
Phoenix Cemetery, near Greenwood, dates from the time the City of Phoenix was a major producer of copper, between the 1890s and 1920. The Boundary Historical Society took over the care of the Phoenix Cemetery in the 1990s. Although the records for the cemetery are lost, research has determined there are approximately 160 graves, most unmarked. This project will enable the society to determine next steps in the care of this place.
Victor Menzies diary detailing daily life, April 1923. (Courtesy of the Pender Island Historical Society)
The Pender Islands Museum holds the Victor Menzies collection that spans over 90 years and includes 33 diaries and related records that detail island life and the interconnectedness of the island community. The digitization and transcription of this valuable and vulnerable resource will ensure its survival and accessibility.
A new BCHF board was elected today by acclamation at the annual general meeting. The new directors are as follows:
Jon is a UBC History (honours) graduate, trained under Keith Ralston. In his time, he has been a legal executive, a teacher, an editor, a professional singer, and a historical researcher. Now retired, Jon is the Secretary of the Princeton & District Museum and Archives and the current chair of the BCHF Conference Committee. With his wife, Rika Ruebsaat, Jon has written a couple of books of local history: Dead Horse on the Tulameen and Soviet Princeton, and they have been guest editors of British Columbia History. Jon and Rika have made seven CDs of traditional Canadian song and are the founders and principal organizers of the Princeton Traditional Music Festival.
Teresa is a graduate of the Cultural Resource Management Program at the University of Victoria and has worked in the heritage sector for over twenty-five years in both BC and Saskatchewan. She has held a variety of positions in museums, and has also served on various boards, most recently as President of the Museums Association of Saskatchewan. Teresa moved home to BC with her husband, Keith, in 2019. She currently works as Curator at the University of the Fraser Valley, where she is collaborating with Stó:lō community members on several projects, including two websites. Teresa is looking forward to reconnecting with the people, history, and heritage of BC through the BCHF.
Since becoming Acting Associate Registrar of the Royal BC Museum in 2022 and the Acting Senior Registrar in 2023, Chelsea has worked to advance her passion for collections management and conservation. Chelsea completed her PSC in Collections Management from the University of Victoria. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Victoria with a Major in European History and a Minor in Medieval Studies. As acting secretary for the RBCM Collections Committee she is familiar with Board and executive deliverables. She is passionate about representing and advancing the heritage sector in BC and looks forward to connecting and learning together with the vast network of individuals and organizations associated with the BCHF.
Monica Miller (she/her) is a communications and publishing professional with a Master of Publishing from SFU. She has worked in various roles as a writer, editor, digital marketer, project manager, and designer, and is currently the Marketing and Publicity Coordinator for Heritage House. Monica is also passionate about local history, community building, literary diversity, arts for social change, creative space making, and book arts. Born and raised in Vancouver, she now lives in Maple Ridge, the traditional territory of the Katzie First Nation and Kwantlen First Nation.
Also returning are president Rosa Flinton-Brown (Langley), vice-president Anna Irwin (Victoria), honorary president K. Jane Watt (Fort Langley), past president Shannon Bettles (Williams Lake), treasurer Barbara Kearney-Copan (Burnaby), secretary Kira Westby (Smithers), director Mark Forsythe (Fort Langley), director Aman Johal (Surrey), director Greg Nesteroff (Trail), director Emma Quan (Burnaby), director Ron Verzuh (Victoria), and director Elwin Xie (Vancouver).
A big thanks to outgoing directors Kennedy Neumann (Terrace), Janet Ou (Vancouver), and especially Maurice Guibord (Vancouver), who is stepping down after 12 years on the board. Maurice was also the longtime convenor of the BCHF Historical Writing Awards.
An excerpt from the Spring 2023 issue of British Columbia History.
Councillor George Chaffee of kʷʷikʷəƛ ̓əʷəƛ ̓əm First Nation points out the site of the kʷʷikʷəƛ ̓əʷəƛ ̓əm Historical Cemetery to Heritage Planner Lucas Roque of FPCC. (Courtesy First Nations Peoples’ Cultural Council)
Karen Aird, in conversation with K. Jane Watt
Karen Aird is Manager of Culture and Heritage at First Peoples’ Cultural Council, and we are delighted that she was able to spend time with us to talk about how climate change is impacting, or will impact, Indigenous cultural heritage in BC. The council is a First Nations-governed Crown corporation with a mandate to support the revitalization of First Nations languages, arts, cultures, and heritage in British Columbia. The organization provides funding, resources, and skills development, monitors the status of First Nations languages, develops policy recommendations for First Nations leadership and government, and collaborates with organizations on numerous special projects that raise the profile of arts, languages, cultures, and heritage in BC, Canada, and internationally.
“Indigenous cultural heritage is holistic, meaning it includes physical, emotional, mental, kinship, and spiritual components. It includes both tangible (physical) objects and places, as well as intangible aspects. Each of these concepts is inextricably linked, holding intrinsic value to the well-being of Indigenous people and affecting all generations. All are the belongings of Indigenous Peoples.”
— From the introduction to the FPCC’s Indigenous Heritage Stewardship Toolkit, July 2022. Find it at https://fpcc.ca/resource/heritage-toolkit-introduction.
Jane: Indigenous Cultural Heritage is a fabric of knowledge and identity deeply connected to lands and waters. As this context of place is disturbed under climate change, so too are all these connections. The challenges are immense, both short term and long term. Karen, what is your top priority in terms of action to address what is already being experienced as well as what is expected in the future? Karen: The top priority is addressing the lack of direct provincial or heritage funding and support for Indigenous people who are dealing with devastating impacts to their cultural heritage places. Funding has been announced by the provincial government—as you’re aware—of almost half a billion dollars to support climate change mitigation. But none of that is to deal with immediate impacts to an Indigenous site or a place, and Indigenous Peoples have nowhere to go to access such funding.
The First Peoples Cultural Council has stepped in. We’ve completed seven pilot projects looking at the impacts on cultural heritage from climate change, and we’ve had one scenario where we had to quickly find funds to support a community whose petrogylphs were being destroyed by flooding due to climate change. Climate change is going to be part of our future, and we have to have the resources and the ability to respond quickly to emergency situations. To me, the number one priority is supporting communities to deal with emergency situations, and then it’s developing long-term, sustainable support and funding for adapting and managing climate change within communities.
Beyond the emergency situation is the other priority of documenting the knowledge of the places and Knowledge Keepers and caretakers that are going to be lost. We need to support Indigenous Peoples as they gather this information, because these landscapes, places, and people are associated with both tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
As we know, Indigenous landscapes are being deeply impacted by climate change, and an integral part of landscape is the memory of that landscape. When a landscape is lost or altered, so does the memory associated with it.
Places are changing. They’re changing because of climate change, because of urbanization, and all sorts of development. So those memories are going to change, and if we don’t capture them now, there will be a major loss. These oral histories, knowledge—all of that is part of Indigenous identity and culture—when you remove it, you’re removing a piece of the Indigenous culture and identity from that society.
This work of meeting the challenges of climate change has to be Indigenous-led, and it has to be rooted in health and wellness and connection to land. How you nourish the land is how you nourish the people. Indigenous stewardship, and supporting Indigenous stewardship, is central to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The national, non-profit Indigenous Heritage Circle has been a leader in outlining and explaining this work, and the Indigenous Leadership Initiative is working hard to support community stewardship, especially through its national Guardians program.
The FPCC funded seven climate change pilot projects, and they are all outstanding. They are about understanding climate change differently—understanding how climate change informed the cultural practice
of Elders and ancestors as well as looking at the present and future effects of climate change in different places. These communities had very short time frames to do their work—just four months—and they were working through Covid-19 and had to pivot because of weather and access and infrastructure. I am really proud of their work.
The recommendations that came out of those seven pilot projects, which really need to be our focus now, are understanding, documenting, and protecting Indigenous places and knowledge that are being impacted by climate change.
In November of 2022, we were able to begin some of that work through funding under our Indigenous Stewardship Program and Indigenous Heritage Infrastructure Program. BC First Nation communities can apply for HSP funds for projects specific to understanding and mitigating climate change. HIP funding supports First Nations communities in their work to safeguard and celebrate their heritage. Projects receive funding for two years to conserve structures, cultural and heritage sites, landscapes, and buildings. The project proposals reveal the ways that heritage and culture are intertwined in every part of Indigenous life and speak to the significance of how these spaces are used and shared. This fiscal year, we are excited to share that we are funding 16 HSP and 16 HIP projects across BC.
The kkʷʷikikʷəƛ ̓əʷəƛ ̓əmm Historical Cemetery Revitalization Project is about healing and putting those who are buried there properly to rest. It is very disrespectful that so many of the gravesites and markers have been lost due to repeated and consistent flooding in the area for decades. The funding provided by the First Peoples’ Cultural Council and First Nation Land Management Resources Centre is crucial in our long-term work to create a safer, sacred historical cemetery that allows us to protect, honour, and show respect to those who are buried there. I am very proud to be leading this project and to be giving a voice to our Elders and Ancestors so that their lives are remembered not only for today, but for generations to come.
We are both relieved and excited to build a heritage facility at our ancestral settlement of Poxwia on the Harrison River. The structure will protect the incredible archaeological history in this place and enable us to continue learning more about it. The space will also allow us to share this history and knowledge with others, creating greater understanding and appreciation for our heritage.
The IHC is an Indigenous-designed and Indigenous-led organization founded in 2016. We are dedicated to the advancement of cultural heritage priorities that are of importance to Métis, Inuit, and First Nations Peoples in Canada. Working with partners from across the country, we have developed the following definition of Indigenous heritage: Indigenous Heritage is complex and dynamic. Indigenous Heritage encompasses ideas, experiences, belongings, artistic expressions, practices, knowledge, and places that are valued because they are culturally meaningful and connected to shared memory. Indigenous Heritage cannot be separated from either Indigenous identity or Indigenous life. It can be inherited from ancestors or created by people today as a legacy for future generations. Its vision statement: “Healthy and vibrant Indigenous communities in which Indigenous Peoples are supported and recognized in their role as the caretakers of Indigenous heritage in all forms.” This information is from https://indigenousheritage.ca/.
The British Columbia Historical Federation is honoured to announce the finalists for the 2022 Lieutenant Governor’s Historical Writing Awards. They appear below in alphabetical order by author. The specific awards will be announced during the awards gala at the BCHF conference taking place this year in Princeton on July 22.
John Adams – Chinese Victoria: A Long and Difficult Journey (self-published)
Sean Carleton – Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism and the Rise of State Schooling in BC (UBC Press)
Robin Fisher – Wilson Duff: Coming back, a life (Harbour Publishing)
Derek Hayes – Incredible Crossings: The History and Art of the Bridges, Tunnels and Inland Ferries that Connect BC (Harbour Publishing)
Satwinder Kaur Bains and Balbir Gurm, eds, – A Social History of South Asians in BC (South Asian Studies Institute, University of the Fraser Valley)
Gaadgas Nora Bellis & Jenny Nelson – So You Girls Remember That: Memories of a Haida Elder (Harbour Publishing)
David Rossiter & Patricia Burke Wood – Unstable Properties: Aboriginal Title and the Claim of BC, (UBC Press)
We recognize and thank the authors and publishers who submitted the 27 candidate publications for this year’s awards for adding to the compendium of historical writing in British Columbia.
British Columbia Historical FederationPO Box 448, Fort Langley, BC, Canada, V1M 2R7Information: info@bchistory.ca
The Secretariat of the BCHF is located on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish speaking Peoples.
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