Blog & News

The BCHF was saddened to hear that Ron Denman of Hope, BC, passed away on June 26, 2024. 

Ron was well known in BC's historical and museum community as a long time museum professional and community historian. He worked for the Museum of Northern BC in Prince Rupert for some time before becoming the Manager of the Chilliwack Museum and Historical Society for several years. 

Ron contributed to the historical record in Chilliwack, including editing a number of community history book project including: The Chilliwack Story, Memories of Sardis: The First 100 Years, 50 Years of Military Presence in the Fraser Valley: 1942 – 1991 Base Chilliwack, and Chilliwack's Great War: At Home and Oversees (Ferguson). Ron also led the development of many original exhibitions that explored local history in Chilliwack and the Fraser Valley including the award winning Brewer's Gold, an exhibit about hop farming. 

Image: Ron Denman accepts his Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal in 2012 surrounded by family, board members and staff of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives. 

Dorothy Grant celebrates 40 years in fashion, and her work's deeper meaning, in Haida Gwaii Museum showcase.

When Dorothy Grant entered the fashion world in 1988, she did not fit easily into any of the established categories.

She was one of the first Indigenous fashion designers in the industry, making her stand out from many others as she combined traditional Haida ceremonial dress with contemporary style. 

"Mainstream fashion didn't know what to do with me. The art world didn't know what to do with me," Grant said, adding that only the Haida people appreciated her work.

But when museums began to purchase her work in 1991, it signalled something significant to the Haida designer — a change in the industry's relationship with Indigenous artistry that has since grown.

Read the full article from CBC here.

Image: SFU archaeology researchers Laura Termes examines a specimen in her lab.

Mammoths, the massive pre-historic ice age cousins of the modern-day elephant, have always been understood to have inhabited parts of British Columbia, but the question of when has always been a bit woolly.

Now, a new study from Simon Fraser University has given scientists the clearest picture yet of when the giant mammals roamed Vancouver Island.

Read the full article on these pre-historic bests here.

Thousands gathered at Patricia Bay Park on Vancouver Island north of Victoria on Sunday to witness the final landing of the historic Hawaii Martin Mars, a legendary aircraft that fought wildfires in B.C. for more than 50 years.

The massive aircraft, with a capacity to carry more than 27,000 litres of water, departed from its longtime base at Sproat Lake in Port Alberni and landed in Saanich Inlet, before heading to its new home at the B.C. Aviation Museum.

Nine Canadian Forces Snowbirds jets accompanied the water bomber on its last journey, passing over a number of communities en route to its final destination. 

Read the full article from CBC here.

People with mobility issues will find it easier to enter Kelowna’s downtown museum after the end of September. 

Improvements are being made to the accessibility ramp at the front of the museum, located on Queensway next to the transit station. 

The existing staircase will be re-aligned to allow for the slope of the existing accessibility ramp to be decreased. Additionally, rest areas will be placed along the new accessibility ramp. 

A new sidewalk linking the museum entrance with the nearby parkade will also be installed, and the whole front entrance area will be beautified with new landscaping. 

The museum, which opened in 1967, has not seen changes to its entrance since then. The stairs have been deteriorating in recent years, prompting the renovation and improved accessibility. 

Work begins on Friday and will continue through the end of September, per a city release. During construction, the museum will remain open, but there will be no ramp access for people in wheelchairs or others with mobility issues during the work period. 

After tourists and residents alike were forced to flee the historic community of Barkerville in B.C.'s Interior 12 days ago, the town reopened Friday, August 2nd.

Officials ordered the evacuation of the area on July 21 as the Antler Creek wildfire drew near. The order included Bowron Lake, the community of Wells and the historic town of Barkerville — described on its website as the largest living history museum in western North America.

Before the evacuation order became official, Stewart Cawood said people in the town watched as plumes of smoke billowed above nearby Proserpine Mountain. 

"It definitely sunk all our hearts," Cawood told CBC's Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk. 

"We started taking preemptive action and getting the fire crews in from nearby Wells to help us get the hoses deployed so that the buildings were protected."

3 years after a fire destroyed the town of Lytton, the Chinese History Museum is being reconstructed with plans to eventually reopen.

On August 2nd, the museum posted on their Facebook page that the blue fence was finally gone, and painting the building would be the next step.

Keep up with the museum's progress by following them on Facebook.

The Pothole Ranch in Farwell Canyon, near where a landslide dammed the Chilcotin River, was swept into the river when the natural dam broke earlier this week, sending a flood of water downstream.

Abandoned after the Second World War, the structures on this homestead were a testament to the tenacity of early pioneers in the region, who dealt with extreme weather and unfavourable conditions as they carved out a life in the valley.

This summer has seen many historic sites in B.C. threatened, damaged, or destroyed by extreme weather conditions. 

Read more about the history of the ranch in this article from The Williams Lake Tribune in 2020.

Members of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations Whalers’ Shrine Repatriation Committee travelled to New York recently in an effort to try to bring back one of the world’s most sacred structures.

Committee members went to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to formally meet with the museum’s Cultural Resources Office.

The representatives from the First Nations in British Columbia are keen to bring the Whalers’ Shrine back home to Yuquot, a village in Nootka Island, on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

The shrine was where Nuu-chah-nulth whalers prayed and practiced ritual oosemich (bathing) to prepare for the physical and spiritual challenges they faced when hunting.

There are 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures and 16 human skulls in the shrine.

Led by hereditary Chief Mike Maquinna, Chief Jerry Jack, and Elder Margaretta James, committee members discussed the next steps to complete the process required for repatriation.

Read the full article here.

First Nations artefacts housed at the Museum of Vancouver in Canada will return to Australia following an agreement struck by the Queensland Museum.

Queensland Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch met with the Museum of Vancouver last year to push for the return of Queensland artefacts during a $126,000 ministerial study tour to Canada and the United States.

The state government says an arrangement with the museum was recently struck, and work will now begin on the repatriation of artefacts and secret sacred material.

The artefacts will initially be transferred from Canada to the Queensland Museum, before they are returned to the communities they came from.

Read the full article here.