Catherine Clement Delivers Conference Keynote
On May 30 at the Creekside Community Centre in Vancouver, BC on the homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories, community curator and author Catherine Clement delivered the keynote presentation at the BC Historical Federation’s annual conference called “Layered Histories: Hard Conversations.”
The presentation was recorded and is available to view on the BCHF’s YouTube channel.
Clement explores a new angle on two major public history projects — Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow and The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act. Through crowdsourced materials and stories and archival discoveries, her presentation examines lesser-known Chinese Canadian histories, and then reflects on the difficult conversations she encountered regarding memory, representation, language, and how stories get told.
Clement is a former recipient of the BCHF Centennial Legacy Fund and her book The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act received second-place in the 2026 Historical Writing Award contest.
If you would like to become a BCHF member and support the work of brilliant public historians like Catherine, please consider joining the BC Historical Federation as a member. We have individual, organization, and affiliate options.