Seeking ‘Utopia’ in the B.C. Wilderness

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Utopia as “a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government and social conditions; an impractical scheme for social improvement; an imaginary and indefinitely remote place.”

The Cambridge Dictionary is much more informal: “Try and imagine a perfect society, a utopia, in which the government really got everything right...”

Alas, Merriam-Webster is closer to the mark with “an impractical scheme for social improvement; an imaginary....place.” So it proved, time and again, to the bitter disappointment of all parties concerned, the records show.

There have been innumerable attempts at founding the perfect society in provincial history, probably the best known being Sointula, the ill-fated Finnish colony on Malcolm Island. Northwest coast Vancouver Island’s Cape Scott colony was a more pragmatic approach to achieving social and economic independence but it, too, failed, albeit for reasons other than internal discord.

There were others. One of them, a century-plus ago, attracted young William Kipling of Victoria who passionately believed “in all schemes having for their object the betterment of the condition of the workingman”.

Noble sentiments, indeed. What a shame that they cost him his life. That’s next week in the British Columbia Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Malcolm Island’s controversial commune founder Matti Kurrika. As did so many other ‘Utopias,’ his Sointula failed. —https://sointulamuseum.ca/sointula-history