This being Remembrance Day I've no wish to get into anything contentious so I'll content myself with a few notes on this, what I consider to be the most important day of the year...
Read MoreWhere did it go? 2021, I mean—it’s November!
Read MoreThere are so many news stories these days that have historical roots that I can’t keep up with them unless I want to condense them to the point of near pointlessness. Too, hardly a week goes by but that someone researching their family tree asks me about an ancestor I’ve written about over the years.
Read MoreHere’s a recent news item near and dear to my heart. The former Times Colonist building at Hillside and Douglas streets, Victoria, has been renovated, reinvented and reopened as a combined commercial and residential building.
Read MoreFirstly, this tip for what looks like a great presentation by the Nanaimo Historical Society, for those of you who’ve purchased a membership as I’ve encouraged you to do in previous editorials.
Read MoreCan you believe it, already the middle of October? What happened to the sun and heat? Most of us, no doubt, would welcome the return of sunshine but not the melting pot of June-July...
Read MoreReconciliation Day, the first of which coincides with today’s Chronicles.
Read MoreI see ‘history’ is in the news again. Close to home, Duncan has ditched its town crier and North Cowichan its coat of arms, both symbols of our European roots the casualties of “inclusion” in our new age of colonial atonement, racial awareness and reconciliation.
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again when Elder College, subject to COVID restrictions, resumes at the Cowichan Community Centre and, in some cases, on-site.
Read MoreThere is hope for the future. In response to my recent two-part series on the 1900 Ladysmith train wreck, a new subscriber kindly wrote to tell of taking his 11-year-old son metal detecting.
Read MoreA problem with telling a story in a neat and structured form is that some good ‘nuggets’ just don’t fit, not even as sidebars. There are three that didn’t make the cut for this week’s bio of Gerry Wellburn.
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Being an armchair adventurer has never been my thing. I’ve always wanted to see it for myself, to touch, to take photos—to feel—then write about it. And you can ‘t get much more hands-on than by using a metal detector.
Read MoreLet’s begin with this quote from Capt. George Vancouver as a follow-up to August 5th’s post on Military Mapmakers.
Read MoreAt least another week of sun, heat, no rain and wild fires ahead of us, alas...if you pore through back issues of the Cowichan Leader as I do regularly, hot and dry summers weren’t a novelty in the Cowichan Valley or on the Island. But I’ve not seen references to a summer such as we’re experiencing now, thanks in part, we’re told, to global warming.
Read MoreIt's not that Telesforo Trinidad wasn't duly recognized at the time: he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest American commendation for courage when the CMH could be awarded for heroism in non-combat duty.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton earlier this month was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreWhat a ride it has been. Two days ago we marked—celebrated seems too strong a word in the face of recent events—the 150th anniversary of British Columbia as a province of Canada. If ever we as Canadians had a moral duty to be good citizens by informing ourselves and engaging in a renewal of our society it’s now.
Read MoreOne of the victims of the wildfire that ravaged Lytton last week was the privately owned Lytton Chinese History Museum. The creation of Lorna Fandrich was built on an empty lot on Main Street that was said to be the site of a Chinese joss house or temple, 1881-1928.
Read MoreAs you read this it’s—or it isn’t, depending upon your response to calls for its ‘cancellation’—Canada Day.
I never thought I’d live to see July 1st be anything but a celebration of Canada’s birthday. But then I didn’t foresee events unfolding as they have over the past few years, and the last few months in particular.