Editorially speaking…
NEWS ITEM: 15 acres added to John Dean Park
“Some of the last old-growth stands of Douglas fir and Garry oak on the [Saanich] Peninsula are now part of 15-acre parcel of land added to the border of John Dean Provincial Park...after being acquired by the B.C. Parks Foundation from a private landowner for $1.63 million...”
So reported the Times Colonist in November.
As always, there’s a story within a story—in this case, John Dean, whose headstone epitaph in Ross Bay Cemetery is an eye-catcher to this day:
Philanthropist John Dean and an unidentified young friend. —BC Archives
“It is a rotten world, artful politicians are its bane. Its saving grace is the artlessness of the young and the wonders of the sky.”
Known for many years as Victoria’s ambassador of goodwill, John Dean devoted his life and considerable talents to improving the lot of fellow citizens. A successful businessman, he found time in his later years to fulfill his dreams as an economist, world traveller, philanthropist and prophet.
Orphaned at the age of eight, he went to work as a builder’s apprentice at 12. Twenty-five years later, he’d made his fortune through shrewd speculations as a contractor, real estate agent and mayor of Rossland, B.C.
During the next 30 years, he led a lonely crusade against bureaucracy, using his razor-edged wit to to slash at governmental inefficiency and pomposity. With facts carefully gathered during his travels, he battled for better government and long-range planning.
And Victorians loved him for it.
One-time Victoria City Archivist Ainslie J. Helmcken wrote, “I think it is safe to say that his was the first and most insistent voice advocating the adoption of a plan of city management for Victoria. He contested mayoralty election twice, and was defeated twice.
John Dean’s message from the grave in Ross Bay Cemetery. —Author’s Photo
“But he kept chipping away at the subject and the influence created by a man so full of vigour, a fine student of civic government and management was felt to a far greater degree than was realized in his lifetime.”
In 1931 Dean donated 80 acres of old-growth forest atop Saanich’s Mount Newton to the province as a park—today’s John Dean Provincial Park which has just been expanded by another 15 acres.
A lifelong bachelor, Dean neither smoked nor drank and ate meat “only on rare occasions”.
Even upon his 90th birthday, he single-handled carried on his crusade by addressing and stamping 250 letters to members of parliament, arguing that the Municipality of Esquimalt was being treated unfairly by the federal government.
Finally, at the age of 92, John Dean’s busy pen was stilled. Many mourned the grand old man, one newspaper stating, “If he occasionally exerted his will on causes not popular at the moment, nobody questioned his sincerity of purpose.”
He’d once explained his antipathy for politicians to a friend:
“Billy,” he warned, “I hope you never have much to do with politicians, for they are a pretty ‘crumby’ crowd. Whenever they don a sanctimonious face, the more pious they look, by jingo, that’s the time to watch the blighters!”
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An interesting quote on the value of museums from Tracey Drake, chief executive officer of the Royal B.C. Museum during a recent interview in the TC:
“It’s how we teach, how we learn, how we educate, how we get to know one another.”
(Headlining the current RBCM exhibits is the van that served as the support vehicle for Terry Fox during his legendary attempt to cross Canada on one leg. Perfect timing, as Terry’s about to grace our new five-dollar bill.)
It’s about time that we Canadians recognized and honoured our real heroes!
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I had to smile at a Union Bay ship recycler’s rebuttal to charges the firm is polluting Union Bay waters with toxic and corrosive industrial wastes. Not their fault, according to a company spokesperson.
It was those damn Dunsmuirs and their coal mines that are still contaminating creeks and beaches and tidal waters.
For years, Union Bay was the shipping port for Cumberland coal and coke. —BC Archives
Lord knows, I’ve criticized (and worse) Robert and James Dunsmuir many a time in the past. In this case, however, I need to see proof that coal mining operations from the previous century are the villains here, and that those dastardly coal barons are the cause of today’s problems.