Editorially speaking…
A mixed bag for you this week as I try to clear my desk of news clippings, emails, etc., etc....
(And am I glad it has cooled down. We’re hardly into June and it has been like mid-August. It’s going to be a long summer with low water levels that threaten the wild fish with the added potential for wildfires. As a kid, I lived for summer; now I fear it.)
Now down to business.
There’s an interesting item in this week’s Terrace Standard about Japanese triplexes at “the last intact cannery on B.C.’s north coast” having been restored as a vital piece of the region’s multicultural fishing heritage.
The North Pacific Cannery in Port Edward, virtually unaltered to this day, goes all the way back to 1889 when salmon canneries were a major contributor to the provincial economy. Now it’s a national historic site and museum that offers visitors “an immersive glimpse” into the lives of cannery workers.
The tri-plexes recall the dark days of our heritage when living accommodations were ethnically and racially segregated. The Port Edward Historical Society, a registered charity, with funding from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Foundation and the provincial government, oversaw the work of restoration.
A fourth tri-plex has been converted to serve as an interpretation centre. Displays include “archival recreations of the homes and every day objects,” offering visitors an immersive glimpse” into the lives of cannery workers, in this case, Japanese Canadians.
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It appears that the B.C. Government is finally moving towards making compensation payments to 200 B.C. Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children who were apprehended in the 1950s. An apology has been made for the incarcerations and seizure of private property between 1953 and 1959.
The government has acknowledged that some of the children were subjected to mental, physical and sexual abuse. But a compensation package totalling $15 million has been on hold for almost a year while bureaucrats sort out making payments to survivors, some of whom we can safely presume, have passed away by now.
Sigh...
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Readers who have never attended an Old Cemeteries Society tour of Ross Bay Cemetery (and, from time to time, other cemeteries including one of St. Peter’s Quamichan, here in the Cowihcan Valley and led by Yours Truly some years ago) don’t know what they’re missing.
One of the Old Cemeteries Society’s original tour leaders, Glenn Perlstrom Jr., tells another fascinating tale of “Twisted History” at the Ross Bay Cemetery, last March. All these years and tours later, he has never run out of material!
The stories behind those headstones are fascinating and range from, shall we say ‘straight’ biographies and historical events, to ghosts and ghouls in October. As usual, Sunday’s tour, Murder Most Foul, was well attended. What is it about murder stories that so turns us on?
There’s something for everyone as you can see for yourself by looking at their online 2025 calendar at oldcem.bc.ca. And the cost of a 90-minute tour is a bargain, $5 for non-members, $2 for members. It’s real bang for the buck and one of the best shows in town.
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For some, remembrance isn’t just a single, special day in November. In April, Royal Canadian Navy members in Esquimalt held their annual vigil at Memorial Park to commemorate the torpedoing of HMCS Esquimalt, April 16, 1945, off the coast of Halifax. The municipality’s namesake was the last Canadian warship to be sunk during the Second World War.
I’ve written the story numerous times over the years, having known a lovely lady whose son was one of the 44 seamen lost with the Esquimalt. To this day, I can see her in my mind’s eye as she gently stroked his face in the photo on her mantel while telling me about him. He was hardly more than a boy.
Mrs. Knowles is long gone now, too. But the lost seamen of the good ship HMCS Esquimalt are remembered every year in April as well as on November 11th.
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Speaking of remembrance, there’s a very dedicated band of volunteers who’ve worked tirelessly over the years to maintain the Phoenix cemetery. For years, members of the Boundary Historical Society have done their best to repair graves and headstones that, besides the long-gone copper town’s Cenotaph, are all that survive of this mountaintop ghost town.
To give an example, according to Doreen Sorenson in their March newsletter, “We want to make a trip up to the cemetery soon. Picket fences are a winter task for the Woodworkers, but I think the IOOF fence needs some repair or stabilizing. Would sure like to get it painted this summer. I’d also like to get the front fence repaired but that’s not yet in the budget.
But for the ongoing efforts of dedicated volunteers, the Phoenix cemetery likely would have disappeared by now. —Boundary Historical Society
“We would like to try to decipher some of the wooden markers and add a metal plaque (like we have for Mr. Walters) so the graves can be identified. I’m wondering if any of our members have pictures of the big wooden marker that are indecipherable...?”
Where would we be without the dedication of the 1000s of historically conscious volunteers throughout B.C. who labour, mostly unseen and unknown to the public at large, to save and to promote our wonderful history?
Bless them all!
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