Editorially speaking...
Make no mistake, the Chronicles are meant to entertain you.
It’s also my wish to inform you—in an entertaining way, of course; this isn’t a classroom, I believe I have a responsibility to readers to walk that sometimes fine line between serving you lager lite and trying to force-feed you strong medicine.
For almost a quarter of a century the Chronicles that were published in the Cowichan Valley Citizen were confined to an average of 1000 words—20 per cent more than was expected of me, and a third to a quarter less than appear here weekly.
The larger canvas of www.CowichanChronicles.com allows me, as publisher/author/historian, to go deeper than ever I could before—but it must be within reason. Hence these past three weeks, and next, my drawing the parallels—and contrasts—between the unemployed workers’ trek to Ottawa in 1935 and the recent siege of Ottawa by truck drivers and fellow protesters opposed to government-mandated COVID restrictions.*
(*A reader argued against my use of the term “anti-vaxxers,” saying that “most of the truckers have been vaccinated. What they want[ed was] for the mandates to be lifted so they could go back to work.”)
Be that as it may, the differences between the two protests, 87 years apart, the ways in which the unemployed and the truckers conducted themselves, and how the federal government responded in both instances, are, as I said at the start of this series, those of day and night.
In the latter case the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act for just the second time and, within two days, reinforced Ottawa Police had restored order without violence or bloodshed. In 1935 peaceful protesters were met with clubs and bullets, a police officer was killed, dozens on both sides were seriously injured.
We must be grateful—this time—that history mimicked rather than repeated itself.
I believe that the events of 1935, indeed those of the entire Great Depression, 1929-39, are so significant in our nation’s history that they should be taught in depth in our schools.
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In response to my recent editorial on the transformation of the rural Saanich of my childhood to the meglopolis of today, reader Brian wrote: “I was born and raised in James Bay in 1953 and like yourself I have fond memories of growing up in a beautiful era of time.
‘We had the developers come through n the mid-60s, buying up as much land as they could for their new apartments and high-rises. I know that progress can’t be stopped but those times were grand. Exploring the Ogden Point docks, [Victoria Machinery Depot], Bapco Paint and its subsequent pollution as paint dripped between the rough-cut timber floors. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
As for my comment that one-legged cross-country runner Steve Fonyo should have his Order of Canada restored, even though it must be posthumous, Brian thinks, “His life spiralled out of control, but he did not deserve to have his hard-earned Order of Canada taken away from him.”
great view of the popular Kinsol Trestle courtesy of Valley photograph Scott Johnson, Toad Hollow Photography
Those of you who also subscribe to the Times Colonist will have seen that we made the front page this week, alongside the ongoing tragedy of Ukraine. The CVRD is encountering opposition to its plan to create a parking lot to accommodate the increasing traffic, including tourist buses.
What particularly caught my eye was the comment by CVRD Chairperson Lori Iannidinardo to the effect that the Kinsol Trestle is the Cowichan Valley’s biggest attraction. As one of the Trestle’s champions when it seemed doomed to demolition, I’m going to resist saying, I told you so, but, well, I told you so!
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