Editorially speaking...
There’s been something of a flap in Victoria this past week where contractors are excavating the site of the new Telus building at Humboldt and Douglas streets, once home of Kanaka Row.
It was so-named because many of its original residents, back in the gold rush days, were Hawaiian immigrants.
The reason for concern is the site’s potential for archaeological artifacts. Existing B.C. law concerns itself only with antiquities predating 1846, which is not only a shortsighted policy but, in its own perverse way, a discriminatory one.
People, i.e. non-Indigenous, don’t count as pioneers worthy of study and saving?
By far Kanaka Row’s most famous resident, in later years, was Bill Nye who used to paddle about the Inner Harbour and up the Gorge in what many believed was a barrel but was actually a craft he’d built from an ancient design.
—Author’s collection, courtesy of George Larrigan
Incredibly, he never drowned himself!
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A recent obituary notice caught my eye in the Times Colonist. Lucinda Turner, who championed authentic First Nations art vs. Non-Indigenous knock-offs, was 63.
For years she’d tracked down counterfeit artwork, even t-shirts. In 2017, she formed the Facebook group Fraudulent Native Art Exposed and More. Much of her campaigning was done at her own expense.
According to a friend and co-worker, Turner’s campaign will be carried on by others.
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The City of Nanaimo has done a housecleaning of some of its oldest by-laws, some of them dating back to the 1890s. (There are no fewer than 6100 statues on the city’s books, by the way.)
At least there were, before 100 were consigned to the dustbin of history.
Karen Robertson, deputy city clerk, gave a for-instance to Council: “...One could be fined between $5 and $50 using grossly insulting language, selling of a lewd picture or drawing, or [being] found drunk while screaming and singing.”
What a relief or half of us would be out of pocket.
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There’s been more talk of a Duncan bypass lately. Not surprising if you’ve driven the TC Highway crawl from south of the Silver Bridge to Beverly Street during one of our many rush periods lately.
People seem to forget that the ca 1949 TCH is the bypass. So what frustrated motorists are arguing for, is a bypass of the bypass. The former CNR, now the Trans Canada Trail, is owned by the province as a “transportation corridor”.
But you can forget that!
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The podcast, Episode 005, is entitled The Gold Stream: There’s Gold in That There Stream!
Or so hopeful prospectors thought, back in the 1860s, hence the creek’s name. As a kid, I spent most of a Sunday afternoon wading its shallows in search of some artifact dating back to the gold rush days. But no go. Years later, with a prospector’s pan I bought from Capital Iron, I found what’s known as flour gold—flakes so fine as to be powder, and all but worthless.
But fun!
Goldstream was quickly forgotten in the excitement of the Leech River gold rush of 1864 and now, of course, it’s part of a provincial park and major salmon-bearing stream.
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After having to set plans aside for two years because of COVID, the Songhees First nation has launched its “unique tourism initiative” with canoe rides and reality tours.
“We are excited to be able to share our tradition of hospitality on Lekwungen Territory this season,” Cecelia Dick, cultural tourism manager for the Songhees Nation told the Times Colonist in June.
The season started with a National Indigenous People’s Day celebration featuring a traditional canoe protocol welcome in the Inner harbour followed by a procession along the Causeway to Ship Point where cultural performances took place.
Offered to the public are The 7 Signs of Lekwungen Tour of cultural sites with a guide who will share stories of the sites’ history and significance to the Songhees people. (All of Victoria’s Inner Harbour area, including the site of the Parliament Buildings, were originally part of the Songhees’ large Victoria landholdings.)
There will also be canoe tours of the Inner Harbour. Note: participants will be accompanied by a guide who’ll provide a commentary on what they see, but they’ll have to paddle their own canoes!
There will be a walking tour of the tribe’s former lands that are now downtown Victoria, First nations art and Indigenous-inspired cuisine such as variations of bannock and a salmon burger.
For more information or to book a tour visit exploresonghees.com.
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Again, locally, an ad in the Citizen caught my eye. Dobson’s Glass Ltd., Duncan’s longest running business—119 years!—began with the arrival from England of William Dobson in 1898 although he didn’t begin the business until 1903.
Ralph Pritchett, who worked for the company for 35 years after starting out as a “cleanup kid,” bought out Ralph Dobson and brought in his son Lucas and daughters Stacie, Toni and Jill. Ralph retired last year leaving the business in the hands of his children.
They promise to continue to operate Dobson’s Glass “with the same values and expectations” as before and Ralph is looking forward to the firm’s 150th anniversary—only 31 more years to go.
There aren’t many Cowihcan Valley businesses that go back as far as Dobson’s. The only other pioneer firm that’s still on the job, that I can think of at this moment, is Duncan Iron Works.
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