52.1 | Spring 2019

British Columbia History

Discover British Columbia’s Past!

British Columbia History2 min read
Letters from Readers
Dear Editor, It was with great interest that I read the excellent article “Waterfront Acquisition in West Vancouver.” I live in Quesnel, where we are currently examining possibilities for riverfront planning, parks, and so much more. So I was fascina
British Columbia History2 min read
1923 meets 2018
In December, with some trepidation, we launched a digital version of British Columbia History magazine on iTunes. In some ways the magazine has come a long way from the First Annual Report and Proceedings published in October 1923 with Professor Walt
British Columbia History15 min read
Secwépemc People, Land, and Laws: Yerí7 re Stsq’ey’s-kucw
This is a monumental work—and for many people it’s impossible to conceive of how it would have come together. Can you tell us a bit about your process of research and writing? This was a book that took a long time, in some sense, for both of us it i
British Columbia History2 min read
Hide Shimizu’s Scrapbook
In 1895, the BC legislature added Japanese-Canadian people to the list of those excluded from voting provincially. While allowed to vote federally in 1898, this right was lost in 1920, with the Dominion Elections Act that stated that if a province di
British Columbia History11 min readLaw
Flipping their Wigs
As lawyers and spectators filled a Victoria courtroom on April 10, 1905, all eyes watched expectantly for the justices of the BC Supreme Court to enter. The full court, consisting of Chief Justice Gordon Hunter, Justice Paulus Irving, and Justice Arc
British Columbia History2 min read
Hanging Hood
In an abandoned elevator shaft at Oakalla prison, Leo Mantha waited out his final moments standing over a metal trap door. The day was April 28, 1959. The mood in the small cement room was somber and quiet. A small gallery of people watched as the no
British Columbia History10 min read
The Battle For The South Asian Right To The Vote
What does it mean to be franchised, to be disenfranchised, and to have the legal right to vote in British Columbia? For forty years (from 1907–1947), South Asian Canadians were denied the basic right to vote in any political sphere in Canada. They we
British Columbia History8 min read
Craig & Black, 1955 to 1960
On May 18, 1954, I was granted the “Title and Degree of Bachelor of Laws as with all the rights, privileges, and honours so with all the duties thereto appertaining.” Those marvellous words have been removed from present-day degrees. No longer “grant
British Columbia History6 min read
Reflections By A Judicial Dinosaur On 50 Years In The Law
In April 2016, after 42 years as a judge, I retired as the longest serving judge in British Columbia history and the last pre-Charter of Rights judge on the superior court to retire. Hence, I was given the nickname “Judicial Dinosaur.” After the Tran
British Columbia History7 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
Women Accessing Public Office in Canada in the Past Century
Asked to reflect on how I gained the public offices that I have held, I must start at the beginning. I grew up at the North Pacific Cannery on the Skeena River in Tsimshian territory just south of Prince Rupert. Today it is a National Heritage Site.
British Columbia History6 min read
The Power of Community
In March 1942, the federal government authorized the internment of 22,000 Japanese Canadians 100 miles east of the west coast “exclusion zone.” At the same time, they seized all properties owned by Japanese Canadians, including the Japanese Hall and
British Columbia History4 min read
Chilliwack Museum and Archives
There’s something grand about the entranceway to the Chilliwack Museum, originally constructed as City Hall in 1912. A bronze statue of piper James Richardson, the Victoria Cross hero killed at the Somme, stands at the foot of a curved staircase that
British Columbia History3 min read
STORIES UNTOLD Honouring the Men and Women of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces
To honour the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War on November 11, 2018, Library and Archives Canada commemorated this moment in history through the completion of a five-year digitization project bringing online the service files of 62
British Columbia History12 min read
Many Sides Of The Law
I have been reading a lot of local true crime lately, between my work for this column, and in developing the Nanaimo Museum’s current feature exhibit, Nanaimo Mysteries. This exhibit focused on murders, a safe-cracker, Brother XII’s cult, and the sup
British Columbia History3 min read
From The Book
As a blogger and trainer on Indigenous topics, in 2015 I decided to write an article about the Indian Act. My goal was to simply provide some “take-aways” about the Act for our learners and our blog Working Effectively with destructive Indigenous , a
British Columbia History2 min read
Frank Weber’s BC Pen Newcomers Form
Frank “Shorty” Weber came to my attention just before Christmas 2018, as other “bush bachelors” came to my parents’ door when I was growing up in the Peace River Country. In this case, rather than spending a couple of nights on the couch and enjoying

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