Tag Archives: British Columbia

Marking the 100th Anniversary of the Victoria Chinese Students’ Strike

Timothy J. Stanley On September 5, 2022, over 600 people in Victoria, BC, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Chinese Students Strike. Participants included a Chinese Canadian veteran of the Second World War, the Police Chief who helpfully stopped traffic, two BC Government ministers–one of whom, the Attorney General, read the Premier of British Columbia’s message of… Read more »

History Slam 217: Storytellers, Colonialism, and Community in the Chilcotin Plateau

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/History-Slam-217.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham For every strong, thriving community, there are people actively keeping it alive at its centre. Whether that’s hosting events, checking in on others, or sharing the living memory of the place, these individuals build an environment where stories are shared and passed to the next generation. But when they’re gone, what… Read more »

History Slam 213: Colonial Violence, National Myths, & the Lynching of Louie Sam

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/History-Slam-212.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham On February 24, 1884, Louie Sam, a Stó:lo teenager, was accused by an angry mob of starting a fire that killed James Bell, a shopkeeper in the settler community Nooksack, in what is now Whatcom County, Washington, which borders British Columbia. Without any evidence, the assembled mob determined that Sam was… Read more »

Catastrophic Rhetoric: False Enchantments and ‘Unprecedented’ Disasters in British Columbia’s Punishing 2021

Pine and grass ecology Nlaka'pamux land

This article is reposted, in slightly edited form and with permission, from the first issue of Syndemic Magazine: “Neo-liberalism and Covid-19.” Syndemic Magazine is a project of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University. Its second issue, “Labour in a Treacherous Time,” is also now available. By Mica Jorgensen It came suddenly, violently tearing up lives and landscapes, subjecting countless British Columbians… Read more »

History Slam 196: Becoming Vancouver

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/History-Slam-196.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham The first time I was fortunate enough to visit Vancouver, it was October and the weather was unseasonably cold. It was a damp cold – the type that feels like it sticks to you – so I spent 4 days struggling to get warm. Having lived in Regina since that initial… Read more »

History Slam 188: Wagon Road North

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/History-Slam-188.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham In 1960, Art Downs released Wagon Road North: The Saga of the Cariboo Gold Rush, which immediately became a best-seller. Relying primarily on photos to the tell the story of what happened after gold was found in the British Columbia interior, Wagon Road North was so popular that it was reprinted 5 different times… Read more »

History Slam 184: The Past & Present of Strathcona Park

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/History-Slam-184.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham Located on Vancouver Island, Strathcona Provincial Park was established in 1911 by the British Columbia government. Covering 250,000 hectares, the park’s architects had an initial vision of it drawing tourists escaping the stress of modern urban living. Using Banff as a model, there were discussions of how to best create an… Read more »

History Slam 181: Always Pack a Candle

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/History-Slam-181.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham I’m one who believes that, at its core, history is about storytelling. Historians tell the stories of those who came before – and the best historians do so in a way that is both engaging and meaningful to the audience. For some, that has included telling their own stories and using… Read more »

Remember/Resist/Redraw #29: Chinese Students Strike Against Segregated Schools, 1922-23

The Graphic History Collective recently released RRR #29 by Clare Yow. The poster looks at the 1922-1923 Chinese student student strike against racism and segregated schooling in Victoria, British Columbia. We hope that Remember | Resist | Redraw encourages people to critically examine history in ways that can fuel our radical imaginations and support struggles for social change. Learn more… Read more »

History Slam Episode 152: When Days Are Long

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/History-Slam-152.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham In 1949, Amy Wilson accepted a nursing job that took her from her Edmonton home to northern British Columbia and Yukon. In the position, she was responsible for covering over 500,000 sqaure kilometres and serving around 3,000 Indigenous Peoples in the North. Upon her arrival, she was confronted with a diphtheria… Read more »