Innholdsfortegnelse for 57.3 Fall 2024 i British Columbia History

Denbei Kobayashi was a first-generation Japanese immigrant to Canada (an Issei) who became well-respected by both Japanese-Canadians (Nikkei) and Anglo-Canadians for his community leadership and his work as a successful orchardist/fruit farmer. Less well known outside of the Nikkei community is that Kobayashi was also a highly esteemed poet and sensei (teacher/leader/mentor) who, along with his wife, Hiro Kobayashi, encouraged and supported other haiku poets for over four decades, from the early 1920s to the mid-1960s. His support was particularly important during the Second World War incarceration/internment years (1942–1945). Denbei Kobayashi's central role in cultivating and nurturing both Japanese fruit trees and haiku poetry helped Japanese culture take root and thrive in an often-harsh Canadian environment. Denbei Kobayashi was born in Nagano prefecture, Japan, on September 10, 1878, year 11…

During the Second World War, 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from coastal BC, interned, and illegally dispossessed of their property and possessions. Those not sent to internment camps were incarcerated at other sites such as forced labour road or farm labour camps, “self-supporting” camps, and prisoner of war camps. The unjust treatment by the Canadian government of Canadian citizens continues to be felt by the community today. Internment greatly impacted the education of young Japanese Canadians as well as those who were tasked as educators. Japanese Canadian students were forced out of public schools by 1942, and families felt concerned that their children would lose access to an education because of a war that had nothing to do with them.1 The Japanese Canadian Citizens Association (JCCA) Committee and Educational…

In 1988 representatives of teachers in 75 BC school districts met at the bargaining table with representatives of their school board employers, for the first time as equals. BC teachers were one of the last organized group of employees in BC and one of the last teacher organizations in Canada to obtain full and free collective bargaining rights. 1917 The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation is founded The story of how this came to be is a fascinating one that begins in 1917 when, on January 4, the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) was founded. It was the first time that BC had an organization of teachers, by teachers, and for teachers. The BCTF had voluntary membership (fifty cents a year) and was open to all teachers irrespective of their sex,…

The Vancouver Island Local History Society (VILHS) now has a complete transcription of the diaries of Peter O'Reilly (1827–1905) covering a 48-year period. The transcriptions are now available at the VILHS website: vilocalhistory.ca/. The diaries extend from 1858 to 1905 and cover O'Reilly's activities as a magistrate, gold commissioner, and Indian Reserve commissioner during those years. Together with the letters and papers of the O'Reilly family held in the BC Archives, the diaries provide a fascinating overview of the lives of this colonial family and their participation in the settler colonialist resettlement of British Columbia. Peter O'Reilly came to British Columbia in 1859 with a letter of recommendation and seven years of experience in the Irish Revenue Police, keeping order and collecting taxes in post-famine Ireland. He was almost immediately…

1 New Digs for Sasquatch The mythical Sasquatch has deep spiritual and cultural meaning for the Sts'ailes people who believe Sasquatch (Sa:sq'ets) watches over the land. Red ochre paintings depicting the shape-shifting creature date back thousands of years, and Sasquatch continues to have pride of place at a newly constructed Harrison Hot Springs Visitor Centre, home to the Harrison Sasquatch Museum. Its collection includes casts of mysterious footprints, first-hand accounts, photos, maps, and conjecture about the hairy creature, also dubbed Bigfoot. There have been more than 3,000 documented sightings in the region over the last century. Harrison Hot Springs is at the epicentre. The Sts'ailes people adopted a stylized Sasquatch figure for their logo and flag; a nearby provincial park bears the name; and Harrison Hot Springs has promoted itself as…

Lindsay Gibson and Aimee Greenaway recently sat down to discuss his work on historical thinking and historical inquiry with pre-service teachers (students in teacher education programs) and in-service teachers. The conversation expanded into the potential benefits of historical thinking in the broader community. AG Could you please describe your work in education? LG I'm an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy in the Faculty of Education at UBC. My teaching and research focus on different aspects of social studies and history education, including curriculum design, teaching and learning, assessment, historical thinking, historical consciousness, teacher education, commemoration controversies, and difficult histories. AG What is historical thinking? LG Historical thinking has been discussed by historians and educators for more than 100 years, but its theoretical development really began in the 1970s.…

It's uncomfortable to realize that everything you think you know might be wrong. Yet at the same time novel information and activities release dopamine in our brains, so learning new things, quite frankly, makes us feel good. In the museum education community, you often hear museum visitors referred to as “lifelong learners,” recognizing that learning does not—and should not—stop with the classroom. Lifelong learners are those who are receptive to opportunities for informal learning that occur throughout life and, in a museum setting,1 those who willingly engage with museum content. Embracing the identity of lifelong learner can help you move past the discomfort of the unknown and into the joy of the new. What is informal learning? When you read a text panel, speak to an interpreter or docent, take…

In the spring of 2018, at a routine staff meeting, a visiting administrator promoting the district's Summer Learning program mentioned that teachers hired for the program would have the opportunity to work with an innovative and engaging staff team, a group of teachers who didn't rely on lessons from—here, her tone became disdainful— the textbook. It was as if using a textbook was synonymous with bad teaching. Curriculum documents published in BC since 2016 have not included lists of Ministry-recommended or supported educational resources.1 Although individual school boards still have authority to determine how education resources are approved, the Ministry states that “educators are best suited for determining the resources that are most appropriate for use in their classrooms.”2 As a teacher expected to plan content for the newly created…

School education in British Columbia received a diversity initiative boost when the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI) at the University of the Fraser Valley initiated the development and implementation of learning resources related to South Asian Canadian culture, history, and heritage in BC, with the support of Open School BC. The result is Saffron Threads—a set of educational resources for teachers designed for use in the K–12 system using BC curriculum as the guide. These resources were developed as part of the South Asian Canadian Legacy Project (SACLP), a project of SASI from 2020–2022 that built on five years of previous work undertaken by the SASI. The project was funded by the province to support the call for development of educational resources on the histories and contributions of racialized and…

Like many mothers of the 1950s, 1960s, and before, our mother, Kay George, from the Quw'utsun First Nation, knitted sweaters, toques, and socks to exchange for food and clothing for the family.1 She used knitting needles made from qethulhp (Ocean Spray), a wood also used to cook clams and fish. Our great family friend Agnes Pierre, from the Katzie First Nation spoke about knitting needles made from xpey (cedar) by her grand-uncles. Agnes's grand-uncles made knitting needles for her because she did not have anything to play with, and then she was taught how to knit.2 Both our mother and Agnes represent the application of Snuw'uyulh (traditional Coast Salish values), which identifies the importance of keeping busy and working hard.3 In contrast, during the same period our experiences with hwunitum…

The history of organized labour in British Columbia is extensive, with attempts by workers to organize and influence the conditions of their work reaching back to the 1800s. Some have been successful while others have ended in defeat for workers and their organizations, but all are important in shaping society. Aside from current conflicts that reach the headlines, labour history is not well known to much of the public or to our students. Yet knowing that history is advantageous for understanding what is really at issue behind those headlines, as well as about the social and economic nature of the province. The future for our students includes the likelihood that many will themselves work in a unionized worksite at some stage of their life, or even take part in organizing…

“Maybe the History we've been told is a lie!”1 “Their true history was covered up!”2 “Hidden History!”3 Beyond being in the short introductory paragraph I read on the r/Tartaria subreddit page, these are phrases I hear nearly every day as an archaeologist who studies pseudoarchaeology, or archaeological conspiracy theories. History has long been a popular subject for conspiracism— its popularity can impact how people engage with history—especially in online spaces where the line between fact and fiction can become blurred. At first glance the idea of a technologically advanced Tartarian empire whose history has been hidden from us seems like a harmless conspiracy theory, but the blurring of the line can also open the gate to some very dangerous paths. The terms misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theory are at times…