British Columbia History

We were pleased to see the excellent article in the Fall issue of British Columbia History about Chinese laundries in BC. It is worth noting, however, that discriminatory legal measures against the Chinese were not confined to head taxes and labour r

Standard Chinese, also known as Modern Standard Mandarin, uses a simplified character set that came into use in 1949. It is used today in Mainland China and in Singapore. The characters Elwin has used in his article are from the Traditional Chinese

If you were in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the early 1970s, standing on the corner of Union Street and Gore Avenue, you could not have missed the Prior Street on-ramp of the new Georgia–Dunsmuir viaduct. As you came off the viaduct, you would see our re

The South Asian Studies Institute is a unique research centre that studies both the South Asia region and the South Asian Canadian diaspora. In 2004 a group of intrepid community leaders met with the University of the Fraser Valley’s senior administr

Originally named Mayo Siding, this mill town just west of Duncan was founded by Mayo Singh in 1917. It flourished for two decades, then struggled after the mill closed in the 1940s. People gather each summer to remember the meaning of this place, and

In September 2016, a sign was unveiled just up the street from my home in Kamloops. It was the kind of familiar sign that dots Canada’s highways, meant for motorists to pull over and read, learn a thing or two about local history, and move on with a

The Arrow Lakes owes a debt of gratitude to the photographic foresight of a former Paldi mill hand. Ichiro Shiino left a legacy in film, chronicling the industrial and social life of Nakusp and its environs over several decades. Born in Cumberland in

Photographs have a wonderful power to uncover long-buried memories. While scanning the Bulkley Valley Museum’s Collections Online portal I stumbled across a photo of the Smithers CNR train station that triggered an instant flashback. It’s where I ste

With only a card table for a desk, a four-drawer wooden filing cabinet, and an interest in preserving the historical records of the region, Gladys Blyth, Phylis Bowman, and Barbara Sheppard established the Prince Rupert City & Regional Archives in Se

Books are only one way to learn about the past. I visit heritage sites to feel transported back to a place in time, and I appreciate the flexibility museums have to interpret a multitude of stories. Every year I make dozens of visits to heritage site

Digital media takes many forms. The range of options used to share narratives in British Columbia’s history are as diverse as the stories themselves. This issue of “Past Forward” features interactive websites, a YouTube channel, and a card game that

Written by family insider Jinder Oujla-Chalmers, this book is both a biography of Asa Singh Johal and his family and an in-de pth look at BC’s lumber industry. Asa Johal was a toddler when he immigrated to Canada with his Sikh family in 1924. Johal g

Completed in 1920, the Kinsol Trestle is the largest wooden railway bridge in the Commonwealth, offering a spectacular crossing of the Koksilah River. The trestle is notable for both its size and its unusual seven-degree curve. Also known as the Koks

Fujikazu “Frank” Koyama and his wife Taka lived beside their wharf on Stewart Avenue in Nanaimo and were respected members of the community. During the Second World War, the Koyamas were forcibly removed from the coast along with thousands of other J