The Chinese people discovered British Columbia,
sent their people to build towns, to work the land, built a railway and are now ostracized.
B.C. HISTORY Return to MAIN B.C. index
Racial intolerance is deeply ingrained into the British Columbia
psyche.
The white opinion this century in British Columbia demands Asian Nations be excluded from Canada and guides citizens to destroy Aboriginal Nations by any means possible. This racial intolerance can be found in the Manifest Destiny philosophy of the United States which fosters the belief that white Americans are superior to all other Nations. United States citizens descended on British Columbia in their tens of thousands bringing this racial intolerance with them. The English are the root cause of this deep seated superiority which was evident in the English/Spanish conflict of the past two centuries in British Columbia.
1900
Henry Fuller Davis (1820-1900) is better known as 'twelve foot Davis' for his 12 foot claim on a gap between two other claims that he made $12,000.00 worth of gold. Few remember his Northern Freightways business running between Quesnel, Fort Vermilion and Fort Edmonton. He employed over 100 men. He had an unshakable reputation for treating Indians fairly. He advanced credit to the Indians and considered them to be inherently honest. He nearly always was paid up. He used the Indians as canoe men and packers. Those who really knew him say he was known for his kindness and hospitality to all. Davis was not a religious man and wrote his own epitaph by saying he was not afraid to die because I never killed anyone. never stole from nobody, never willfully harmed nobody and always kept an open house, for all travelers all my life. It is noteworthy that the Egyptian origin of the ten commandments took this form of 'I did not kill' rather than 'thou shall not kill'.
July 14: Whitehorse, N.W.T. F.R.S. Barlee, d-1921, wrote: Last night I saw 3 tons of gold loaded on a train, it had come up from Dawson. It was in 12 iron boxes, each containing 500 lbs.
1901
A. E. Armitage (1863-1889) is living Ashcroft District in 1901 census.
A. Brown (1841-1898 is living Kamloops District in 1901 census.
A. C. Clouston (1844-1892) is living Nanaimo District in 1901 census
George Johnston b-1844 is living Victoria in 1901 census.
The overwhelming majority of people in Cassiar (Skeena), B.C. are Asian, (Chinese and Japanese).
Ogopogo, a monster of Lake Okanagan, British Columbia sounds like a aboriginal name but was created by non-aboriginal. The Salish had a name for a flesh eating creature called Naitaka (demon of the Lake).
The NWMP reported that Fishburn is located on the dry fork of the Kootenay and is the center of a thriving settlement. It was founded in 1894 by A.M. Fish.
1902
Coal Creek, Fernie, B.C. an explosion killed 125 miners.
The first vertical free flight was performed this year at Rossland, British Columbia by Louis Gagnon. Gagnon's machine, a two engine contraption, was essentially a helicopter.
Chinese are "unfit for full citizenship" reported a 1902 Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration. "They are so nearly allied to a servile class that they are obnoxious to a free community and dangerous to the state."
1903
The Victoria Terminal Railway and Ferry Company began ferry service between Sidney and the mouth of the Fraser River, linked to its rail service between Sidney and Victoria.
Bill Miner (1843-1914) having spent most of his life in San Quentin jail for stage robberies moved to Portland Oregon to rob the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. express. The robbery failed and he fled to Nicola Valley, British Columbia and assumed the name George Edwards.
A whaling station was established at Seachart in the Barkley Sound, Vancouver Island in 1903 which operated for several years.
March 12: The head tax on Chinese immigrates of $100 is insufficient to eliminate the flow. To ensure these, so called, undesirable people, are restricted, the discrimination tax is raised to $500 dollars. Migration of Chinese to Canada dropped to a trickle as $500 equals one years wages in Canada. Resentment by some English enclaves in Canada, towards Asian Peoples, exists into the 21 century. This racist Head Tax would not be repealed until 1967. In 2005 the government finally admitted the tax was racist and discriminatory and $12.5 million was paid as a token recognition of this atrocity,
October 20: London, the Lord Chief Justice of England Richard E. Webber Alverstone supported the United States Claims of the Alaska boundary dispute. United States President Theodore Roosevelt had threatened war against Canada and therefore Britain if the settlement of the dispute didn't go his way. It had long been a desire of the United States to have a continuous boarder on the pacific and thereby isolating Canada from ocean access. When British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 the U.S.A. retaliated by claiming several fiords creating what was referred to as the Alaska pan handle isolating Canadian access to the Yukon. As a result many Canadians believed Canada should sever ties with Britain and resentment against the United States ran deep.
1904
The Canadian Government disallowed a British Columbia Provincial Act to restrict Chinese immigration. A $500 Head Tax was deemed adequate to discourage immigration. Anglo-Saxon intolerance to other races is historically endemic. Discriminating against other civilizations is a Federal right.
In 1904, the concept of The Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island began with an effort to beautify a worked-out quarry site on the 130-acre estate of Mr. and Mrs. Butchart, pioneers in the manufacture of Portland Cement in Canada.
Five thousand Indian men (almost all Sikhs) begin to arrive in BC, most find work in lumber mills.
September 10: Bill Miner (1843-1914) held up and robbed the CPR transcontinental a few miles outside Mission, B.C. He got $7,000 and is Canada's first train robbery..
1905
"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote." - Grover Cleveland.
1906
Bill Miner, of the United States, and two other men held up and robbed the CPR passenger train near Kamloops, B.C. They only got $15 and were captured several days later.
January 22: Pacific Coast Steamship Line, commanded by Captain O.N. Johnson went ashore. Of the 164 passengers and crew of the Valencia, only 38 survived; 59 bodies being recovered with 67 missing and presumed drowned. His ship had gone ashore on Pachena Point, a lonely uninhabited part of the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, fifteen miles from the nearest village of Clo-oose--fifteen miles of almost impenetrable, jungle-like wilderness, the only sign of civilization being a tenuous thread of telegraph wire strung from tree to tree along the shoreline. In the other direction, it was an almost equal distance to the Cape Beale lighthouse.
1907
Between 1903 and 1908, over 5,000 Sikhs immigrated to British Columbia causing the Government to enact legislation to disenfranchise all Asians, denying them the federal vote, access to political office, jury duty, the professions, public service jobs and labor on public works. Subsequent legislation in 1908 made it impossible for further immigration into Canada, effectively separating the men from their families. This was seen as a British inspired action and resulted in support for the Ghadar Party that resulted in the down fall of British Rule in India. This British Columbia racist law remained in effect until 1947. Racism in the British Columbia socialist culture remains deep rooted into the twenty first century.
Imperial Oil Limited opened the first gasoline service station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, possibly America. A converted hot-water tank and a garden hose was used to dispense gasoline to cars at the curb. The first motorists bought gasoline from the grocery store or hardware stores in cans or open buckets.
Frank Oliver (1853-1933), son Allen Bowsfield succeeded in canceling the "Hamlet Clause" of 1899 forcing 2,500 homesteaders off the land by effectively confiscating their lands especially the Doukhobors. Oaths are required to own land which is against their religion. The Indians and churches were exempt from these rulings.
B.C. disenfranchised all Hindus this year.
May: A Vancouver paper observed a boatload of immigrants from Japan: "Eleven hundred & seventy-seven of the little brown men were on the steamer ... The decks were crowded with the swarming Japanese, who covered her from stem to stern like a swarm of ants."
August: The Colonist newspaper read "Guerrilla chief's home at Quatsino." It reported that John Sharp (1837-1910), who arrived B.C. 1897, a watchman of the West Vancouver Coal Company's property at Coal Harbor, B.C., had been identified as the Confederate terrorist 'Quantrill'. William Clarke Quantrill alias Charles Hart (1837-1865) was the leader of the most savage fighting unit in the civil war. Before joining the Confederate cause he was wanted for horse theft and murder. August 21, 1863, he led a force of 450 raiders into Lawrence, Kansas, killing 183 (150) men and boys many in front of their families, pillaged the banks and pubs, and burnt the town. Some of his crew included Bloody Bill Anderson who wore a necklace of Yankee scalps into battle. Others were the James Brothers (Frank & Jesse), and the Younger Brothers (Cole & Jim). John Sharp had admitted to being Quantrill and those who believed him had evidence to support that opinion.
August 29: Warren Steed Jeffs b-1955 leader of the 10,000 sect church from Arizona-Utah-B.C. called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), was on the F.B.I.'s 10 most wanted fugitives list, was arrested today near Las Vegas.
September: Hatred against Asians boiled over, at a huge protest rally at Vancouver City Hall organized by the newly formed Asiatic Exclusion League. Half the city’s 30,000 people turned out for the rally wearing ribbons that said "For a White Canada."
Part of the crowd of about 7,000 men turned on Chinatown. For three days, Asian homes and businesses were vandalized.
"The mob soon left the Chinese quarter and headed in the direction of Japtown ... " the Vancouver Province reported. "The crash of glass was continual. Window after window was shattered in stores and boarding houses as the riotous gang pushed farther into the thoroughfare lined with nests of Japanese."
There were no deaths from the riots but bitter feelings simmered for decades.
October 12: The Canadian Government agreed to cover the cost of damage done by mobs raiding the Japanese and Chinese sections of Vancouver, B.C.
1908
Fernie, B.C. was a wild town and there were lots of holdups on the CPR tracks between Fernie and the red light district, one mile west of town. I, along with other Cokatonians, started to carry revolvers to protect ourselves, so says Edward Hollinshead, b-1891.
Trail improvements from Port Renfrew to Bamfield it became the West Coast Lifesaving Trail and is now the well known West Coast Trail.
Thousands of Prairie Doukhobor settlers are forced from their homesteads by the Liberal Government, their lands confiscated and they moved to the West Kootenays in British Columbia. The move occurred 1908 to 1912 but 6,000 moved near Castlegar this year. To circumvent Liberal Government policy all the lands were recorded in Peter Verigin's the name of their religious leader. He would be later murdered, some believed by the Government but no one was brought to justice. It is believed about this time (1907-1908) the Russian Doukhobor Sect split into the Sons of Freedom or Freedomite sect that refused to take an oath. The main sect of Doukhobor or more correctly Doukno-bouts meaning Spirit Wrestlers separated from the more militant Sons of Freedom.
August 1: Fernis, B.C is wiped off the map as fire destroys the town, according to Edward Hollinshead, b-1891.
1911
(II)-Gladys Parker is born May 2, 1911 at Vancouver British Columbia, daughter of (I)-Harry Parker alias Hugh Pimlett and (I)-Margaret O'Neil and will marry, February 11, 1938, Louis Monroe born 1909.
The Kicking Horse Pass Tunnel, in the Canadian Rockies, on the continental divide, on the B.C. Alberter boarder, is completed this year, being first considered as a pass in 1858. A spiral tunnel reduced the grade from 4.5% to 2.2%.
In 1911 the Saskatchewan legislature prohibited any Japanese, Chinese or other Oriental from employing any white woman or girl, and British Columbia and Ontario soon followed suit. This year the act was repealed but it was replaced by an act which required Chinese businessmen to obtain a special license to hire a female.
Donald Herbert (Herbie) Taylor born 1866, Manitoba, settled Taylor Flats, later caller Taylor, B.C. located mile 36 of the Alaska highway, being south of Fort St. John. Herbie settled Alder Flats late 1911 or early 1912. As a young man he was a firefighter for the North Dakota Railway, moved to Fort Edmonton, (Alberta) in 1896, then in 1905 became Factor for the Hudson Bay Company at Hudson Hope. He married a girl called Charlotte at Peace River Crossing. He was a fur trader, trapper, farmer and ferryman.
June 1: The population of the west is: Saskatchewan 492,432, Manitoba 461,000, B.C. 392,480, Alberta 374,295, NWT 8,512 and Yukon 8,512.
1912
The first lighthouse at Ucluelet, Vanvouver Island was swept away by a tidal wave in 1912.
The first Sikh baby born in Canada, Hardial Singh Atwal, is delivered in Vancouver. Hardial is the son of Balwant Singh Atwal, the first priest of the 2nd Avenue gurdwara.
1913
Rock slides in the Fraser Canyon, caused by railway construction, nearly blocked the river at Hells Gate, cutting off the annual salmon migration and decimated the fishery. It was not rectified until 1940's.
July 18: The immigration of Sikhs from India caused race riots in Vancouver.
August 6, Victoria, B.C. the first death involving an airplane was an American stunt pilot, John M. Bryant, in his Curtiss seaplane near Victoria.
August 13, troops are dispatched to Nanaimo, B.C. to stop the rioting.
December 8: An order in Council prohibited the landing of skilled or unskilled laborers at British Columbia ports. This is justified because of unemployment and labor strife. Others suggest it is directed toward Asian peoples attempting to immigrate to white America.
1914
John Garneau made an important decision to leave St. Paul de Metis and move to Portland, Oregon. John Garneau had witnessed the unending waves of Celtic-Anglo-Saxon settlers and the building resentment between Catholic and Protestant, French and English. His sister Millicent Savard and her daughter Yvonne went with him to meet up with her husband who went out earlier to review job prospects. This is ironic, the Catholic Church had spent countless resources encouraging United States and French to come to Canada but sustains a policy that drives out French Canadian Metis Catholics.
Three hundred seventy-six Indian immigrants arrive in Vancouver harbor on the steamer Komagata Maru. The Canadian government refuses to allow the Indians to disembark and after a two-month standoff, the naval cruiser HMCS Rainbow escorts the vessel out of Canadian waters.
May 21: The ship Komagata Maru and 396 Sikh immigrants arrived Vancouver and are turned away under recently enacted Canadian Immigration laws. The ship was forced out of Vancouver July 23.
1915
During the war, Ucluelet, Vancouver Island became a commercial fishing center.
August: Two German warships were sighted off the coast of British Columbia putting an invasion scare to the populace. Banks in Vancouver sent their gold reserves to Winnipeg and Seattle. Some citizens fled inland, to more secure areas.
November 13: The reported Canadian casualties in the war are 539 officers and 13,017 men.
November 21: Volcano Lake, B.C. Latitude 32.30 N & longitude 115.0 W, earthquake, mag. 7.1
1916
WWI after being rejected for military service in British Columbia, approximately 200 Japanese volunteers travel to Alberta to join Canadian battalions of the British army and are shipped to Europe. 54 are killed and 92 wounded.
March 14: Women are allowed to vote in Saskatchewan. On April 27, 1916, Alberta women regain the right to vote and this follows the Manitoba lead of January 27. Red-necked British Columbia and Ontario finally follow to allow the female vote on April 4, 1917 and April 12 respectively.
1917
Few Canadians realize that a war internment camp was created at Yoho National Park, about 30 kilometers west of Lake Louise, to hold Austro-Hungarian immigrants in Canada where they were forced to do hard labor. My grandfather was a Austro-Hungarian but fortunately was not interned. Not learning from this experience, we Canadians repeated this practice in the second World War against the Japanese Canadians.
1918
The First Nations and Metis military personnel returning from service in WW-I, WW-II and the Korean War were not granted veterans benefits.
The Canadian Pacific Passenger Liner, the Princess Sophia, in Lynn Canal, was caught on a reef, but due to the rough seas, the captain decided it would be inadvisable to remove passengers from the stranded ship and another ship stood by to take aboard the passengers when the weather improved. During the evening when the wind increased, the Sophia slipped off the reef, filling immediately, and all 343 passengers and crew were drowned. The ship was following the inside passage from Vancouver, B.C. to Skagway, Alaska.
December: John Garneau and family returned from Oregon to St. Paul de Metis due to the many deaths in the family. They stayed above Lawrence Garneau's Sash and Door Factory located north of Saint Paul des Metis in Garneau Village.
1919
The British Columbia government bars the Doukhobor and other conscientious objectors from voting and no one cares.
Japanese fishermen control nearly half of the fishing licenses in Canada. The Department of Fisheries subsequently reduces the number of licenses issued to "other than white residents of British subjects and Canadian Indians". By 1925, close to 1,000 licenses are stripped from Japanese Canadians.
1920
December; Vancouver, B.C. oil prospectors are considering a scheme to use a long distance airplane to fly to Fort Norman Oil Fields and back to the coast.
1921
Village Island, British Columbia was the location of a religious potlatch ceremony and Tamanawas dance. Forty five people were arrested, twenty two of those arrested were imprisoned. This ban on the Potlatch and Tamanawas dance was not lifted until 1951.
Treaty #11, North West Territories is signed by the Slave, Dogrib, Loucheux and Hare. Chief Dan Cranmer and the Kwakiuti near Alert Bay, near Port McNeill, Vancouver Island, despite a Government ban held a major religious Potlatch. Some participants are later arrested and their property is confiscated. This religious inspired ban would not be lifted until 1951.
Village Island, British Columbia a religious potlatch ceremony was conducted and 45 People were arrested and of these 22 were imprisoned for taking part in this banned festival. The goods involved in the ceremony were confiscated and most ended up in private collections or museums. The ban on the Potlatch and Tamanawas dancing was installed 1884 and was not lifted until 1951
Chinese children in Victoria, B.C. were segregated from white children for fear the Chinese children might tend to develop the idea of social equality besides the school boards concluded these children are a health menace. Chinese are unable to speak perfect English and therefore retard the whole class. Chinese students went on strike for a whole year, after which they were re-admitted to their former schools.
The Ogopogo legend, a monster of Lake Okanagan, B.C., was created this year from the Salish legend of the Naitaka.
June 1: The population of the west is: Saskatchewan 757,510, Manitoba 610,118, Alberta 588,454, B.C. 524,582, NWT 7,988 and Yukon 4,157.
1922
The Canadian Government passed an act prohibiting people of Chinese origin or descent from immigrating. Families were broken up and the imbalance of males to females was 23 to 1. As a result 1/3 of all Chinese women in Victoria were prostitutes. This act was not repealed until 1947 and in Canada 1967. In 2005 the Canadian Government finally admitted the actions against the Chinese from 1885 to 1967 was racist and discriminatory and $12.5 million was paid as a token recognition of this action..
July 1: Chinese immigration was banned outright. Chinese would call it "Humiliation Day." It would take another 25 years before the ban was repealed.
1924
October 24: A rail car bombing between Castlegar and Grand Forks, British Columbia took the life of the Doukhobor religious leader Peter V. Verigin and eight others including one member of the Provincial legislature. No one was ever arrested for this obvious assassination.
December 17: The B.C. legislature adopted a resolution opposing the continued immigration of Oriental peoples to Canada.
1927
The Federal Parliament rejects renewed claims by the Nista's in B.C. that they had never given up title to their lands. To ensure no future action an amendment to the Indian Act prevents First Nations from raising money or hiring lawyers to advance their land claims. It stops effective court action.
1930
February 20: The Federal Government transferred the control of natural resources in the Province of B.C. to the Provincial Government.
1931
Doukhobors are banned from voting in Federal elections and some are quietly saying who is next? Some suggest signs start appearing this year reading "Dogs and Englishmen not allowed" or "Englishmen need not apply". Chinese. Japanese, Hindus, Teachers and Provincial civil servants have lost the vote so far. Why the racist English have not been singled out is unknown.
June 1: The population of the west is: Alberta 731,605, B.C. 694,263, Manitoba 700,139, Saskatchewan 921,785, N.W.T. 9,316, Yukon 4,230
1932
Victoria, B.C. as Chinese established restaurants and grocery stores outside Chinatown, they were also forbidden to employ white women.
Between 1932 to 1935 about 600 Sons of Freedom a division of the Doukhobor religious sect are arrested, jailed and their children sent to residential schools that are nothing less than prisons. The children are hunted down like wild animals and made wards of the state. I can hear some saying, so what, this was the olden days, however look ahead to 1953-1962 the practice continued.
1933
The sexual Sterilization Act of B.C. resulted in the sterilization of about 200 people and the act was not abolished until 1973. Nine women were awarded $450,000.00 settlement in December 21, 2005.
1934
December 30: Laguna Salda, B.C. Latitude 32.33 N & longitude 115.38 W, earthquake, mag. 6.5
1935
The bored and disgusted inmates of Bennetts work camps walked out in their hundreds. By late spring nearly 1,000 broke camp in British Columbia and began marching East.
1938 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
John Lewis Monroe born, November 1, 1909, died, July 29, 1991, Vancouver, British Columbia son John (Jack) W. Monroe born 1884 Rolla, North Dakota married 1905 Olive McClellan born 1884 Waterton; married, February 11, 1938, Vancouver (II)-Gladys Mary Parker born May 2, 1911 Vancouver, British Columbia died June 6, 1968 Rome, Italy, daughter (I)-Harry Parker alias Hugh Pimlett born Liverpool, England died 1917 in World War I and (I)-Margaret O'Neil born Liverpool, England and died, October 31, 1934, Vancouver, British Columbia.
SIX CHILDREN WERE RECORDED:
- Noreen Anne Monroe born 1939 Vancouver, British Columbia married (10)-Richard Garneau, born 1937
- David Monroe
- Bruce Monroe married Jane, children Amy, Curtis and Blair
- Margaret Monroe married Rubino Taddei children Daniette, Johanna, Francesca, Robert, Stephen and James
- Ruth Monroe married John Vaessen children Jevon, Elissa and Racheal
- Barbara Monroe married Donald MaCaulay children Ian and Ross
1942
Ian Mackenzie, a minister of Mackenzie King's government, said that we should let our slogan for British Columbia be: no Japs from the Rockies to the sea. The Japanese Canadians were prevented from voting and prohibited from working on projects funded by the Government.
January: The British Columbia racists, headed by the dishonorable John Hart, convinced the Federal Liberal party, under the dishonorable William Lyon Mackenzie King (The King of Chaos as he called himself), to use the 'War Measures Act' to persecute Canadians with Japanese ancestry. An order was issued February 24, to remove all Canadian Japanese within 100 miles of the Pacific Coast. Some 20,881 men, women and children were rounded up and interned in the National Exhibition Grounds in Vancouver in cattle stalls. The Liberal Government seized all their property, homes, farms, fishing boats (1,200 boats), businesses and personal property, which they sold. The shut down Japanese schools, and silenced Japanese news papers. The prisoners were shipped to internment camp across Canada. If this sounds to you like the roundup of the Jews in Germany, you are right. The British Columbia persecution of Japanese Canadians has been continuous since 1877. No Japanese were allowed in Canada from 1940 to 1967. In 1946 the Liberals, under the King of Chaos, attempted to deport 10,000 Canadian Japanese to Japan. Massive protests stopped the deportation and the prisoners regained their freedom on April 1, 1949. The irony of April fools day is not lost to history. By 1993 the Conservative Government paid compensation to 18,000 Canadian Japanese survivors of the little Liberal holocaust. Prejudice, discrimination and racism towards Asian Canadian peoples is still alive and well at the turn of the century in British Columbia.
February 24: William Lyon Mackenzie King Prime Minister of Canada, a Liberal fascist, issued an order for the removal and internment of Pacific coast Japanese Canadians. This amounted to 20,881 men women and children of which 13,309 were Canadian born. The R.C.M.P. invaded the homes at all hours of the day and night, gathering up men, women and children and they were only allowed to take what they could carry. Like the Jews in Germany they were herded into cattle holding pens, forced onto trains and transported to concentration camps. Mackenzie King (1874-1950) remained unrepentant to his death claiming that he dealt with the problem in loving mercy. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would say when will the compensation to the Japanese ever end.
February 26: All Japanese living in the coastal regions of B.C. were removed to the interior and all their property was confiscated. About 22,000 Canadians were involved.
June 20: A Japanese submarine fired a few shells at Estevan Point on Vancouver Island with no damage.
1945
The First Nations and Metis military personnel returning from service in WW-I, WW-II and the Korean War were not granted veterans benefits.
1947
The war chemicals produced at Suffield, Alberta were dumped into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of British Columbia with no regard to their environmental impact.
B.C. disenfranchised all persons without an adequate knowledge of English or French.
January 24: The Government revoked the 1945 deportation of Canadian Japanese, despite vehement opposition by MP's from British Columbia. These red necks wanted to protect their ill-gotten gains of Japanese lands and possessions. The Canadian Japanese are still restricted in changing residence without a permit and they are prohibited from fishing off the British Columbia coast in order to protect the English fishermen.
1948
The Fraser River flooded this year.
Civil marriages are legalized in B.C.
1949
Between 1907 and 1947, the British Columbia racist laws disenfranchised all Asian immigrants in the province, denying them the federal vote, access to political office, jury duty, the professions, public service jobs and labor on public works. The laws were overturned because of external pressure from India, but the racism is deeply rooted in the the culture of the people in this province. These racist beliefs and values are systemic and still very strongly held into the twenty first century.
This is the first year that First Nations Peoples are allowed to vote in Provincial elections.
1950
February 13: An American Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft crashed into mount Kolaget, a place called the Hidden Place by the natives, north of Smitthers, B.C. The bomber was carrying a Mark IV Fat Man atomic bomb, that the United States claim was not armed. Flight #2075 was flying from Eieson Air force base in Fairbanks, Alaska to Fort Worth, Texas off the coast of British Columbia. The official report, called 'Broken Arrow' contend three engines caught fire and Captain H.L. Barry and co-pilot Whitfield reported the bomb was dropped from 8,000 feet and detonated at 3,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, some 30 miles from shore. The crew was ordered to bail out over Princess Royal Island and the autopilot was engaged to ditch the plane in the Queen Charlotte Siund, British Columbia. Five of the crew are reported missing Captains W.M. Phillips & T.F. Schreir, Lt A. Holie, Staff sgts E.W. Pollard and N.A. Straley and assumed drowned. Captain H.L. Barry contends he was the last to bail out and he landed on Ashdown Island and saw the bomber had circled the island once. The official report doesn't report how this giant bomber turned off autopilot locked to the SW and made a 180 degree turn to the NE climbed 2,000 feet and crashed 200 miles inland, unless one or more of the crew stayed with the aircraft. Some contend Captain Ted F. Schreir was in control trying to save the aircraft. The aircraft was lost with a nuclear device aboard although the Air force contend a bomb was not aboard. The crash sight was finally discovered in 1953 after an off shore search found nothing. The air force sent in a disposal team in 1954 to blow up the remains of the aircraft for security purposes. Doug Craig b-1934 of Whitehorse discovered the wreck in June 23, 1956. Treasure seekers have illegally removed most of the artifacts of the crash.
1952
February 26: Ucluelet, Vancouver Island is incorporated as a village.
1953
The First Nations and Metis military personnel returning from service in WW-I, WW-II and the Korean War were not granted veterans benefits.
1954
October 12: West of Santo Toma, B.C. Latitude 31.30 N & longitude 116.0 W, earthquake, mag. 6.3
November 24: West of Santo Toma, B.C. Latitude 31.30 N & longitude 116.0 W, earthquake, mag. 6.8
1956
The Sinixt, a Salish speaking People, who were considered the mother tribe is declared extinct by the Canadian Government. Their home lands for thousands of years included the head waters of the Columbia River north of Nakusp, to Kaslo in the west, Revelstoke in the east, and down to Washington State. Despite what the Government says these people are not extinct.
February 9: San Miguel, B.C. Latitude 31.45 N & longitude 115.55 W, earthquake, two same day mag. 6.8 and mag 6.1
February 14: San Miguel, B.C. Latitude 31.30 N & longitude 115.30 W, earthquake, mag 6.3
February 15: San Miguel, B.C. Latitude 31.30 N & longitude 115.30 W, earthquake, mag 6.4
1958
Ripple Rock in Seymour Narrows near Campbell River, B.C., was blown up this year, having claimed 120 ships from 1875 to 1958. It was the world's largest non-nuclear peacetime explosion
1959
After 60 years of construction a road is finally completed linking Ucluelet, Long Beach, Tofino to Port Alberni aka Clayoquot Sound.
1960
For many years Vancouver Islanders had proposed that a park be created along the west coast of Vancouver Island to include the coastline near Tofino and the historic life-saving trail. In the 1960s a natural campsite park was established by the people at Long Beach and people flocked there, often camping and squatting on the beach. In the late 1960s it was a focal point for hippie backpackers who made their way across the country and ended up on Long Beach. It was truly a wonderful place to visit. Then Parks Canada developed the area and ruined it for people. They called it the Pacific Rim National Park. A few access roads were built to replace the old trails and parking fees were charged. Ten miles of camping grounds were replaced with one over booked formal camp ground. The author spent a few years camping on the beach before it was closed. The first road to Long Beach was the scariest, as some bridges were just logs with one side flattened, but the trip was worth it. Clear-cut logging was and is a blight upon the land.
1973
January 25: The freighter Irish Stardust ran aground north of Vancouver Island, spilling 100,000 gallons of fuel oil that spread 200 miles south.
January 31: The Supreme Court ruled that the Nishga Indians had no aboriginal rights over land in the Nass River, B.C. this was based on a technicality.
August 8: The Federal Government sets up an office of Native claims to consider comprehensive claims based on non-treaty areas, British Columbia refuses to participate. The Federal Government provides money to research and legally present their claims.
1975
November 10: The Edmund Fitzgerald a 729 foot long ship sank in Lake Superior with 29 aboard.
1980
June 9: Victoria, B.C. Latitude 32.12 N & longitude 115.50 W,earthquake, mag 6.4
1988
May 28: The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in Vancouver that a fetus is not a person, even in the birth canal, not until it has completely left its mother alive.
1991
British Columbia finally joins the Federal Government and the Nisga's tribal council for negotiations over land claims.
Stephen Andrew Garneau born, December 11, 1964, Edmonton, Alberta son Richard Daniel Garneau born 1937 and (8)-Noreen Monroe born 1939; married May 23, 1992, in the meadows above Kelowna, British Columbia a (11)-Dianne Larouche born, June 17, 1970, daughter (10)-Norman Larouche, born, October 11, 1942, Moonbeam, Ontario and Marilyn MacLean born, July 11, 1943 at Sidney, Nova Scotia daughter Everet Hugh MacLean born 1904 and Margaret Murtle Quinn born 1914 Sidney Mines, Nova Scotia, presently living at Kelowna, British Columbia.
1993
February 28: At 1:41 A.M. Ben Joseph Garneau is born at Kelowna, British Columbia son Stephen Andrew Garneau born 1964 and Dianne Larouche born 1970. Ben weighted in at 8 lbs.
1995
The term Cascadia is a local term used in the Pacific Northwest to refer to the old Oregon Territory including southern British Columbia, Washington and Oregon. I basically encompasses the watershed of the Cascade Range. It suggests Cascadia should be an economic unit.
1996
The Nisga's of British Columbia are finally successful with their land claim that started in 1913 and agreement in principle is reached with British Columbia and the Federal Government.
February 18: At 5:00 A.M. Mathew Louis Garneau is born at Kelowna, British Columbia son Stephen Andrew Garneau born 1964 and Dianne Larouche born 1970. Matt weighted in at 7 lb 12 oz.
1998
This year a whale watching zodiac out of Tofino, Vancouver Island capsized and two experienced guides drowned wearing their survival suits. Two female tourists from Germany survived in their survival suits. The author with a friend were fishing Barkley Sound, this same year south of Ucluelet, not that far from Tofino, wondering how this accident could happen. We looked up and could not see the shore. We were in the trough of a 40 foot swell, and within seconds were on a mountain of water. If the swell was 40 feet high it was also 40 feet low and we could be impaled on the rocks. We were fortunate to be in a channel, with no rocks. We had a small 18 foot deep hull boat with an inboard engine and immediately headed with the swell, heading for the lee of the nearest Island, which was about a mile ahead. Our strategy was to keep pace with the advancing swells for fear of being swamped and capsized. Three more swells hit us before we matched the swell speed and reached the lee of the island. I never again questioned how these boating accidents could happen and gained a deep respect for the sea. We were very fortunate that the swells did not cap.
2000
November: The Anglican Bishop Jim Cruickshank of Northern B.C.’s Cariboo Diocese has declared bankruptcy for the sins of its past. The Church has admitted that abuse took place over the past 130 years in the Indian Residential schools, and the courts say they are financially liable. Hundreds and hundreds of little children were abused, and the wounds go deep. It’s affected their work habits; their drinking habits, and many became abusers themselves. One third of the burials in Lytton were suicides. The rest were victims of drug and alcohol abuse.
November: Two Vancouver schools, Vancouver College and St. Thomas More Collegiate, operated by the Christian Brothers of Ireland in Canada, may have to be sold to pay restitution to the victims of abuse at the former Mount Castle orphanage. The Supreme Court will not hear a Church appeal. Between 1962 and 1990, ten Christian Brothers from the Mount Cashel orphanage in Vancouver were convicted of abusing boys in their care. In Newfoundland the government has already paid $11 million to settle with some claimants. In 1996 an Ontario Judge ruled the Christian Brothers should be wound up for their abuse of orphanage boys. He ruled that they were financially liable to the victims of the now demolished school in St. Johns.
2001
British Columbia, once the richest Province of Canada and a paradise that drew people, is now a basket case being classified by some as a "Have Not Province". Its ravaged by high taxes, high debt, bureaucratic regulations, and strikes by a militant, frustrated and miserable labor force. The cultural makeup of the Province is socialistic, some say boarding on communistic, and the Province fell from favor under the administration of the New Democratic Party that is classified as a socialistic party.
The Sons of Freedom a religious sect has started a law suite against the Federal Government for unlawful confinement when they rounded up 170 their children and place them in Residential Schools (1953-1959) where they were abused.
2001
December: The Metis Nation of B.C. continues its "Hunt for Justice" in the B.C. Supreme Court, trying to secure the right to hunt and fish anywhere, any time, in any quantities, for what ever reason, no matter the season. Rights without responsibility is not the Metis or Indian tradition.
2005
Jane Matheson, b-1933, a Vancouver socialite admitted to poisoning five trees on the edge of Stanley Park that impeded her view of English Bay. In the spring of 2004, staff from Vancouver's park board found holes drilled in the base of five trees, including a maple, chestnut, oak and two London planes. Three of the trees have since died. People were so outraged they pelted her apartment with rocks, eggs and dog feces. She was forced to sell her apartment for $1.695 million. Matheson has already written two cheques to the Vancouver Parks Board, one covering the almost $30,000 cost of replacing the trees and the other as a $20,000 donation.
February 16: Ian Bush, age 22 appears to have been executed by the RCMP last fall some 300 km west of Prince George, B.C. Bush was arrested for having an open beer outside a hockey game. The police officer says Bush attacked him while in custody and says it was self-defense. The coroner however says Bush was shot in the back of the head. This suggests it was likely first degree murder but the officer has not been charged. Four other men were killed by RCMP while in custody in the past 15 months.
August 11 Bountiful, B.C. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has 1,000 members and are almost all descendents of six men. The Fundamentalists or FLDS are listed as follows
* 8,000 belong to the Fundamentalist LDS Church
* 2,000 are ex-FLDS members but may still be considered fundamentalists
* 7,500 belong to the Apostolic United Brethren ("the Allred group")
* 1,500 belong to Centennial Park
* 1,500 belong to the Davis Cooperative Society ("the Kingstons")
* 1,500 belong to smaller groups such as the TLC, the Blackmores, the Neilson/Naylor group
* 15,000 are "independents," who are fundamentalists not affiliated with any group
Warren Steed Jeffs born December 3, 1955, son Rulon Jeffs, d-2002, is the absolute leader of the FLDS sect. He is President, Prophet, seer and revelator of the Church. He is also president of the Priesthood. In May, 2006 he was placed on the FBI 10 most wanted list for sodomy and rape. He was captured August 28, 2006 near Las Vegas and found guilty of assisted rape in September 25, 2007. The fundamental principles of the FLDS is polygamy, a minimum of 3 wives (Jeffs has 80), hatred of blacks, absolute dictatorship, he alone decides who marries who and when, and children are home schooled. Surplus boys are forced out of the community with poor education and skills necessary for their survival. The most divisive factor of the sect continues to be "who has the priesthood authority." The B.C. Government has been powerless to address the child and women abuse issues at Bountiful, B.C.
A Major tenant of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FDLS) is polygmy. Jeffs is reported to have 70 wives. He believes all males can aspire to be a God but only if he has three or more wives. The more wives, the closer one is to heaven. Many believe Mormonism is polygamy because Joseph Smith taught this Foundation Principle and nothing can be changed.
Jeffs is the only one who can arrange and perform marriages in the sect and this authority leaves the sect in limbo.
Jeffs also taught that the Black race brings evil into the world.
2007
January 25: Warren Steed Jeffs, b-1955 leader of the FLDS Church told his brother Nepi Jeffs that he was immoral and not a prophet, Mormonism clearly states a prophet is infallible. Members of the Church claimed this is untrue because Nephi Jeffs just wants his job.
January 28: Warren Steed Jeffs, b-1955 leader of the FLDS Church attempted suicide by hanging himself. Jeffs is arrested on sex related charges.
March 27: Warren Steed Jeffs, b-1955 leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FDLS) stated for the second time that he is not and never was a prophet of the church.
September 25: Warren Steed Jeffs, b-1955 leader of the FLDS Church is convicted on two counts of rape and is awaiting sentencing. Sentencing was November 21, 2007; 5 years to life and fined $37K and he still faces a $1 million civil suit and other charges in Arizona.
November 11: Surry, B.C. Mohammed Hassin has been running a human warehouse in a rundown home with 17 people living in cubicles in a 893 sq. foot house. He was receiving more than $5,000.00 per month from a very vulnerable people for the past three years.
November 14: Paul Pritchard, b-1972 video taped and witnessed the homicide of Robert Dziekanski, b-1967, a Polish immigrant, who speaks no English. Four R.C.M.P. officers, acting like a gang of thugs, twice tasered, the man to an excruciating death. One R.C.M.P. officer, a large man, planted a knee on the dying mans neck. The R.C.M.P. officers egged each other on by chanting "hit him again", "hit him again". Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre, a spokesperson for the R.C,M.P. implied that the victim was out of control and that's why he was tazered. The video clearly shows that this was a lie and an attempted cover-up. Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre should be demoted and reassigned to a less visible position. The RCMP refused to take the cuffs off Dziekanski so firefighter's could perform CPR. The firefighters said he was not breathing and had no pulse. The RCMP lied tp Cpl. Dale Carr saing he was breathing and hads a pulse when firefighters arrived. The R.C.M.P. tried to suppress the video and only reluctantly released the video back to Paul Pritchard after legal action was threatened. This unprovoked attack, as witnessed by may travelers in the Vancouver airport, and millions of Canadians, violated all R.C.M.P. practice and policy. These so named 'R.C.M.P. Thugs' should be charged with manslaughter. An internal R.C.M.P. review is not justice. It should be noted that 17 Canadians have died from tasering and 150 Americans. The Polish government has asked for the arrest of the four R.C.M.P. officers involved. Elzbiete Dubon, widow of Robert Dzickanski, says the R.C.M.P. are murderers. It would appear this is not an isolated case but a systemic problem. The press was quick to search out any old records of Robert Dziekanski but made no attempt to name the R.C.M.P. officers involved and their 'thug' history. The R.C.M.P. failed in their primary task to serve and protect Canadians.
November 21: Stockwell Day, Public Safety Minister, says the four R.C.M.P. officers may face "the possibility of criminal charges".
November 25: Dubai has a diversification strategy into the service sector, banks, ports, telecom, tourism and real estate. They are targeting Vancouver and Toronto in Canada. Dubai began to modernize in 1971 and is into a feverous pace as oil revenue is expected to end in 2020. We are sometimes blinded by the economic progress of Dubai without casting an eye as to how this is being achieved. Dubai practices economic slavery and is building their empire on one million expatriates, mostly from Asia. These expatriates are forced to live in sub human conditions, are subjected to delayed or forfeited payment of wages, substitution of employment contracts, premature termination of services and excessive working hours. Unlike the Black slave trade into the U.S.A. that built that economy, the expatriates are not allowed to become citizens. Canada and the United States is beginning to practice a form of Dubai expatriate economic slavery philosophy, is this what we want for our future?
The sub-prime mortgage market has hit American Financial institutes for US$45 billion so far this year making them venerable to Dubai take over.
November 29: Polish authorities have launched their own investigation of the death of Robert Dziekanski. Polish criminal code allows for investigation of Polish citizens killed abroad and :foreign nationals can be prosecuted in such cases". Polish authorities want to get to the bottom of what happened and they are not going to wait for the results of Canadian investigations.
December 9: Man is considered as only a machine in Dubai as 22,000 expatriates go on strike. Recently 286,000 illegal workers departed U.A.E. under and amnesty program. The workers complain that their first two months wages are held and substandard living conditions makes working in Dubai intolerable. Dubai construction projects will be delayed for lack of human resources.
2008
February 15: An Anglican Church of Canada, St. John's Shaughnessy, in New Westminster, British Columbia voted to split from the 400 year old traditional Anglican Church. The schism is over homosexuality, the Churches recognition of homosexual marriage and allowing homosexual clergy. They intend to affiliate with the American, African, Asia and Latin American Churches who are of the same belief. So far a number of Anglican parishes in 5 Canadian Dioceses have split. The Liberal minority were in dismay over the conservatives majority in the Church who disagree with the homosexual stance of the Liberal minority. The schism will result in legal action to split the Church property. There are 800,000 registered Anglicans in Canada and 77 million world wide. It is noteworthy that the Anglican Church of England has lost one third of its membership of late and Roman Catholics now exceed Anglicans in numbers in England.
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