District of Saanich
On October 2, 1921 Shelbourne Street (Saanich and Victoria) was dedicated by Lieutenant Governor Walter Nichol and Premier John Oliver as a memorial avenue/road of remembrance. This event was attended by over 5,000 community members. This dedication commemorated the sacrifice of British Columbians in World War One (1914-1918). In this case 800 London Plane trees were planted along the road way – one tree for every soldier lost from Vancouver Island. The original idea was to plant one tree for every BC soldier killed in battle. However, this goal was not achievable, as over 6,000 BC soldiers were lost and there was space for only 800 trees. A number of the original London Plane trees still remain along Shelbourne Street in both Saanich and Victoria. Saanich will be embarking on a number of initiative’s to protect, recognize and reestablish these the London trees along Shelbourne Street. 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of WW1 and one initiative to recognize the heritage and cultural value these trees is to install four interpretive signs to recognize the cultural significance WW1 had on the community as well as the impact that the planting of the trees along Shelbourne Street had.
Island Pathways, Salt Spring
Island Pathways, a non -profit society on Salt Spring Island, (SSI) will work with local partners including the Historical Society/SSI Archives, Japanese Garden Society, Farmer’s Institute, Anglican Church, and others to design, print and install historical interpretive panels along the comprehensive pathway network which serves the island’s main village of Ganges. Each panel will tell its own story of Salt Spring Island and those who have made it their home over the centuries.
Friends of Ruckle Park Heritage Society, Salt Spring
Ruckle Park is a Class A Provincial Park that comprises 485 hectares on Salt Spring Island, including the oldest continuously operating farm in BC. This rich cultural landscape includes a number of highly significant buildings, an extensive collection of artifacts and rich archaeological resources. In consultation with Heritage Branch and BC Parks, Ruckle Park has been selected as the perfect location to trial the new BC Parks Cultural Heritage Handbook, a practical guide for conserving cultural heritage in BC's Protected Area System. Ruckle Park will be the first site in BC to test this new methodology, and the results will serve as a Case Study for the final version of the Handbook. The Ruckle Park Heritage Awareness Project will serve as the final critical test of the new handbook prior to its printing and distribution to all BC Parks staff throughout the province. It is impossible to understate the implications of this project for the education and awareness of Parks staff throughout the province.
Historic Joy Kogawa House Society, Vancouver
Historic Joy Kogawa House has recently undergone restoration and rehabilitation, so that the childhood home of one of Canada’s great writers can expand its role in the literary life – and in the social conscience – of our community. This awareness project enables us to reopen our doors with new live programming that docents can use during house tours or when they make in-service visits to schools. The new programming will also revitalize our online presence, encouraging teachers to explore the educational possibilities we offer. The aim is to boost awareness and to support our maintenance of the house. Now that the City of Vancouver owns this heritage resource, and has leased operations to the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society, we have more expenses. An enhanced schedule of educational programs will enable us to earn income while meeting our mission to share insight and understanding about the internment experience of Japanese Canadians.
Rossland Heritage Commission
In June 2000, the City of Rossland approved a Community Heritage Register for 29 heritage buildings. In 2009, to increase public awareness of the heritage value of the buildings, it was decided to put plaques on 10 of them. This was very successful and in subsequent years, the Rossland Heritage Commission has added to the number of plaques. We now a requirement to redo 2 of the original building plaques - due to weather damage and we have 3 plaques that need to be created. The Commission also put a burial plot map (4 feet by 8 feet) at the Columbia Cemetery over 10 years ago. After hours more of investigation, we have exhausted our search but the original burial plot map is woefully out of date. This needs to be updated with the most current information that we have.
Vancouver Heritage Foundation
Vancouver Heritage Foundation (VHF) proposes to create a study guide for high school students and their teachers. It will be tailored to the new BC Curriculum and will tie in to Social Studies, Urban Studies and related high school topics. It will provide structured opportunities for teachers and their students to engage with and learn about Vancouver's diverse heritage places and their history, drawing on VHF resources including the Places That Matter Community History Resource, the Heritage Site Finder and Vancouver House Styles. The guide will meet a need expressed by teachers and educators in the Lower Mainland and could provide a model for other regions to utilize. VHF staff will do additional research and consultation about content and focus, hire a teacher to develop the guide, further consult with teachers, educators and students to finalize it and then make it available.
The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, Victoria
Abkhazi Garden was acquired by TLC in 2000. The residence that was occupied by the Prince and Princess Abkhazi is now a teahouse, and a stone patio extends on the Garden side of the house and includes stairways into the Garden. TLC has begun restoration work on the stonework, completing some stairways and pathways in recent years. This work was considered the most dangerous as some of the stone had broken and it posed safety hazards. We would now like to complete the project by re-doing the top patio area as the surface is uneven, and a safety concern. As in the previous work, the original stone is removed, the base prepared, and the stone is placed back, with some additional materials as required. In addition, a water leak was detected in the house where the stonework meets the base of the front picture windows.
District of Central Saanich
The proposed project involves repainting of the original farmhouse at Newman Farm in Central Saanich, which is one of the oldest, most well-preserved, small mixed farms on the Saanich peninsula. The project is part of a broader restoration initiative that involves extensive repairs to the farmhouse foundation structure and woodwork, currently underway with funding support from the BC Canada 150 fund. The complete restoration of the farmhouse – one of fifteen buildings located on the municipally-owned 16.5 acre property - will ensure the protection of this authentic historic place. Further, it supports unique opportunities for immersion into traditional farming, early pioneering life and local history, while ensuring that this deeply valued property continues to serve an important purpose within the community.
Highland Heritage Park Society, Highlands
The School House, built in 1893, is a one room, hip-roofed wood frame structure located in the Caleb Pike Heritage Park in the District of Highlands. The School House is highly valued by the community: it is in use on a regular basis for meetings and gatherings, and is an important part of the social fabric of the community. It represents the tenacity and resourcefulness of the community who argued and petitioned to have it built and struggled to keep it open for 48 years. This project is an investment in the Highlands’ future and cultural heritage. The scope of work consists of exterior building conservation to remediate damaged areas (original 1893 materials) on the north end of the building. Careful disassembly of the entrance porch, belly band, siding and sheathing will take place and damaged elements will be either repaired or replaced. Following the rehabilitation, the entire building will be repainted.
Vancouver Police Museum
The Coroner’s Courtroom project is a rehabilitation of the 1932 Vancouver Municipal Coroner’s Courtroom. The Space is currently used as the main gallery for the Vancouver Police Museum. During the early years of the museum’s occupying the space, they set up a system of false walls covering the original character-defining elements of the courtroom. This project will look at removing those false walls to establish the original assemblies of the room included six exterior windows, wood trim that begins at the floor and extends to chair rail height along all walls as well as exposing the alcove that was behind the Coroner’s bench. It will also look at removing the carpet on three raised areas to expose the hardwood platforms.
By re-establishing these features a greater visual understanding and allow public visitors to image the space in use. It will also act as a model for future conservation work in the building.
City of Terrace
The City of Terrace proposes to complete two statements of significance (SOS) for two heritage homes. The first home is the Dudley and Mary Little house, the second is the "Speakeasy" Green House. Both of these homes are listed on the Community Heritage Register but neither has had a SOS completed. We propose to hire a heritage consultant to assist in completing these SOSs. Being that there are no locally qualified heritage consultants it is expected that one would need to be hired from outside our region. Once the SOSs are completed for these two properties they will be eligible to be list on the BC Registry of Historic Places.
Gabriola Island Community Hall Association
The preparation of a Statement of Significance for the Gabriola Island Community Hall including research into the history of the Hall and its context; visual survey of property; identification and review of character-defining elements including photographic records.
Salt Spring Island Community Services
A revised Statement of Significance and Conservation Plan will be written to enable the Salt Spring Island Community Services to continue their worthwhile work on Salt Spring Island, while respecting the historic importance of the heritage building, one of only eight heritage buildings within the Ganges Heritage Conservation Area.
Museum of Cariboo Chilcotin, Williams Lake
The "Contextualizing St. Joseph’s Mission” project is an exhibition project that aims to discuss the stories relating to the St. Joseph’s Mission, also known as the Cariboo Residential School, which operated near Williams Lake, BC, for nearly a century. Currently, the museum has limited information available for the public on the history of the residential school, which operated from the 1890s until the 1980s. To fulfill the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the museum hopes to work with local First Nations groups to provide an Indigenous perspective on the school's history as told through the display of photographs, stories, and artifacts.
Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale
Weaving Cultural Identities engages First Nations communities including Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Tl'azt'en with local Muslims of diverse backgrounds to reconcile lost heritage, share cultural knowledge, and discover symbolism and self-identification through textile arts/traditions. Local First Nation Weavers and Muslim Graphic/Digital Artists will collaborate to create a large prayer rug and 10 small prayer rugs uniquely representing Vancouver, to be exhibited at an art installation/pavilion "Paradise Has Many Gates"; this work by Saudi Arabian artist Ajlan Gharem will be temporarily located at Vanier Park, a historic First Nations village settlement site. The goal is to celebrate cultural narratives and integrate local indigenous histories and knowledge through a shared, sacred-process of textile traditions. This creative collaboration begins with sharing of cultural knowledge, process, and ancestral design through listening, research, and workshops, culminating in the creation of an integrated, local design inspired by Indigenous voices and the Islamic concept of prayer rugs.
North Vancouver Museum and Archives
This project, Indigenous Perspectives on North Vancouver, will enhance the NVMA’s partnerships and collaborative with the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. The NVMA is committed to opening an innovative new community museum, where the stories and perspectives of the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh people are shared and explored throughout the exhibits. This project will enable the NVMA to hire an Indigenous Community Engagement Researcher to conduct outreach with the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh communities, gather stories, artifacts, objects, photographs, and research, for exhibits in the new museum’s core exhibits, as well as future temporary, mobile, and online exhibits.
The Indigenous Community Engagement Researcher will be contracted for one year for this project. The Indigenous Community Engagement Researcher will be supervised by NVMA Curator Dr. Karen Dearlove, and the project will be overseen by the Indigenous Voices Advisory Group.
Mayne Island Agricultural Society
Guided by Tsartlip elders, the proposed project will develop new interpretive material at the Mayne Island Museum that recognizes the deep history and relationships that the W̱SÁNEĆ people have with Mayne Island. The physical outcome of the project will be an outdoor interpretive panel and a new exhibit that recognizes and interprets Tsartlip traditional use and heritage on the island. The more intangible goal - and the outcome we hope for - will be to develop an ongoing conversation and relationship between residents of Mayne Island and the W̱SÁNEĆ communities, particularly Tsartlip, on whose traditional territory Islanders live, work and play. The long-term vision is that there will be benefits yet unknown including legacies, future projects and ongoing engagement that result from this partnership project.