Blog & News

Parts of the historic boardwalk and a number of buildings in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island were destroyed by a large fire, Port McNeill Fire Rescue said on December 31st.

The fire department issued a public safety announcement asking people who were going to the area to watch the fire to stay away as it was hindering the efforts of crews to extinguish it.

"This is a devastating loss to the North Island," the department wrote on social media.

Read the full article here.

Royal B.C. Museum CEO sounds off on their importance: 'It's how we teach, how we learn, how we educate, how we get to know one another'

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When Margaret and Barry Sharman tied the knot in Enderby on July 20, 1968, it was the beginning of a "wonderful" life together, and nearly 57 years later the Penticton couple still has fond memories of that special day. 

But until recently, memories of their wedding were all the Sharmans had. Like many young couples getting married, money was tight for the Sharmans, such that they couldn't afford to pay their wedding photographer for their nuptial photos. 

Thanks to the Enderby and District Museum (and a little luck), the Sharmans have now seen their wedding photos for the first time.

Read the full article here.

There are many ways to get from A to B, and some options make the journey more fun than the destination. Visitors can head off the beaten path and explore the unexpected ways people move throughout the region at Sooke Region Museum’s latest exhibit, Detours: Bypass the Expected, running through December 2025.

Showcasing the history of transportation methods, whether by water, wheels, foot, or air, the exhibit features some intriguing artifacts from the museum’s collection, diving deep into three areas of transportation: industry, commuting, and recreation.  

In Detours, visitors can learn about a uniquely “Sooke” item, the Flowline Tricycle. This tricycle was specifically made to ride the Flowline so it could be inspected efficiently. This employed ‘hand-cycling,’ which is better for keeping balance than pedalling. On this trike, the arms work while the feet steer and keep the rider stable.

Read the full article here.

The Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum (CBCRFM) is welcoming Baptiste Marcere as their new Executive Director. Marcere will be succeeding Katherine Carlson after she became the Executive Officer for the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) of Northern B.C.

Marcere is from France and has earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences. Marcere will be bringing his experience from past appointments as the Executive Director for the LaMaison Gabrielle-Roy in Winnipeg and the North Peace Cultural Centre in Fort St. John. According to the CBCRFM, he has also worked closely with First Nation communities in Manitoba.

The CBCRFM adds that they are excited to have “Baptiste’s passion for community engagement and history to support the development of tourism and education in the region. Being bilingual, Baptiste will also be able to serve visitors and stakeholders of the Museum in French.”

The Museum of Anthropology is gearing up to present the first exhibition dedicated to the vibrant culture, history, and ongoing revitalization efforts of the Nuxalk people from Bella Coola. Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun, opening on February 21, is co-curated by Nuxalk Nation cultural director Dr. Snxakila Clyde Tallio and Museum of Anthropology curator of the Pacific Northwest Dr. Jennifer Kramer.

The exhibition offers a deep exploration of the Nuxalk community’s journey to reclaim sovereignty, rebuild cultural practices, and safeguard their treasures for future generations. Visitors can witness the strength and resilience of a nation reconnecting with its ancestral belongings through a collection of over 70 items, including masks, regalia, raven rattles, and mountain goat wool robes. Many of these items are on loan from institutions such as the Royal BC Museum, Burke Museum, Glenbow Museum, and private collections. A significant highlight is the return of cultural treasures originally gifted to ethnographer TF McIlwraith in the 1920s, which will be repatriated to the Nuxalk Nation at the exhibition’s close in 2026.

Read the full article here.

An exhibit is travelling through Vancouver Island libraries that details the unfair dismissal of LGBTQ members from Canada's civil service, RCMP and armed forces between the 1950s and the 1990s.

On loan from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the pop-up exhibit titled 'Love in a Dangerous Time' includes several boards detailing the stories of Canadians impacted by what has become known as the 'LGBTQ Purge,' during which tens of thousands of people were investigated as part of a policy of demoting and firing LGBTQ workers. 

Read the full article here.

Climbing up into a 1950s-era logging truck in Port Alberni on Thursday, 84-year-old Hank Bakken said he could almost smell the timber at his back and feel the hillside air rushing by his face after making a life as a logging truck driver.

“Just makes my day. I almost feel like I’m 18 again. It’s quite a feeling,” Bakken told CHEK News.

Now, the Port Alberni retiree volunteers with the Western Vancouver Island Industrial Heritage Museum on 9th Avenue.

It’s a place that brings the past to life, with hands-on exhibits, storytelling and the actual logging machines that put Port Alberni on the map and made it a rich place in the 1950s, when a young Bakken was just starting out.

Read the full article here.

It was 1924 when a cultural treasure in Prince Rupert was born, finding its first home upstairs of the Canadian Bank of Commerce on 2nd Ave at 5th Street.

Fast forward to 2024, following a plethora of social, economic and technological changes, and it proudly celebrates its enduring mission to keep the art and history of the North Coast alive.

This year the Museum of Northern B.C. is celebrating its 100 years with a new reflective exhibit.

“Unlike the Museum of Northern BC, very few arts and culture institutions in B.C. have a century of unbroken service to its community,” said Susan Marsden, director of the museum.

“It seemed an ideal time to celebrate the museum with an exhibit looking back on the 100 years of the museum’s history in the context of events in the city and the province,” she added.

Read the full article here.

Photo: British Columbia Magazine

Mary Borrowman is mourning the loss of the Whale Interpretive Centre in Telegraph Cove, B.C., a popular tourism attraction that helped fuel the local economy and drew visitors from around the world.

The centre, which housed a large collection of marine mammal skeletons, was destroyed during the Dec. 31 fire that levelled parts of the Vancouver Island resort village.

 "We had probably the largest marine mammal skeleton collection hanging in Western Canada, and it is just as world renowned now," Borrowman said.

Read the full article here.

Visit the Whale Interpretive Centre's website here to learn how you can help them recover from the fire.