RBCM artifacts are disappearing
Re: “Museum’s Old Town lives on, as a ghost town,” Feb. 11.
An even bigger story than the shuttering of Old Town is the fate of the Royal B.C. Museum’s priceless, world-renowned collection of Indigenous artifacts.
Unbeknown to the public, because it hasn’t been disclosed by museum management, is that much of the collection is being dispersed around the province to First Nations communities.
This may or may not be a proper resolution, but it should be discussed and reviewed openly. Many people are expecting the Indigenous works to reappear in a new context once the third floor is reopened.
I learned of this dispersal at a virtual public engagement session on Jan. 31, led by museum CEO Alicia Dubois.
Dubois said the public wasn’t being informed of this policy “because it’s not our story to tell.”
Many would disagree. The museum is entrusted with this collection and their management — and the NDP government — must be available to discuss such a consequential decision with the public.
I mentioned at the online session that much of the collection was assembled/purchased respectfully, with the involvement and consent of the owners, under the leadership of Wilson Duff, curator of anthropology (1950-65), and others.
The museum staff at the session agreed with this account, adding that some Indigenous people created dances and ceremonies to honour the work of Duff and other curators.
Our history is a complex story, one we need to continue to uncover, which won’t be achieved by dismantling institutions like the RBCM.
Sid Tafler
Saanichton
Other priorities before a new pool
I was looking forward to the new Victoria council taking on some of the city’s pressing problems: unaffordable housing, downtown looking rough, the once-picturesque Pandora Avenue (now a complete disaster), roads needing repair, but what seems to be highest on their list is spending $100 million on a new Crystal Pool.
This is in the wake of budget information that says services will have to be cut so we taxpayers will only see a nine per cent tax increase this year.
The motion to go to referendum on borrowing this money passed without any discussion from the taxpayers. City staff noted that last referendum in 2010 cost $600,000. This one could be double that.
With my very affordable annual pass, I swim at the Crystal Pool a couple of times a week. It is a safe, clean and well-lit building. The patrons, many of whom are elderly, and some with wheelchairs, many children and parents, seem very happy to use it regularly.
It is a solid building, according to the engineers who inspected it a few years ago, with no major problems that can’t be fixed with a normal maintenance budget.
Why would we pay for a new expensive pool when we have so many other spending priorities?
All Gallupe
Victoria
Outdoor pool needed in Crystal Pool rebuild
I wish the building of a new Crystal Pool would include an outdoor pool as well.
I cannot see any reason why there hasn’t been some discussion about this. Growing up in Alberta, there were always outdoor pools for the summer season.
Certainly the weather here could not be the reason we don’t have one.
W.I. Rudd
James Bay
Environment needs that railway restored
What a sham this Island’s endless squawking about “the environment” is.
People who are legitimately concerned about the impact of private automobiles would leap at the chance for a rail corridor, especially one that already exists.
Put up or shut up.
Mark Taylor
Cowichan Valley
Railway is needed for the long term
Re: “Bought for $1, the E&N corridor is on the line,” commentary, Feb. 10.
The March 15 “drop dead” date for a commitment from the provincial and federal governments to re-invest in the E&N rail corridor is fast approaching.
This essential infrastructure could lessen the vehicle traffic to and from Courtenay to Victoria, reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that are plaguing our province (especially with the LNG/fracking issues ongoing).
The rail line would make the Malahat highway expansion unnecessary, and building up-Island should be more affordable. Future population expansion would encourage more manufacturing jobs up-Island.
With more manufacturing, more freight capacity would be necessary. There is supposed to be an influx of immigration to Vancouver Island and I don’t think the densification of Victoria is the best solution.
The expense of refurbishment of the E&N railway is justifiable in the long term. To ignore this rail line opportunity is to reject a more livable Island environment.
Rafe Sunshine
Victoria
Dress appropriately for the throne speech
I was disappointed to see our lieutenant governor in mufti again at the recent throne speech. Have we entirely lost the sense of the significance of the role?
There used to be some “regalia” that the LG wore at this most visible and significant time.
I thought it was abandoned during the COVID pandemic when the speech was a smaller, more spaced-out event.
Our LG is a lovely woman, a fine conversationalist and very good at her job. I have seen her in and out of her job and she is always otherwise exquisitely dressed.
However, on Monday she showed up attired like any of the executive secretaries who inhabit the building. Many of the other non-elected functionaries in the event wear regalia relevant to their positions.
Why is the LG no longer visible in the appropriate attire so she is not mistaken for some minor admin assistant?
Bill Williamson
Victoria
Remember, more is not always better
Amid a declared, nationwide housing crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau insists we must ramp up our population with another half-million immigrants per year. Does that not seem a little counterintuitive?
We see again the elixir of “more growth,” which has been the solution to all our problems and the assurance of a better future since the first days of the Industrial Revolution.
Isn’t it odd that in a time where people have never had so much, we seem to live in desperation of never having enough: not enough homes, not enough doctors, not enough bridges, not enough water … but our leaders keep calling for more and continue adding more people and more necessities to an already bloated list?
The Earth convulses already, and while it’s quite clear now that our love of production and consumption has put the planet on the verge of life support, we seem to think that we can cure a stage-four world with a dose of windmills and battery packs while the fever pitch of “progress” continues.
Adding people, homes and the attendant industry may be the salve for today’s ailments, but the evidence now shows that unfettered human expansion is the terminal malady of tomorrow.
And our world is telling us to take care of what we already have before asking for more. And taking care of what we have doesn’t require a federal edict; we can start by managing what we have right here on Vancouver Island.
Iain Donaldson
Parksville
What if things go bad at Bamberton?
I read with interest Jack Knox’s piece on Port Alice (Feb. 4), and the hit that B.C .taxpayers are taking when the owners of the mill left town (and the country) with a huge cleanup bill unpaid.
I was especially interested in the statement that the government plans to “ensure that owners of large and high-risk industrial projects have the financial protection in place so that they — not British Columbians — pay the full cost of environmental clean-up if their projects are abandoned.”
The current Bamberton project, which features barge-loads of contaminated soil that will be stored, or treated, or something, has a bond of $25,000.
Does anyone think that if things go sideways at Bamberton it can be fixed by $25,000? Could someone explain the discrepancy?
Ian Cameron
Brentwood Bay
A Malahat solution, a bridge not too far
I believe the answer to the continuous Malahat problems is a bridge from about Mill Bay to Mills Road in North Saanich, otherwise continuous weather delays and major accident blockages will continue.
Trucks and traffic to and from the ferry, airport and industrial areas in North Saanich will not have to use the Malahat down through Langford and Victoria and up to the Island Highway. This should eliminate 40 to 50 per cent of the existing traffic and leave room for future expansion there.
This bridge could even be a floating bridge (like Seattle’s).
This will open up North Saanich to up‑Island without driving all the way down to Victoria and up again over the Malahat. A big saving in fuel and time for everyone.
First Nations’ land would not have to be affected and a possible parallel road to the Pat Bay Highway could be built through open areas of Central Saanich to the Victoria/View Royal area and hook up to the Trans-Canada Highway.
With lots of future growth developing in the Western Communities this development will have to come anyway. We should also get federal help to pay for this.
Mainly it will eliminate most traffic accidents, deaths and delays we endure now and address our future needs.
Bob Hamerton
Colwood
Mix rail and buses for the best solution
For the province to subsidize the Island bus service and ignore the E&N rail line is outdated.
Adapt buses to run on the rail tracks with well-planned signals at well-placed sidings. You then have less traffic on major roads, less noise from the usual rail engines and the ability to carry cargo as well as passengers.
Rail buses would run wherever present lines exist with additions later if success is achieved.
One example of this is the cancellation of the Long Beach communities bus service.
Rail bus to Port Alberni then road bus to Long Beach communities.
Colin Cameron
James Bay
Wonderful parks, but maintenance needed
The new park signage at Beaver/Elk Lake is certainly visible from the highway. However, I wish the Capital Regional District board would delegate more attention to other needy park maintenance.
The new right-angled entrance ingress and egress changes have made it more challenging for visibility of traffic coming from the north with bushy shrubs untrimmed.
The narrow roadways into and out of the park have had potholes and side slumping for some time that need attention. Pedestrians have spotty side trails along the route.
And do we really need over a dozen jolting speed bumps to rattle our suspension struts? Please replace with newer sloped bumps.
The lower parking lot remains unpaved with winter potholes and summer dust, when paving would last longer than regular grading and filling.
Then there are the neglected trails. During winter there are mucky sections that are barely passable surrounding the park. This is also the situation at Thetis Park.
Surely there are maintenance materials such as crushed gravel that can assist the passage. Not my favourite material, but wood chips such as used at the Cedar Hill loop trail aren’t used on other trails.
Other sections at both parks are eroded with narrow rocky and rooty sections that are challenging to navigate and would benefit from repairs. They are wonderful parks to enjoy for exercise and fresh air.
Wally Kiel
View Royal
Francis Gary Powers was a more tangible spy
I can remember as a child living in the aftermath of the Second World War, that the big event twice a day was watching a weather balloon launched from the U.K. government’s meteorological office near my home in Camborne, Cornwall. I have just learned that more than 900 meteorological offices around the world still launch similar balloons twice a day.
I can remember the saga of Balloon Boy in 2009, when a Colorado couple alerted authorities that their six-year-old son had somehow gotten into a home-made helium balloon they had just launched. It drew huge media attention floating around for a day or so before landing, but the world’s media had been taken for a ride in the hot air that filled that magic balloon; as the boy was kept hidden at home the entire time, in what was an elaborate hoax and publicity stunt.
There was a similar outcry in 1938, when Orson Welles converted H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds into a fake news radio broadcast, which was so realistic that many listeners were convinced that Martians had landed in New Jersey.
These incidents flashed though my brain while watching the BBC news recently.
The Chinese balloon that had captured world media’s attention for a few days had just met its demise, when deflated by a missile fired by a U.S. fighter jet off the coast of South Carolina. A couple of eyewitnesses from nearby Myrtle Beach had filmed the proceedings on their cellphones, and were explaining what they saw to a very excited BBC news anchor.
Apparently, this balloon from China is the size of three school buses, and is now scattered in a debris field somewhere in the deep Atlantic Ocean, after plummeting from more than 60,000 feet.
It is unknown how much will be retrieved, and what information will be believable, if it is even shared.
Nothing about this balloon is quite as tangible as the American U-2 spy plane that was shot down over Russia in 1960. Lest we forget, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was the real spy in the sky.
Bernie Smith
Parksville
Not the welcome aliens were expecting
Reading about foreign objects being shot down over North America has me questioning how we may welcome aliens should they decide to pay us a visit.
All the years of searching by scientists for other life in the universe may come to naught if our immediate reaction is to blast any foreign object we don’t recognize out of the skies.
For all we know some alien government watching these events might already have put us on their “no fly list” as a dangerous and unsafe planet to visit.
Jan M’Ghee
Sidney
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