Literature Reviews

Aboriginal Peoples

Northern natives write based on what is important to them and what affects their livelihoods. There exists a need to understand native literature as much of it was written from the perspective of the white explorers and immigrants because the Natives’ traditional tales were passed down through oral translations as opposed to written text Pauline Johnson-Tekahionwake took the opportunity to share her people’s legends of Canada by putting them in text form. The Legends of Vancouver are tales that depict explanations for distinct geographical features in Vancouver such as the famous landmark the Lions Mountains. Which is explained by the legend of the ‘Two Sisters.’ http://www.robirda.com/legends/

The Gold Rush

The history of British Columbia is enriched in the ideals of the Gold Rush that took place during the 19th century. In a time when the federal government was trying to drive people out West to farm the lands, the BC gold rush sent mo re added incentive to those looking to get rich quick. To many that came, searching for gold went on to make or break their fortunes. Those who did strike rich went on to start their own businesses and help build BC economy. Because of its historical significance, the BC Gold rush is held in high regards as an important aspect to the provinces national identity. Several novels have been written which depict both the growth of the province as well as the travels that many immigrants and pioneers had to make to finally find settlement in BC.

Barkerville by Richard Thomas Wright
Tells the stories of the men and women who dug for gold in and around Williams Creek and resided in a small town known as Bakerville, a city that still resides in present day British Columbia. Author Richard Thomas Wright has unearthed much of the area's history in this book, which chronicles the time, the fortunes and the follies of gold-rush Barkerville. This book brings to life the men and women of the creeks, who came in search of gold and left their mark on BC history. The Journey by Bill Gallagher Follows the tale of three individuals: Catherine Schubert,; James Sellar and Thomas McMicking who have made their way from Manitoba and have headed westward for BC. The book describes the trio as “overlanders” as they struggle against the treacherous terrain to find camp in British Columbia search of the gold mines gold.

Novelist Jack London became famous for his novel Call of the Wild, based on his time in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold rush. This novel, using a dog (Buck) as a protagonist, follows him as he learns to survive life in the North as a sled dog, amidst the harsh conditions. http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/literature.html

The famous poem by Robert Service The Cremation of Sam McGee, focuses on the thrill and adventure associated with the exploration of Canada’s North along with his other works such as The Shooting of Dan McGrew.
The Cremation of Sam McGee
There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/literature.html


The Rugged North

Similarly, historical Canadian tales often centre on the classic juxtaposition of humans in relation to and against the natural world. Canada is rugged and harsh and provides great tales of struggle, failure and success.

A classic tale of man against Canada’s harsh, rugged North country is based on the British explorer Sir John Franklin, who led an expedition through the north attempting to find the infamous North West Passage. Deadly Winter: The Life of Sir John Franklin by Martyn Beardsley captures his failed attempt to navigate the unforgivable Northern Canadian region. http://www.gregorbooks.com/cgi-bin/gregor/16610.html


British Columbia and Wildlife

British Columbia is one of the very few provinces that is renowned for its cultural wildlife. As the province houses many territorial species, BC has taken pride in its non-human residents by preserving many areas of the natural environment. Through several works of literature, certain local authors have decided to analyze how the local wildlife goes on to effect the region, giving off a sense of how the local residents should respect all forms of species that live within the province.

Beyond the Whales by Alexandra Morton
Takes an in-depth look at the coastal ecosystem and its effects it has on the cultural region. The book studies whales, bears, salmon, eagles, and deer, and attempts to explain how all species of British Columbia are interconnected in a study that the author had been carrying out for the last twenty years. In the novel, the author states: “One of the joys of watching a place for 20 years is being able to read the signs upon the sea — bubbles on the surface mean tons of herring below; three birds over an orca mean the whale has brought fish to the surface; shearwaters in Blackfish Sound mean autumn is here. The ocean feeds the rivers and the rivers feed the ocean”. This novel is accompanied by many pictures as it attempts to explain how the wildlife has historically shaped the BC region.

Ned: The Story of Bear Six Nine Three by Joe Pavelka
A children’s novel that takes a look into the how humans and wildlife have been able to co-exist since Europeans settled in the BC region. Ned is a black bear who grows all the more curious as new housing developments begin to appear just outside of his forest. Despite Ned’s mothers’ advances to stay away, Ned is drawn to his new neighbors and begins to befriend the local youth. The idea of this novel is to teach youth the idea of how the natural world co-exists with their own, and how they should take pride in the animals that reside within the region.


Children’s Literature

Kit Pearson is an award winning author of children’s literature. Her novels and short stories are set in the varying regions of Canada and encompass different time periods, characters and situations. Spending a great deal of her life in British Columbia, where she now resides, Pearson portrays differing views of life in B.C.

In The Daring Game, Pearson intertwines her own experiences at an all-girls boarding school in Vancouver in the tale she tells about a young girl, Eliza, and the world she experiences at Ashdown Academy in Vancouver. http://www.kitpearson.com/daringgame.html

Inspired while taking a trip on the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, Awake and Dreaming is a story about a little girl, Theo, who, poverty-stricken and unwanted, imagines a new life for herself with a family in Victoria. Parts of the story take place in the Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, and Pearson gives tours here annually.
http://www.kitpearson.com/awakeanddreaming.html

Pearson was also chosen to be the editor of a collection of short stories titled This Land: A Cross-Country Anthology of Canadian Fiction for Young Readers. According to Pearson: “each emphasizes a sense of place, from British Columbia to the Maritimes to the North. The selections include a variety of age groups, a balance of male and female protagonists, and different time periods, genres and cultures.” Pearson mentions that, for her, “place” is a big part of literature and that, unlike when she was a child, a lot children’s literature now portrays regional Canada. http://www.kitpearson.com/thisland.html




Multicultural British Columbia

Can you Hear the Nightbird Call by Anita Rau Badami is a novel that moves between India and Canada. It focuses on the effects of the partitioning of India that created a separate Pakistan and divided Punjab. The way Canada’s desi community is affected by problems in India, mainly the Hindu-Sikh tensions is explored through the character a boy named Jasbeer who has a hard time adjusting to life in Vancouver.
See http://www.bookclubs.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780676976052 to learn more about the plot.

In Obasan, Joy Kogawa writes about the experiences of Japanese-Canadians regarding the unfair treatment they received surrounding the second World War period. Through the narration of Naomi, who was a young girl at the time of the war, we look at the issues Japanese-Canadians face in Canada, especially that of being called the enemy of a country they were born into. http://www.amazon.ca/Obasan-Joy-Kogawa/dp/0143014994azon.ca/Obasan-Joy-Kogawa/dp/0143014994


Synopsis of Disappearing Moon Café, by Sky Lee discusses the importance of the novel and the ethnic trails faced by the Chinese immigrants into British Columbia. http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4526/Lee-Sky.html

The British Columbia Coat Of Arms

The B.C. coat of arms is said to be a representation of provincial sovereignty. At the base of the crest, is a representation of the provincial flag. The flag is laced in blue wavy lines - meant to represent the Ocean - and a depiction of the sun placed directly dead centre; the sun itself is believed to represent the idea of an ongoing prosperity throughout the whole reigon. Directly above the flag, is the British Union Jack, a symbol that recognizes Canadian ties to the ideals of the Commonwealth and our colonial origin. And a top of the crest, stands the Royal Crown, a representation of provincial sovereignty under the blessing of the Crown of England.On opposite sides of the crest, we see two animals being depicted; a male stag on the left and a ram on the right - two of the great provincial animals of the reigon. Together, these animals are meant to represent the unity of the two colonies of both Vancouver Island and the mainland. Blanketing the base of the coat itself, lays a wreath of Pacific dogwood's, the provincial flower of British Columbia.
For actual depiction of the British Columbia Coat Of Arms see: http://www.protocol.gov.bc.ca/

The Rocky Mountains

This vast stretch of moutains designated in the Western hemisphere of North America stretches from the northern parts of the Yukon and British Columbia and down into Colorado. Since the Ice Age, the mountain ranges had been inhabitied by many early Native American tribes. Since the colonial periods, the Rockies have been the site of countless expiditions, fur trade routes and mining. Today, the Rockies are seen for two purposes: First, it's indutrial resources, as countless minerals of gold and copper are being discovered. And second, its recreational use, as the mountains annually draw thousands of tourists who wish to ski, hunt and hike all up and down the mountain slopes. But above all else one can not take away from the beautiful scenery that the Rocky Mountains provides with a vast number of wild rivers, forestry and wildlife.
For info on B.C. Rocky Mountain Provincial sites see:
http://www.bctravel.com/se/

Canadian Culture as Portrayed Across the Ocean

This year the second annual Canada Celebrations that took place in London England focused on music, activities and people that represent Canadian Culture. The days line up of activities involved Dene Drumming, Street Hockey, Canuk Eats, Simulated ride over Niagara Falls and a meet and greet with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
We often pride ourselves based on our multicultural acceptance; however, it is our native roots that seem to define us internationally.
http://www.canadadaylondon.com/default.asp

Emily Carr

Emily Carr has become one of Canada’s most well-known painters and writers. She was born on December 13, 1871 in Victoria, British Columbia and was orphaned in 1888 when her father’s death followed two years after her mother’s. From an early age, Emily’s life had been intertwined with the study, teaching and production of the visual arts as she traveled to the United States, England and France, in addition to various places in her native British Columbia, working on her artwork. It was in St. Ives that Carr developed an appreciation for trees as the focus of her pieces. This lead to her perceptions of the forests of British Columbia to become her most famous pieces of artwork, although it was viewed as an unusual topic for a landscape painter of her time. In 1907, she visited Alert Bay where she decided to make it her mission to record the culture of the Native Peoples of British Columbia, such as the Kwakiutl who gathered there. In 1912, she went on a six-week journey to various villages of the Kwakiutl tribe and it was at this time that she became consumed with recording what she saw as the vanishing ways of traditional Native life and her most ambitious trip to native villages in 1928 confirmed the disappearance of many old totem poles. In 1927, Carr met with the Group of Seven. They were a group of painters from Eastern Canada who had faced the same type of ridicule as Carr by expressing the strong emotions they felt for their Canadian landscape with a touch of the style of the Impressionist. “Emily had been putting the ideas of the Group into operation before the Group existed.” Amid a number of heart attacks, Carr was able to put on a number of successful solo art exhibitions in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal before she died of a heart attack on March 2nd, 1945.
For more information see:
Gowers, Ruth. Emily Carr. New York: Berg Publishers Limited, 1987.

Images taken from: http://www.emilycarr.com/

"Greenpeace exists because this fragile Earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action.”
Greenpeace is an organization that includes over 40 countries and more than 2.8 million members across the globe in its environmentally-based campaigns. It was founded in 1971 when a group of people from British Columbia sailed from Vancouver to Amchitka, Alaska to protest the testing of nuclear weapons that were set to take place there and were successful in doing so. This group called themselves “Greenpeace” as it combined their goals of helping the environment and of creating a world that was free from the fear of nuclear war.
Greenpeace Mission Statement: “Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.”

For more information see: http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/

Chinatown

People of Chinese origin began migrating to Canada from San Francisco in 1858 due to the appeal caused by the discovery of gold in the Fraser River of British Columbia. Arriving in Victoria by boat, most of these immigrants continued on to the Fraser River, but some artisans, merchants and craftsmen stayed behind to set up stores and it is they who are responsible for the establishment of Canada’s earliest Chinatown. “Since Victoria was the gateway to Canada from China, its Chinatown prospered.” Almost sixteen thousand Chinese came to Victoria between 1881 and 1884. Victoria’s Chinatown acted as a distinct community in which Chinese immigrants were first exposed to the Western world. Here they learned the basic skills they needed to survive in Canadian society, such as speaking English, and it was here they returned if they were unsuccessful at finding employment. It was this inner-city neighbourhood that was labelled as “the forbidden town” by British Columbia’s predominantly white population. In spite of this, or perhaps because of this, Chinatown became a safe haven for Canada’s Chinese population as it was a place where they could practise their traditions, speak in their mother tongues and foster a sense of belonging.
For more information see:
Lai, Chuenyan David. The Forbidden City within Victoria. 1991: Orca Book Publishers, Victoria.

Image taken from: http://www.victoriabcguide.com/images/Pchinatown.JPG

Our Native Peoples

The Inuit People
The Inuit people are a group that has been culturally recognized by the Canadian governement yet their methods and way of life still seem estranged to the culture of Lower Canada. Located in the Northern reigon, this Canadian culture is heavily regarded as fishing community. Upon European arrival, the Inuit were met with unfair conditions of loss of resources and spread of disease. This decline in Inuit soiety led to a long standing period of isolation within the Northern reigins of Canada. However, due to the rise of warfare in the 20th century, Canadian governments set up army bases along the Northern territory. Along with these bases came the development of educational systems and health services in designated areas that then became heavily populated by the Inuit people. Today, the Inuit people play a viable role in the production of the Canadian economy, participating in the fields of mining, oil and gas, and even politics. The Canadian government has further acknowleged the Inuit as an important cultural group with the naming of the newest Canadian territory, Nunavut, meaning "the land of the Inuit"

The Totem Pole
This is a symbol of Canada predominately found in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The location was selected, as it originally was a habitation site for Native Canadians. Totem Poles tell a story for the person who carved them; their family, their tribe and the spirits they were trying to appease. The Totem Poles in Stanley Park are a tribute to the Natives and their families that used to inhabit the area.

The Inukshuk
This is a symbol originated from the Inuit Culture. It was originally a landmark or guide for safe travels. In today’s Canadian culture, the Inukshuk can be found and recognized by Canadians from coast to coast. It has become traditional for travelers to build them along roadsides as a way to show they were there.

British Columbia and the North: Ethnic Make-up
Canada is known for its cultural mosaic, but the North (more specifically Nunavut) which we see as truly Canadian, has the lowest cultural diversity.
http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo34c.htm

So have we as Canadians decided to freeze our Native heritage in order to preserve our culture?