In 1995, Peter Johnson went looking for a rare set of petroglyphs located on the outer coast of Vancouver Island near an abandoned whaling village. Encouraged by archival research that yielded court records, 90-year-old correspondence and a tantalizing 1926 newspaper article, Peter sought to tie these glyphs to the 1869 wreck of the trading barque John Bright and the bizarre colonial trial that followed. He found more questions than answers. Why, for example, were two Nuu-chah-nulth men so readily hung from a gallows erected in front of their village at Hesquiat? And how did this event relate to the rock carvings that Peter knew existed in a cove many miles south, along the life-saving West Coast Trail by the Graveyard of the Pacific? This story explores the significance of particular petroglyphs, colonial injustice and the European trading mentality on the west coast at the time of contact. Peter interweaves a personal journal with historical narrative in order to produce a lively account of the relationship between our coastal history and a little-known Aboriginal art form.

In this book, Dr. Robert Edwards brings a fresh, mathematical perspective to the Voynich manuscript and sets out a strategy whereby the interested reader could extract meaning from the seemingly impenetrable symbols . . . if meaning is there to be found. The Voynich manuscript has been described as the most mysterious document in the world. In 1637, a Bohemian scholar sent a mysterious manuscript to the celebrated professor Athanasius Kircher in Rome. Kircher promised to decipher it when the mood took him. He never did. Later, antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid Voynich claimed that he had discovered it in 1912 in a castle in Europe. • Contains hundreds of bizarre illustrations that seem to represent plants, stars, animals, zodiac signs, strange receptacles, and naked women in pools and streams of green water. • Throughout its over 200 pages are strings of glyphs or symbols that look like words; but the symbols do not belong to any known living or extinct languages. • No one knows what these symbols mean—or even whether they mean anything, though hundreds of scholars have tried to decipher them for 500 years. • Today, all that we know for sure is that the parchment probably dates from the early 15th century.

No treaties were made with indigenous nations residing in those territories where now there is a Canadian province called British Columbia. Instead, a breathtaking policy of criminalization, assimilation and land rights and sovereignty extinguishment has been vigorously carried out against them. Present day governments continue that approach, now 150 years old, in processes which have recently been re-named and cosmetically improved but remain unconstitutional and are prohibited by the 1948 Genocide Convention, which terms as genocide, inter alia, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. Neither Britain nor Canada nor the settlers of British Columbia themselves have ever honourably addressed the peoples whose lands and resources form British Columbia. The indigenous nations in what is now called British Columbia have never joined Canada but had citizenship imposed on them. The province of BC has never fulfilled Canada’s constitutional requirements of purchasing lands from the indigenous owners before settling. The ongoing colonization of British Columbia relies on the settler population’s indifference to the indigenous peoples’ plights and rights. The Colonial Present documents the colonizer’s manufacture of a new mythology to dehumanize the native peoples and strip them of their rightful place. The interests of resource industries have dominated accounts of indigenous peoples throughout the mainstream media, the academic presses and the courts. They have substantially corrupted and impoverished the non-native understanding of indigenous peoples on whose homelands they live and work, and to which they seem to feel entitled. The indigenous nations and individuals have suffered excruciating losses. But the highest expression of official BC aspirations for reconciliation is only that they should release title to their homelands, accept a small financial, land and program funding settlement, and submit to the British Columbia Treaty Commission agenda reducing them, in legal terms, to incorporated associations exercising management capacities barely distinguishable from those of BC municipalities, while by fee simple title, their lands and rich resources are ceded to the Queen. This book is an exploration of how such a stunning string of events has happened, and British Columbians continuing attempts to rationalize them.

A line of nervous young women got off a ship in Victoria Harbour in 1862 and had to walk the gauntlet between two rows of jostling, eager men. One girl, proposed to on the spot, accepted equally quickly and left town with her new husband. Why did these women leave everything behind in England and come to the west coast? The answers lie in the lusty turmoil of a gold-rush frontier, the horrible disruptions of industrial England and the conflicting aims of earnest Christians and early British feminists.

Buying Saffron, a 24-foot racing sailboat, was an act of desperation meant to help single parent June Cameron and her youngest son validate themselves. It did that and more. A friend persuaded June to race the boat, and over the next decade June, either solo or with her all-female crew, competed in BC's major sailing races, taking home a lot of the hardware for their class. Shelter from the Storm is a fascinating memoir about finding one's place, even if that place is at sea.

Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are home to over two dozen active lighthouses. For over a century, these coastal beacons have guided ships through the fog and represented hope for countless mariners. Today, the lighthouses on BC’s southern islands are ideal destinations for day trippers and coastal explorers of all ages who are looking for historical sites in spectacular maritime settings. To the Lighthouse: An Explorer’s Guide to the Island Lighthouses of Southwestern BC offers a comprehensive and fascinating look at these remarkable landmarks, blending practical information on location and accessibility with riveting facts, local lore, and gorgeous photography. From Fisgard Lighthouse, a National Historic Site at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour, to the remote west coast sentinels of Cape Beale and Pachena Point, and from the isolated Cape Mudge beacon on Quadra Island to the community-supported restoration project at Sheringham Point, this book celebrates a unique culture of public service passed down through generations. To the Lighthouse is a travelling companion like no other.

Built in 1913, the Canadian Pacific Railway's ship Princess Maquinna steamed up and down the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island in summer and winter, calm weather and storms, for over forty years, and has become one of the most beloved boats in BC’s maritime history. Princess Maquinna, sometimes referred to as the “Ugly Princess” but most often “Old Faithful,” transported Indigenous people, settlers, missionaries, loggers, cannery workers, prospectors and travellers of all kinds up and down Vancouver Island’s rugged and dangerous west coast, stopping at up to forty ports of call on her seven-day run. The Princess Maquinna faithfully served as the lifeline for all those who lived on the west coast of Vancouver Island before it became accessible by roads. Because of this strong connection she became the “Best Loved Boat” in BC’s maritime history. Kennedy recounts battles through eighty-knot gales along the exposed coastline sailors called “The Graveyard of the Pacific,” and reveals the bigotry that forced Indigenous and Chinese passengers to remain on the foredeck of the ship while other passengers sheltered from the elements inside. He brings the history of this beloved ship to life with rich detail, recalling a time when this remote part of British Columbia was alive with mines, canneries and now-forgotten settlements.