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Elizabeth Raum is a prolific composer and oboist. She lived with her husband in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she was principal oboe with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, until 1975 when they moved to Regina, Saskatchewan. She was an oboist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra from 1975 onward, and principal oboe with the Chamber Players from 1986 until 2010.

Her composition repertoire includes: four operas, 90 chamber pieces, 18 vocal works, and a variety of choral works, ballets, concerti, and major orchestral works. Three of her operas have been filmed for the CBC. She has been commissioned as a composer by orchestras and music organizations across Canada, the US, Europe, China, and Japan, and has received numerous Canadian achievement awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Mt. St. Vincent University, Halifax, in 2004 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2010.

Chiyoko Szlavnics was born in 1967 in Toronto and is a composer and visual artist currently residing in Berlin. Her parents, maternal grandfather, and experiences from her childhood have greatly influenced her musical and graphical works. Born to two artists, her mother, Aiko Suzuki, worked with painting, textiles, sculpture, and designing dance sets, and was of Japanese descent; her father was a highly analytical artist, something Szlavnics says she inherited, and was of half-Serbian and half-Hungarian descent. Her maternal grandfather was an avid nature lover, and when Szlavnic would visit him they would often spend time at the beaches on the north shore of Vancouver where they would explore the life cycle of salmon. This time on the beach would influence her interest in beating sounds within her compositions, as she often reflected on how the light bounced and reflected on water.

Her musical endeavors started at the University of Toronto where she originally studied flute and saxophone in the Faculty of Music where she graduated in 1989. Post-graduation, she worked under the direction of Nic Gotham at Hemispheres, an improvising ensemble based in Toronto. In 1993, she was asked to compose a piece for Hemispheres, and that is when she used her line drawings for the first time to organize and create the sound. In 1994, she took private composition lessons from James Tenney, and during this time she began to start her own composing. She moved to Berlin in 1997 after winning a scholarship to attend the Akademie Schloss Solitude. There she began collaborating with various other musicians and developing her unique, experimental compositional approach to music. In her compositions she explores: states of harmonicity, beating and rippling sounds, exceptionally slow glissandi (gliding between pitches), intonation, and combing musical instruments with sinewaves. Her compositions are composed for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, percussion, among others and can be found throughout her 30+ works. Szlavnics says her main goal when composing is to take risks and be surprised by her music.

As a visual artist, she predominately creates line drawings using a fine line pen. Drawing is an integral part of her compositional process, as a way to map her preliminary ideas for the music. The lines represent how the tones are extending though time, or could also represent specific instrumental intervals. These lines are an abstract way for her to represent her imagined sound world since she is not inclined towards the traditional graphic score. Similar to her musical compositions, the unexpected is central to Szlavnics’ drawings. The drawings consists of lines, dots, and how they connect; there are some drawings that are in a in a moiré fashion as well. Later in her drawing career, she focused more on the visual arts aspect of the drawings instead of drawing for musical composition.

Lori Freedman was born in 1958 in Toronto and is a composer and clarinetist. Having parents who were both musicians, from a very early age Freedman began to learn numerous musical instruments: piano, guitar, drums, and trombone. It is her mastery of the clarinet that has catapulted her to international acclaim and what she is most notably sought after and known for playing. Her compositions and performances have led Freedman to become a member of the international group known as “the renaissance musicians.”

Freedman studied clarinet at the University of Toronto, and after graduating in 1977 she continued her studies at the Academy of Woodwinds at the Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta. In 1981, two musicians, Pauline Oliveros and Eric Dolphy, would inspire her with their spontaneity and improvisation that would change her outlook on music completely. Their comfort with taking risks in their music would inspire her to begin studying with Larry Combs at the Chicago Civic Orchestra when she first started improvising with her own music. Improvisation would become a central component in her compositions and live performances of the clarinet and would bring her high acclaim.

Freedman has performed in over 100 cities in over 20 countries all around the world. With a packed touring performance schedule, it is not uncommon for her to have more than 75 shows in a single year. In the midst of her own full performance schedule tour, recording, and workshops, she also has been commissioned by numerous contemporary artists to create music for them to perform. She also composes musical scores for dance, theatre, cinema, and other visual arts. One of her accolades includes the Freddie Stone Award in 1988 for the “demonstration of outstanding leadership, integrity and excellence in the area of contemporary music and jazz.” In 2003, 2004, and 2006 she was awarded "Clarinetist of the Year" at the National Jazz Awards. Most recently, in 2017, she was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for “outstanding artistic achievement.” In addition, she has taught at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal where she conducted classes on bass clarinet and coached the contemporary/improvised music ensemble.

Dr. David Wells Narver received a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Washington in 1966. He worked as a researcher at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, various positions in fisheries research, management, and administration, including as Anadromous Fisheries Coordinator and Acting Chief of Fisheries Management for the BC Ministry of Environment, and became Director of the British Columbia Fisheries Branch in 1977, which position he held until his retirement in 1994. During his career he published many reports and papers about his area of expertise, the effects of habitat degradation on salmonids, and he was responsible for the ongoing Carnation Creek study.

In 1927 Matthew Lindfors opened the Scandinavian School of English; then from 1939-1954, he operated the Scandinavian film service. In 1951 he founded the Swedish Cultural Society. He also served as correspondent for the Canadian International Service of the C.B.C. from 1947-1959 and editor of the Swedish Press from 1933 until his death in 1971.

Rachel Epstein has been involved in activist work since at least the 1960s. While living in Vancouver, she worked with and for the International Committee Against Racism, helped found the Labour Advocacy and Research Association (LARA), did typesetting and publishing work for New Star Books and Press Gang (both activist publishers), worked with and for the Women’s Research Centre (WRC), and helped organize events for International Women’s Day (1977 and 1979). She was also involved with various feminist groups, including Act Up, a participatory theatre group.

Epstein later moved to Toronto where she worked for the Participatory Research Group (PRG), with which group she served as the North American coordinator for an international conference on the impact of micro-technology (microchips) on women’s work. After leaving the PRG, she worked as a coordinator for Second Look Community Arts, specifically with their Theatre of the Oppressed program, then as a teacher at Seneca Community College in the women in trades and Ontario basic skills programs. She received her Masters of Arts in Sociology from York while working at Seneca. She helped develop the Dykes Planning Tykes program for The Queer Exchange; with her female partner, Epstein had a daughter, Sadie, in 1992 using a sperm bank at a fertility clinic, an experience which she used along with interviews and research to help build up a community for LGBTQ+ prospective parents in Toronto. She started working for the LGBTQ (then LGBT) Parenting Network circa 2001 and was still working for them at the Sherbourne Health Center in 2015. She also partnered with a researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) on several projects surrounding LGBTQ+ parenting and fertility clinics, and through that research became involved with the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency; she has served on several committees for that group.

Throughout her career, Epstein has published papers, articles, and contributed to various books and anthologies. Her book Who’s Your Daddy, a collection of writings on LGBTQ+ parenting and family planning, was published in 2009. She was the recipient of the Steinert Ferreiro Award (Community One Foundation) in 2008.

The Port Albion Cannery was located near Ucluelet, BC, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was built ca. 1927, possibly by the Banfield Packing Company. The plant operated primarily as a canning and processing station; a modern cannery, reduction plant, and shipyard was built up on the site after the 1936 purchase by the Nootka Packing Company, and as late as 1948 the plant consisted of a cannery, mild cure station, fishing station, and fish meal and oil plant. The plant primarily processed herring and pilchards.

The Port Albion cannery was a branch plant of several companies between the 1920s and 1940s. It was likely in operation by the 1926/1927 fishing season. Possibly, the Port Albion cannery was operated by Albion Fisheries Ltd (previously the Albion Fish Reduction and Oil Refining Company). The Banfield Packing Company, which operated in tandem with the Nootka Packing Company, apparently took over operation of an Ucluelet plant owned by Albion Fisheries sometime between 1931 and 1936; the Port Albion Cannery was located in Ucluelet, and while it is unknown whether it is the same as the Albion Fisheries plant taken over by the Banfield Packing Company, it is likely the two plants were at least contemporaneous.

The Port Albion Cannery was definitely purchased by Nootka Packing in 1936 and by British Columbia Packers sometime after 1948. Nootka Packing was incorporated in 1916 and reorganized in 1937, at which time it was renamed the Nootka Packing Company Ltd. At around the time of the reorganization, a sibling company, the Banfield Packing Company Ltd. (1936), was incorporated; the two companies shared an office in Vancouver, their charters imply they were intended to operate in tandem rather than as competitors, and executives of the Nootka Packing Company signed Banfield Packing Company correspondence multiple times. A third company, the Nootka-Banfield Company, was incorporated in 1940 and also operated out of the shared Nootka and Banfield office in Vancouver. The Nootka-Banfield Company, Nootka Packing Company, and Banfield Packing Company were nominally distinct entities but worked very closely, and when the Nootka-Banfield Company was purchased by the Canadian Fishing Company (CFC) in 1945, all three (Nootka-Banfield, Nootka, and Banfield) went into voluntary liquidation within two months of each other. The Port Albion Cannery, as one of the Nootka Packing Company’s assets purchased by the Canadian Fishing Company, was transferred to the CFC at the time of purchase. Despite the liquidations, very little disruption of day-to-day operations at any of the Nootka-Banfield, Nootka, or Banfield plants seems to have occurred as a result of the 1945 CFC purchase. The Port Albion cannery was still in operation in 1948, and BC Packers purchased the plant sometime after that.

Born in Scotland in 1905, Amy Dalgleish emigrated to Canada at an early age and eventually settled in Vancouver. A long time Cooperative Commonwealth Federation supporter, she eventually ran as an NDP candidate in Vancouver. Active with a number of socially-concerned groups, she became president of INFACT, which is a breastfeeding advocacy group. She continued to have an interest in various social issues until her death in 1992.

Henry Lock Tin Lee (李樂天, 李濟寬) was born in Taishan county, Guangdong, China. In October 1926, Lee officially enlisted in the Kuomintang (KMT), otherwise known as the Guomindang (GMD) or the Chinese Nationalist Party. He briefly attended the Republic of China Military Academy (黃埔陸軍軍官學校) in 1927 as part of the infantry division. With an academic background in education, Lee taught in elementary schools from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s in China.

Lee arrived in Canada in 1937. His wife, Gin Shew San (甄秀珊), remained in Taishan with their two children, both then recently born. Upon arrival, Lee served as a teacher in the Vancouver Chinese Public School; he also taught at the Chinese Public Schools in Nanaimo and Victoria, moving between cities as needed. In 1944, Lee remarried and settled with Annie Lore (羅巧鶯), a Chinese Canadian who resided in British Columbia. Together, they had four more children. On December 20, 1952, Lee formally received Canadian citizenship.

In 1952 and 1957, Lee was consecutively elected as a representative for the 7th and 8th National Congresses of the Kuomintang. He further served as a delegate for the overseas Chinese at the National Assembly, the constitutional convention and presidential electoral college of the Republic of China, in 1954 and 1960. Prior to his successful election as a National Assembly representative, Lee fulfilled numerous positions related to the KMT, public school education, and various associations for the overseas Chinese. Some of these included: standing committee member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Vancouver Branch); executive committee member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Western Branch); managing director for the Canadian branch of the Overseas Chinese Education Association; teacher and Disciplinary Officer for the Vancouver Chinese Public School; Director of Lee's Benevolent Association of Canada and Chairman of the Association’s Vancouver branch. He also worked as a secretary and publicity officer for the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada and was an editor of the newspaper The New Republic (新民國報).

Ever prolific in his roles, Lee was additionally a member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Headquarters) executive committee and a member of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Canada. He also served as part of the KMT central renovation committee and was the Chairman of the Victoria Chinese Benevolent Association. Furthermore, he was the executive director for the Federation of Overseas Chinese Association and an honorary director for the Free China Relief Association.

Lee was also a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. He was a lifelong learner and practitioner of the discipline, advancing his studies well into at least his fifties despite having already obtained numerous diplomas and certificates prior. In 1964, he was appointed as an honorary consultant for the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine.

Despite his deteriorating health in later years after suffering a stroke, Lee persisted in many of his duties and was an active presence both abroad and in the overseas Chinese Canadian community. Lee passed away on January 21, 1980. His death received formal condolences from the KMT and was mourned by many in the local community. His funeral was held on February 1, 1980 by the funeral committee jointly formed by Lee’s Benevolent Association of Canada and the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada.

The Alvey family emigrated from Stralsund, Germany to the United States in the late 1870s. Frederich Alvey (d. 1920) and Sophia Alvey (née Ott, d. 1925) had two children together: William James Alvey (1881-1920) and Ernest Alvey (1883-1974).

William James Alvey served in the United States Army, having enlisted in 1897 and served in the Spanish-American war and the Philippine-American war. En route home to Detroit, he travelled through Seattle, where he worked as a motorman on a cable car, then at the Seattle Police Department. In Seattle he met Eva L. Berneche (1885-1956), a descendant of French Canadians who came west during the gold rush era. William and Eva had two children: Melvin Gerard Alvey (1902-1964) and A. Alexis Alvey (1903-1996). Following the death of her husband, Eva (Richards) worked as a nurse and teacher in Wainwright, Alaska; she published a memoir of her time in the arctic, Arctic Mood: A Narrative of Arctic Adventures (1949).

Melvin Alvey was a lifelong seafarer, and had a long career as a coast guard, stationed at several locations in the Pacific northwest. Together with his wife Edna M. Huntley, he had three children: William Jerard Alvey (b. 1924), Charlene Alvey, and Huntley Darnell Alvey.

A. Alexis Alvey was born in Seattle and attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She led a distinguished career with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (W.R.C.N.S.) during the Second World War, having been selected as one of first class of that body, and she served as an officer on several naval bases across Canada.

Ernest Alvey was a seaman in the United States Navy, and served in the Spanish-American war. He later worked as an upholsterer, and retired as a Master Craftsman at General Motors. He married Aileen Casey (1884-1971), an Irish immigrant, and had a son, Maurice Francis Alvey (1903-1985). Maurice married Margaret E. Turban (b. 1911) and had two children: Robert Maurice Alvey (b. 1962) and Maureen Katharine Alvey (b. 1946).

A. Alexis Alvey was born in Seattle, Washington on November 22, 1903. She attended McMaster University in Hamilton (1932-33). Following University, she was employed as a special technician in charge of photography at the University of Toronto's School of Medicine. Alvey also helped organize the business women's company of the Toronto Red Cross Transport Corps and commanded it for two years, and served as lecturer to the entire Transport Corps for Military Law, Map Reading, and Military and Naval insignia. In 1942, the Womens Royal Canadian Naval Service (W.R.C.N.S., Wrens) selected Alvey for its first class for training in Ottawa. Having passed a selection board to become one of the first commissioned officers, Dorothy Isherwood, W.R.C.N.S., appointed Alvey acting Chief Petty Officer Master-at-Arms. Her other assignments included duty as Deputy Unit Officer H.M.C.S. Bytown (Ottawa), duty with the Commanding Officer Pacific Coast H.M.C.S. Burrard (Vancouver), assignment as Unit Officer, Lieutenant H.M.C.S. Bytown, and Unit Officer to H.M.C.S. Stadacona (Halifax). Following her career with the W.R.C.N.S., Alvey rejoined University of Toronto in 1945. Eventually, Alvey returned to Seattle to work for the University of Washington Libraries as an acquisitions technician, but retired in 1969. Alvey died on June 5, 1996. Throughout her life, Alvey took special care to collect and preserve memorabilia related to the activities of the W.R.C.N.S. She regularly accepted donations from former W.R.C.N.S. to aid her documentary activities.

Ken Heibert was an organizational member of the Vancouver branche of Socialist Challenge/Gauche socialiste, acting for over ten years as the minute taker at branch meetings and evidently keeping many documents and records related to the organization and its activist activity. Socialist Challenge/Gauche Socialiste was a organization dedicated to building popular revolutionary socialism in the Canadian state in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, while also embracing socialist feminism, democracy, and other progressive social movements like gay and lesbian rights. In particular, as evidenced in this collection, the organization was partial to the separatist movement of Quebec, understanding this movement as a right to political sovereignty and arising, as this organization saw it, in response to political opression within an Anglophone dominated Canada. The Vancouver branch, as evidenced in this collection, was predominately active in the 1990's and were involved in a number of political campaigns on issues such as anti-capitalist protest against expansion of international free trade, Clayoquot protests ("War of the Woods"), pro-choice abortion campaigns, and anti-fascism. Involvement included production of promotional materials, protest attendance, convening conferences and other educational events.

Ernest Edward Winch was born in Harlow, Essex, England, on March 22, 1879. Ernest was one of seven children; Walter, Albert, Alfred, Horace, Ernest, Emma and Caroline (Carrie).

In 1898, when he was 19 years old, Ernest immigrated to Canada with his friend Jack Holttum to work on a farm in Saskatchewan. Ernest’s brother Alfred followed soon after and together the Winch brothers worked in British Columbia, then in Australia. Unfortunately the country was at the height of a heavy drought and so Ernest returned to Harlow and followed in his father's footsteps, apprenticing as a bricklayer.

In 1905 Ernest Winch met and married Australian born Linda Marian Hendy. While in England they had Harold, born June 18, 1907, and Eileen, born in 1908. Ernest sailed back to Canada alone in 1910, his young family following him months later. He quickly became a member of the Bricklayers and Masons International Union No. 1, Vancouver Branch. Ernest began studying socialism in 1910 and joined the Social-Democratic Party of Canada in 1911.

The Burnaby local of the Social-Democratic Party nominated Ernest Winch as a candidate for School Trustee in 1914. He received seven votes.

In 1915 he and his eldest son Harold left the rest of the family at their home in White Rock and went to Mission to establish a homestead. While living in the Dewdney area, he organized a small Social-Democratic group in Mission and became its Secretary. However, he did not stay long in Dewdney. In the summer of 1918, Ernest left the Social-Democratic Party to join the Socialist Party.

Once back in Burnaby, now 38 years old and looking for a way to support his family, Ernest answered a call for new workers from the Longshoremen’s Union. He joined the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) Auxiliary and soon was elected its Secretary. By 1917, he was a part of the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council, serving as its President by 1918. In 1919, he joined the B.C. Loggers Union (later the Lumber-Workers Industrial Unit), serving as Secretary. Ernest endorsed both the Vancouver General Strike in 1918 and the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and was active in his support of the One Big Union (O.B.U). He also served a term as secretary of the Vancouver, New Westminster, and District Trades and Labour Council.

After two and a half years, Ernest left the ILA and rejoined the Longshoremen’s Union along with his former O.B.U. brother, William A. Pritchard. Soon after, a strike broke out and its unsuccessful end caused Winch to go back to bricklaying. By this time, the four youngest Winch children had been born: Charlie, Grace, Alan and Eric.

Ernest re-founded the Socialist Party of Canada (British Columbia) in 1932 and, with it, joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. In the 1933 provincial election he, his son Harold Winch, and five others became the first CCF Members of Legislative Assembly. As a CCF MLA for Burnaby, Ernest became a resolute advocate for immediate reform, exposing abuses and inadequacies in BC's social welfare and correctional institutions (including Oakalla) and taking a special interest in the problems of the aged. One of his many notable contributions was the creation of the New Vista Society, first developed to ease the problem of overcrowding in mental hospitals at the time. Ernest Winch held his seat in the legislature continuously until his death in 1957. One of his legacies left to the people of Burnaby are the New Vista Society senior citizens homes. He also founded the New Westminster branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (S.P.C.A.).

Ernest and Linda’s eldest son Harold Edward, an electrician by trade, married Dorothy Ada Hutchinson on May 11, 1929. At 26 years old, he was elected CCF MLA for Vancouver East (in 1933) and became provincial party leader by 1938, serving as leader of the Opposition from 1941 to 1953. When the CCF was defeated in the controversial election of 1953, which saw W.A.C. Bennet come to power, Harold abandoned provincial politics for the House of Commons, where he represented Vancouver East until his retirement in 1972.

Ernest died at the Vancouver General Hospital on January 11, 1957.

Since the initial donation by Margerie Lowry in 1961, multiple contributors have added to RBSC’s collection of materials pertaining to the life and works of Malcolm Lowry. In most cases, the only materials from these donors and sellers held by RBSC is related to Malcolm Lowry. The Collection is also a landmark collection for UBC and receives a relatively high degree of interaction from scholars around the world and others. Given this, in 1985 RBSC collated materials, collections, and fonds pertaining to Malcolm Lowry under a single umbrella collection, which has evolved into the current Malcolm Lowry Manuscripts Collection. Organizing Lowry materials under a single umbrella collection allows for ease of search for researchers and greater intellectual control for RBSC over this key collection of records.

Jean Rands (born Mary Jean Rands) was raised in Saskatchewan in the 1950s. Her parents, Stan Rands and Doris Rands (née Fraser), were both prominent figures in social activist circles in the province. She had two siblings: an older brother, Brian Rands, and a younger sister, Ailsa Curiel (née Rands). Jean attended high school in Regina at Sheldon-Williams Collegiate, and was politically and socially engaged from an early age. A member of the Young Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Jean regularly participated in peace marches and joined picket lines in support of striking workers during her school years.

In 1963, Jean moved to Toronto with her long-term partner, Al (Allan) Engler. There she was a member of the League for Socialist Action (LSA), a Trotskyist socialist organization. In 1968, at age 19, Jean relocated to Vancouver, and began work as a typesetter for the student newspaper at Simon Fraser University. She became involved with the SFU Women’s Caucus, and grew increasingly active in feminist labour organizing, especially in sectors with high participation of women workers which the Canadian labour movement had historically neglected. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Jean was active as a labour organizer, particularly with SORWUC (the Service, Office, and Retail Workers’ Union of Canada) and several of its local chapter. She was a founding member of both AUCE (Association of University and College Employees) and SORWUC, and served in executive positions in both organizations. She maintained a lifelong interest and commitment to labour and feminist issues, which are reflected in her speaking and writing.

Over the course of her life, Jean worked in typesetting and clerical positions with several employers in Vancouver and Toronto. She retired in Vancouver in 2010.

Terry Allen Simmons was born 12 April 1946 in Butte, California to parents Daniel F. Simmons and Jeanne Marlow. He had one twin brother, Gary, and a sister, Deborah. After growing up in Yuba City, Simmons earned his undergraduate degree in Anthropology in 1968 as one of the first graduates of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He then moved for his graduate studies at the Geography Department of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., earning his Master of Arts in Geography in 1974. Afterwards, under the supervision of the humanistic geographer Yi-Fu Tuan, Simmons wrote a doctoral thesis at the University of Minnesota and in 1979 was awarded a PhD in Geography. While studying for these degrees, Simmons worked as a teaching assistant and lecturer of geography at various programs, including Simon Fraser University, the University of Minnesota, Lakehead University, and the University College of the Fraser Valley. In 1989, Simmons graduated from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1988 and 1989, Simmons worked as a law clerk in the Land and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco and as a staff member for the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage, Alaska. Afterwards, he worked in Reno, Nevada both as an environmental and natural resources policy consultant and as an attorney practicing primarily in the areas of environmental, natural resources, water, land use, real estate, and business law. Simmons also became a Nevada Supreme Court Settlement judge, mediating appellate cases and actively arbitrating in Nevada trial level courts. After completing his academic degrees, Simmons continued his education by attending short courses and seminars focusing on cultural resource management, hazardous materials handling, and civil mediation. He also regularly taught courses and seminars in natural resources law, civil and criminal prosecution of environmental crimes, and similar topics.

Throughout his life, Simmons was highly involved in environmental activism. The summer of 1968, Simmons spent the summer as a research assistant in the national office of Sierra Club in San Francisco. After moving that fall to Vancouver to undertake graduate studies in the Geography Department of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., Simmons was struck by the lack of similar environmental groups in B.C. He contacted local Sierra Club Bulletin subscribers and convened a meeting that led to the incorporation of the Serra Club of B.C. (SCBC). In fall 1969, Simmons was elected the first chairman of SCBC, as well as vice-president of the newly-formed B.C. Environmental Council. At SCBC’s first meeting, two of the one hundred members that signed up for the organization were Jim Bohlen and Irving Stowe, who alongside Paul Cote would later become recognized as co-founders of Greenpeace. In 1971, Simmons sailed as one of twelve crewmembers on the boat known as “Greenpeace” for its voyage from Vancouver, B.C. to Amchitcka, Alaska to protest U.S. nuclear tests. Then 25 years old, Simmons acted as the group’s geographer and legal advisor. This trip is now understood as the founding event of the environmental organization Greenpeace. Simmons did not remain actively involved in Greenpeace after this trip, instead taking part in other environmental activism efforts. In 1970, he acted as the Secretary of the Run Out Skagit Spoilers (ROSS) Committee that fought against Seattle City Light’s proposal to raise the Ross Dam by 125 feet. After leaving the role of Secretary, Simmons continued his involvement in ROSS as a member. In 1972, Simmons participated in an anti-war protest in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota. Charged with aggravated assault against a police officer and rioting, Simmons received a one-year probation. In 1973, Simmons was interviewed as the SCBC vice-chairman on Alaskan pipeline construction activity and later appeared at a hearing of the BC Energy Commission to cross-examine statements made on behalf of the Canadian Petroleum Association. Simmons was appointed as one of six directors to the Forest Research Council of B.C. in 1981 and was a founding member of the Forest History Association of British Columbia in 1982. Simmons stayed an active member in the Forest History Association of British Columbia, serving as director at the time of his passing in fall 2020.

In addition to his involvement in various environmental efforts, Simmons was also Treasurer of the Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy Society, an advisory board member of the Berkely Canadian Studies Program, and an active member of the Vancouver St. John’s Anglican Church Learner’s Exchange. Simmons passed away in Vancouver on November 14, 2020.

Charles Hou is a Canadian educator and writer. He was born in North Vancouver in 1940 and earned Bachelor and Master of Education degrees from the University of British Columbia.

Hou is well known as an innovator in education. He taught high school in Burnaby, British Columbia, for thirty-four years, where, in his drive to engage high school students with Canadian history, he regularly incorporated week-long hikes, mock trials, costumed debates, and music video and film production into his courses. He has received a number of teaching awards, including the Hilroy National Award for Great Merit in 1986, and the Governor General's Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Canadian History in 1996.

In 1993, Hou, along with a group of other BC teachers, established The Begbie Canadian History Contest, a competition designed to raise the popularity of Canadian History among high school students and the wider public. The contest has been enormously successful and has expanded from its provincial roots to become an annual national competition that is offered in both French and English. Contest materials are now routinely used in classrooms across Canada.

Early in his career, Hou developed an interest in political cartoons as a vehicle for teaching history. He has spent decades consulting the archives of hundreds of different newspapers and magazines published across Canada and, to a lesser extent, the United States, in an effort to compile a comprehensive collection of Canada’s most important political cartoons. The result of this work is a series of books, co-authored with his wife, Cynthia Hou. The first volumes in the series, Great Canadian Political Cartoons, 1820 to 1914 and Great Canadian Political Cartoons, 1915 to 1945 were published in 1997 and 2002. A third volume, which will cover the years from 1946 to 1982, is forthcoming.

Hou has written or edited several other books, including The Helping Hand: How Indian Canadians Helped Alexander Mackenzie Reach the Pacific Ocean (with Sister Mary Paul Howlitt, 1971), The Riel Rebellion: A Biographical Approach (with Cynthia Hou, 1984), The Art of Decoding Political Cartoons: A Teacher's Guide (with Cynthia Hou, 1998) and The Begbie Canadian History Contest: The First Ten Years (2004). He has also published articles in various Canadian History journals and created print and online lesson aids and other materials to support the study and teaching of Canadian history. Most recently, he created the teacher’s guides to the award-winning 2007 multimedia production, From The Heart: The Freeman Legacy, a joint project of the City of Burnaby and SFU’s Learning and Instructional Design Centre.

Hou is now retired from teaching and lives in Vancouver, where he continues his research and his involvement with the Vancouver Historical Society and the British Columbian Historical Federation.

The Humbird family was prominent in the lumber business from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, first in the mid-western United States, and then in the western United States and British Columbia. The son of Jacob Humbird, a builder of railroads in South America, John A. Humbird was a shareholder in the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company of Chemainus, British Columbia. The company was incorporated in 1889 and dissolved in 1950.

Humbird, who had interests in several companies, formed various partnerships with Frederick Weyerhauser; this included partnerships involving the White River Lumber Company in Mason, Wisconsin, and the Sand Point Lumber Company in Sandpoint, Idaho, and the creation of the Clearwater Timber Company, also in Idaho, in 1900. The Sand Point Lumber Company was combined with the lumber holdings of Edward Rutledge in December 1900 to form the core of a new business, the Humbird Lumber Company.

Humbird's son Thomas J. Humbird became manager of the company in 1902 and was involved in the operations of several mills, including the Sand Point mill. His son, John A. Humbird (grandson of the original John A.), continued the family tradition and was one of the key figures in the development of the Seaboard Lumber Sales Company, Limited of British Columbia in 1935.

Larry Wong was born in Vancouver’s Chinatown on August 14, 1938, one of the last babies to be delivered by a midwife in Chinatown. Wong is the sixth and youngest child of Wong Mow and Mark Oy Quon [Lee Shee]. Wong’s mother died when he was 18 months old and his father died when he was 28. Wong had five older siblings, Yung Git, Ching Won, Yung Wah, Mee Won, and Won Jin Lee (Jennie). Ching Won and Mee Won died before Wong was born. Yung Git died of tuberculosis when Wong was only four years old. Wong was closest to Jennie despite their seven-year age gap. Wong’s father was a tailor and the family lived in a small space in the back of his father’s shop on Main Street between Hastings and Pender.

Wong attended Strathcona School and Vancouver Technical High School. His first job was in a bowling alley, working as a pin boy. Later, Wong earned cash in a used car lot, washing cars inside and out. After graduation from high school, Wong did not have enough money to go directly to university. He worked for an English language news magazine called Chinatown News for two years. He started out selling advertising, and was later promoted to head of layout and design. Eventually Wong saved enough to enroll at the University of British Columbia where he studied psychology and creative writing; however, he dropped out after only two years. Wong decided that although he wanted to become a writer, university wasn’t the best way to approach it. Unsure of what he wanted to do, he accepted a job at Canada Post. He started as a clerk, filling out order forms, moved up to sorting mail, and later worked the front counter. When Wong was 34 years old, he was hired to work as an auditor for Canada Post in Toronto. After twelve years, Wong left Canada Post and began working with Employment and Immigration Canada. He was transferred back to Vancouver in the 1980s, retiring in 1994 after thirty years of service. After retirement, Wong threw himself into volunteering with various history groups. He helped establish both the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia and the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, interviewing elderly Chinese residents and war veterans to record their stories. Wong appeared in several documentaries and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. He arranged for exhibitions of artifacts and photographs to help showcase the story of Chinese Canadians. In retirement, Wong became a member of the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop and wrote a one-act play, Siu Yeh (Midnight Snack), which was produced at the Firehall Art Centre in 1995. In 2001, he gave a workshop at Historic Joy Kogawa House on writing family stories, with former writer-in-residence Susan Crean. Wong was also the writer, researcher and co-host, along with Nancy Li, for Rogers’ Cable Chinatown Today and served on the boards of Tamahnous Theatre, the Federation of B.C. Writers, the Westcoast Book Prize Society and the Vancouver Public Library, One Book, One Vancouver.

In 2011, Wong published his book Dim Sum Stories: A Chinatown Childhood in which he writes about growing up in Vancouver’s Chinatown in the 1940s and 1950s. Dim Sum Stories started off as a the one-act play called Sui Ye (Midnight Snack) before fellow Vancouver writer Jim Wong-Chu encouraged him to turn it into a book of short stories.

Larry Wong passed away on September 2, 2023 in Vancouver.

The Vancouver Punk Collection was compiled for a display held at the Irving K Barber Learning Centre in November 2022. The display documented punk in Vancouver and it’s political consequences. Vancouver’s punk scene was born just as the city was gaining more international significance in the late 1970s, becoming a focal point for youth rebellion against middle class complacency and respectability. Vancouver was central in the development of the scene in Canada and on the West Coast.

James Fenwick Lansdowne was a Canadian wildlife artist whose work focused on birds and was frequently compared to that of renowned nineteenth century naturalist and painter John James Audubon. Lansdowne was born in Hong Kong and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, where he lived for most of life and where he had a studio. He was bedridden or in a wheelchair for long portions of his childhood due to polio, and it was during this time he taught himself to paint. Despite having receiving no formal training in art, by the time he was 20 his work had been exhibited at the Royal Ontario Museum and he had been profiled by MacLean's magazine as one of Canada's foremost bird artists. In addition to his paintings, his work was featured in advertisements, books, and even presented to the British Royal Family. Lansdowne was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1974), made an Officer of the Order of Canada (1976), and awarded the Order of British Columbia (1995).

YWCA Metro Vancouver was founded in 1897 and incorporated as a society in 1905. It is a non-profit, membership- and volunteer-based charitable organization. Originally formed by members of two Vancouver charitable organizations, the Women’s Improvement League of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Girls’ Friendly Society, the organization’s initial mandate concerned providing relief work. However, the four women who established YWCA Metro Vancouver—Skinner, Banfield, Macaulay, and Southcott—quickly expanded the mandate to more fully support young women’s independence. The YWCA has always worked to fulfill its mandate through integrated services. Today, its mission is to advance gender equity.

YWCA Metro Vancouver is a local organization participating in the broader YWCA movement. Started in England in 1855, the YWCA movement includes all YWCA organizations. The YWCA movement operates at three levels: local, national, and world. As a local YWCA, YWCA Metro Vancouver is an independent entity, governed by its own Board of Directors following its own mission statement. Alongside other local Canadian YWCAs, YWCA Metro Vancouver is a member of the YWCA of Canada. Founded in 1893, the YWCA of Canada is a national YWCA that serves as coordinating body for all local YWCAs in Canada. Delegates from local YWCAs attend National Conventions every four years to elect the National Board of the YWCA of Canada and collaborate on policy and priorities. The YWCA of Canada has been a member of World YWCA since 1895. Founded in 1894, the World YWCA coordinates and connects national YWCAs globally. The YWCA of Canada elects Canadian delegates to attend the World YWCA Council every four years to determine policies and priorities for the World YWCA.

Although a member of the YWCA of Canada, YWCA Metro Vancouver is an autonomous entity, with organizational policy implemented by members via the elected Board of Directors. Elected annually from and by YWCA Metro Vancouver members, the Board of Directors is responsible for managing the affairs of the full organization, including policy- and priority-setting, strategic planning, budget management, and decision-making based on committee recommendations. The Board works with the Leadership Team, originally known as the Management Team, to accomplish this work. The Leadership Team is composed of key YWCA staff. The Board also recruits and employs the CEO, or the Executive Director before 1998, who acts as Head of Staff. The CEO partners with the Chair of the Board, called the President before 2002. YWCA Metro Vancouver staff members report to their supervisors who report to the CEO, committee members report to chair-people who report to the Chair of the Board, the CEO and Chair partner and report to the Board, and the Board is responsible to the membership.

YWCA Metro Vancouver has changed its priorities, policies, and name according to the identified needs of its membership. Founded as the Vancouver Young Women’s Christian Association, YWCA Metro Vancouver’s name has been through several iterations and meanings. One concerns the “C” present in “YWCA.” In 1965, the Vancouver YWCA brought forth a proposal to the YWCA of Canada for membership to be open to anyone regardless of religion. Four years later, this proposal was brought up by the Vancouver and Winnipeg YWCAs, and officially adopted. Although founded as a Christian organization, YWCA Metro Vancouver membership is now open to any who wish to join, regardless of gender or religion. YWCA Metro Vancouver identifies as a secular organization, but has kept the “C” in its name due to the influence of Christianity in its legacy. Additionally, in 2011 the organization changed its name to YWCA Metro Vancouver to “reflect [its] commitment serving communities throughout the region spanning Burnaby, Surrey, the Tri-cities, Maple Ridge, Langley/Aldergrove, Abbotsford, New Westminster, Richmond and North Vancouver” (“About the YWCA: Our Story”).

YWCA Metro Vancouver uses an integrated service model, considering the context of Vancouver and characteristics of the community served to inform its work. Early services included housing, an Employment Bureau, and Traveller’s Aid aimed at job-seeking young women new to Vancouver. Additional programs and services were influenced by priorities regularly identified by the organization. To provide these young women with social opportunities and improve their employment prospects, the YWCA began its fitness programs and adult education courses in the 1910s. Due to the outbreak and aftermath of World War I, in the 1920s YWCA provided counselling and sewing services for military hospitals, expanded its Health Education department, housed soldiers and their families, and assisted in resettling orphans, refugees, and soldiers’ families. The organization shifted its programming from a focus on Bible studies and church-going to personal and professional development programs and social and educational clubs. In response to the Great Depression in the 1930s, the YWCA focused its services towards providing affordable housing to homeless women and offering classes and training in marketable skills to assist women’s employability. Simultaneously, an emerging focus on international engagement, teenage programming, and leadership training in the 1930s led to Hi-Y programs for high schoolers and the founding in 1938 of the “Chinese Department” that would later become the Pender Y. A branch of the YWCA addressing Vancouver Chinatown’s community needs, Pender Y ran from 1944 to 1978. In the 1940s, the YWCA as a national movement focused on accommodating soldiers and their visiting relatives, as well as supporting women assuming additional responsibilities while male family members served overseas. After the war, the YWCA developed programs to advocate for women to keep their jobs and responsibilities when faced with the societal pressure to relinquish them. From the 1940s to 1960s, further developing YWCA programs and services were decentralized to branch YWCAs, including the West Vancouver Community Association and Vancouver East Community Y, among others. The YWCA responded to the Baby Boom of the 1950s by gearing its services to help mothers at every stage of motherhood. By the 1960s and 1970s, the YWCA identified priorities including leadership development, financial development, and social action. The organization became more vocal on Canadian and international social issues, prioritized transient youth and domestic abuse survivors, and expanded its employment guidance, counselling services, and mentorship programming. Munroe House, Canada’s first long-stay transition home for women and their children escaping abuse, opened in 1979. In the 1980s and 1990s, the YWCA identified childcare for teenage, working, and/or single mothers as an unfulfilled need and opened several childcare centres. Since the early 2000s, YWCA Metro Vancouver has focused on affordable housing, employment programs, ending gender-based violence, fitness and education, legal supports, and universal childcare. Several Vancouver-based community service organizations have found their beginnings as YWCA Metro Vancouver services before separating and becoming independent, including MOSAIC and Big Sisters.

YWCA Metro Vancouver continues to be an important and active part of its community.

References:
“About the YWCA: Our Story.” YWCA Metro Vancouver, 2023, https://ywcavan.org/our-story.

Dr. Jacob Edwin Brouse was an early New Denver physician, and graduate of McGill University. His father and sons were all also doctors. In 1895 he moved to New Denver, British Columbia, where he opened the communities first hospital. In 1896 he became a coroner for the Slocan Mining division of West Kootenay electoral district. In 1897 he built the Slocan Hospital, which remained in use until the 1980s. By 1917, he left New Denver, passing in 1925, but not before leaving his name and legacy throughout the area. The town of Brouse is named for him, as well as Brouse Lodge, an independent living facility built on the site of his hospital. Two biographies have been written about Dr. Brouse: “Early Years: Dr. J.E. Brouse & his Slocan Hospital” by G.H von Krogh, 2023, and “New Denver’s frontier doctor: Doctor Jacob Edwin Brouse, 1868-1925” by John Brighton, 1984.

The intention of the Archives Collective was to acquire knowledge of the heritage of gay people, and in so doing develop “that sense of pride and security which is so vital to the building of self-confidence.” Run by a BC based group of librarians and archivists, such as Archives Collective founder James Thomas, Ron Dutton, and Rob Joyce, the Archive was founded in 1976 to collect and preserve materials by and about gay groups and individuals in the Pacific Northwest. Many of these items were immediately transferred to other organizations which were better suited for the long-term preservation of the materials. The Archives Collective “placed several thousand items in some twenty archival collections, but mainly in the Canadian Gay Archives… and in UBC Special Library Collections.” After the group disbanded in the late 1980’s, Ron Dutton continued his practice of collecting materials related to gay and lesbian life in BC, and in 2018 his collection was donated to the Vancouver Archives as the BC Gay and Lesbian Archive.

Peggy Lee (nee Wong) was born in 1923 in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. She was one of fourteen children of Chew and Lee Sze Wong. The family moved from Guangdong to Canada and Chew Wong was initially a railway worker before opening a grocery store in Prince George.

At fifteen, Lee moved to Vancouver to attend the Moler Hairdressing School. Two years later in 1941, she opened the Paris Beauty Salon in the Holden Building on East Hastings Street. This would be the first of a number of salons that Lee would own and operate.

In 1942, Lee joined the St. John’s Women’s Ambulance Corps, with whom she served until the end of World War II. Her platoon was comprised completely of Chinese Canadian women, of whom Lee was the youngest. Activities that Lee engaged in as part of her service included acting as a stretcher-bearer and assisting with planned precautionary blackouts of all city lights in Vancouver.

In 1951, Lee married William Henry Rees Lee. The couple raised four children, including a set of triplets.

In the 1960s, Lee went into a partnership with a couple with whom she co-owned the Prince Eugene Salon, which eventually relocated to the Hotel Vancouver. Following her partners’ departure from the area, Lee retained the location and opened the Peggy Lee Beauty Centre, which operated between 1972 and 1985. As part of her career, Lee was highly involved in the hairdressing community both locally and internationally. She served as an examiner and judge at various conventions and beauty pageants in the 70s and 80s and was a board member and Inspector for the Hairdressers Association of British Columbia (later the Cosmetologists' Association of British Columbia) in the 1990s. Lee officially retired in 2011.
Lee has been an avid investor in a variety of ventures throughout her life. Projects have included inventions such as a hovercraft boat and a glass-washing device, a hotel in Toronto and a nighclub in Las Vegas, a film, and several beauty product lines.

Lee has been an active member of the Chinese Canadian and veterans’ communities in Vancouver, in particular through involvement with the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society. She also was a founding member of the Vancouver Chinese Canadian Activity Centre (VCCAC). Lee also acted as a long-time board member for the VCCAC offshoot, the Chishaun Housing Society, which for many years operated the subsidized senior living facility Oakridge House in partnership with Shaughnessy Heights United Church. For her service to these communities, Lee has been the recipient of multiple awards and nominated for a British Columbia multicultural award in 2015.

In addition to community work, Lee was also actively involved in politics and served as a delegate for the Social Credit Party. She held a close relationship with Grace McCarthy and communicated with other. politicians including William Bennett and William Van Der Zalm and Brian Mulroney.

Peggy Lee passed away in Vancouver, April 13, 2023 at the age of 99.