Two features reveal Vancouver’s early history

I researched and wrote two historical articles for The Greater Vancouver Book edited by Chuck Davis and published in 1997:
Early Coastal Explorers to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest
Find out more about my memoir No Letter in Your Pocket

I researched and wrote two historical articles for The Greater Vancouver Book edited by Chuck Davis and published in 1997:
Early Coastal Explorers to Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest
This SoulCollage card that I created, which represents the historian part of me, features an image of the first streetcar in San Francisco. What is oral history? This living form of history records people’s memories and anecdotes through sound (and sometimes visual) recording. It allows people to share their personal experiences in their own words,…
Few people realize how much the Mafia shaped the economy of Havana for more than 30 years. While visiting Cuba’s capital in October-November 2016, I relished the chance to learn more about the country’s illegal past. My December 9, 2016 travel feature Havana Travel article 2016 (Coast Reporter) reveals some tidbits of…
Mechanics at Coast Mountain BusLink (previously BC Transit) lovingly restored a 1964 GMC diesel bus. Because of its rounded windshield, it was known as the “fishbowl” bus. Although the vehicle’s interior was in mint condition, the mechanics scrounged parts such as window latches from buses headed to the scrapyard. As editor of BC Transit’s Transit Exchange…
It was a delight to profile Jessica Silvey, who’s shíshálh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) with the ancestral name Kwahama Kwatleematt, and has been weaving cedar baskets, hats, and décor for more than 30 years. I profiled her, the owner of Red Cedar Woman studio, as the cover story for the winter 2021 issue of…
I have written two history books Vancouver’s Glory Years (Whitecap Books 2003), co-written with Henry Ewert, and Vancouver’s Trolley Buses 1948-1998. Both feature never-before-published photographs and examine the sociocultural impact that public transit had in shaping Vancouver and the lives of its residents. Click here to read reviews and more info about Vancouver’s Glory Years….
Most Canadians consider Sir John A. Macdonald, the nation’s first prime minister, as “the Father of Confederation.” But this crusty politician, an ancestor of mine on my mother’s side, might well be called “father of residential schools.” Want to learn how his policies launched aboriginal children into decades of forced assimilation and abuse? Read my opinion piece “Macdonald’s legacy not…