About VHS Presentations
Presentations will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month (September – May). Entry is free for VHS members and $5 for non-members. Membership forms will be available for those that wish to join the Victoria Historical Society.
January 26, 2023
Joe Wiebe, A Brief History of Brewing on Vancouver Island and in British Columbia
Location: James Bay New Horizons
7:30pm
In 1858, a 21-year-old man named William Steinberger stepped off a steamship from San Francisco in the tiny port of Victoria. He was one of 30,000 prospectors who descended upon Victoria in search of gold in the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. But Steinberger, who hailed from Köln, Germany, where he had learned the craft of brewing before leaving to seek his fortune in California, realized there was another way to make some money—brewing beer for the thirsty crowds in Victoria, a boomtown which would see its population jump from 300 to 5,000 residents as it became the supply hub for prospectors heading north. Before the year was out, he established Victoria Brewing, the first brewery in what we now call British Columbia, and initiated an industry that has turned our province into one of the world’s leading travel destinations for beer lovers.
In this presentation, the “Thirsty Writer,” Joe Wiebe will outline the history of brewing in B.C. with a particular emphasis on Vancouver Island from its origin in 1858 through the Prohibition period and the long decades of Lucky Lager that followed until the 1980s when the microbrewery movement began.
February 23, 2023
Dr. Geoffrey Bird, Abkhazi Garden: Sanctuary from War
Location: James Bay New Horizons
7:30pm
Join Dr. Geoffrey Bird when he presents on his latest film, Abkhazi Garden: Sanctuary from War. Geoff leads the War Heritage Research Initiative at Royal Roads University. In this session, he will screen his latest film and then provide an overview of his ongoing research and film work relating to sites of war memory in Victoria and beyond.
Dr. Geoffrey Bird is a Professor in the School of Communication and Culture at Royal Roads University since 2008. In 2015, Geoff initiated the War Heritage Research Initiative and embarked on writing, directing, and producing over 30 short public education films. Several films focus on sites of war memory in the Greater Victoria and surrounding area, such the Fort Rodd Hill, the Jewish Cemetery, William Head (Chinese Labour Corps) and the Memorial Avenue trees.
March 23, 2023
John Adams and Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Historical and Cultural Perspectives on Victoria’s Chinatown
Location: James Bay New Horizons
7:30pm
Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest in Canada and once was the biggest. Today the population of Chinese Canadians in Victoria is 16,000, the highest it has ever been, but only a small number live in Chinatown. John Adams, historian and author of Chinese Victoria and Charlayne Thornton-Joe, a city councillor for twenty years and now with the Chinese Canadian Museum in Fan Tan Alley are partnering to present their perspectives on Chinatown. John will provide the historical framework and Charlayne will discuss her own lived experiences as a third-generation Chinese Canadian whose family has deep roots in Chinatown.
April 27, 2023
Donna Sacuta and Henry John, Union Zindabad! South Asian Canadian Labour History in British Columbia
Location: James Bay New Horizons
7:30pm
The South Asian Canadian population in B.C. has a long and complex relationship with the labour movement. From early exclusionary practices to a recognition that racism is a tool of the boss to divide workers, the tenacity and strength of community has always been forward looking. As a result, the labour movement has benefited from strong South Asian leaders, activists and members. From the Portland Cement Company strike in 1906 to the lumber camps and beyond, South Asian labour has played a significant role in the history of Vancouver Island.
Donna Sacuta, Executive Director of the BC Labour Heritage Centre will be joined by Henry John, Archivist at the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) Archive in Lake Cowichan to discuss this groundbreaking work.
May 25, 2023
Dr. Jordan Stanger Ross and Dr. Michael Abe, Past Wrongs, Future Choices: Japanese History in Canada
Location: James Bay New Horizons
7:30pm
What do we owe each other in times of crisis? The University of Victoria has served as the hub of two major partnerships –Landscapes of Injustice (2014-22) and now Past Wrongs, Future Choices (2022-29) — focussed on the mistreatment of people of Japanese heritage (Nikkei) during the 1940s. Canada was not alone in causing needless harm to Nikkei civilians. Allied countries across the Pacific conflated race and citizenship, interning, incarcerating, and expelling innocent civilians. Democratic societies fell into the abyss of racism at home, even as they fought fascism abroad. In this talk you’ll learn about efforts to address this history in Canada, as well as Canadian leadership of an international team asking how we might learn from the past to build more just futures.