Ry Moran thinks it's time to change the name of British Columbia to ... well, something else. That's just one of the powerhouse articles in this month's Canada's History, now reaching subscribers and newsstands.
B. C. is beautiful., without a doubt. But it's not British. In maintaining that myth we continue in the erasure, not only of the erasure of the complex histories of multiple Indigenous nations but also of the lives and histories of the countless migrants from around the world who have played an instrumental role in the foundation of this place.
Also, Charlotte Gray honours Chief Isaac of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in, and how his people faced the massive invasion of "Klondike" (read: "Tr'ondëk") by the gold rush miners of 1898. Her story is also about how she failed to give that story sufficient attention in 2005, when she wrote Gold Diggers.
Environmental historian Alan MacEachern explores the Canadian exploits of American rain maker Charles Hatfield in the 1920s -- and how irrigation, rather than success, gradually made the rainmaking craze obsolete.
There's an excerpt from the diaries of railroad builder Dukesang Wong. And much more, including lots of reviews and notices, including gay history notes, criticism of me in the letters column, and a tribute to the late historian of Quebec, my old colleague Jacques Lacoursiere.
Update, July 26: Regarding a new name for British Columbia, Stephen Collis was advocating for this in The Walrus a year ago.
If it happened would proposing "Fire and Rain" for the new name be a little too on the nose right now?
