Often when one is out walking in the city one encounters sites where history is buried not so far beneath the surface, sites of significance to First Nations people and therefore, usually, sites of injustice.

For example. I took this photograph last weekend on the False...

Every day the Dictionary of Canadian Biography posts a feature biography on its website and this past week one of the articles was about Vancouver's own Joe Fortes, perhaps to mark Black History Month. (That's him above in about 1918; courtesy of Vancouver city Archives ...

Several years ago I travelled to northern Vancouver Island to visit a pair of museums/cultural centres that tell the story of one of the most flagrant art heists in Canadian history. But this robbery was not carried out by cat burglars or art thieves; it was the work of the Canadian government on behalf of the Canadian people.

The Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre at Cape Mudge is on Quadra Island, a brief ferry trip from Campbell River, and...

Now that Canada’s 150^th birthday celebrations have kicked off, I am sure you are wondering: what was going on in Vancouver in 1867?

The short answer: not much. But something.

By 1867, Burrard Inlet had been occupied by a variety of indigenous peoples (Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish) for millennia. It was, in the words of historical geographer Cole Harris, a “native place.” In what is now...

I have used this photograph (Glenbow Archives ND6742) several times over the years in different history textbooks I have written to illustrate the destitution in Western Canada during the Dirty Thirties. It shows the Fehrs, a Mennonite family from the Saskatoon area, stranded in Edmonton in June 1934. It is a heart-breaking image depicting...