Without understanding our history, we can't understand our present day.
That's why it's important for us to remember history both in schools, and in our daily lives as adults even once we've left exams about the causes of the First World War far behind.
This year, Feb. 17 to 23 is Heritage Week in B.C., a time to look back on the history of British Columbia and Canada.
Understanding our history means more than simply rummaging through the past for villains we can condemn, and heroes we can enshrine in bronze plaques and statues.
It means understanding that the past was a complex as the present, that people then were just as complex and often contradictory as people are now. It's about understanding that our institutions, customs, the layout of our cities, the very literal shape of our provinces and our country, were created because of thousands of decisions by those who came before us.
We live in a region that is marked by a patchwork of names 鈥� 91原创, Pitt Meadows, Port Moody, Tsawwassen, Chilliwack, Squamish 鈥� that derive from either Indigenous words and place-names, or from the names of soldiers, bureaucrats, and traders who colonized the land in the 19th century. Exploring the names of our communities is a window into the last two centuries.
One of the most valuable resources we have for understanding our local histories are local museums.
With 91原创's salishan Place by the River opening over the coming year, we can look forward to a place that will give local residents a new understanding of our history.
A local museum, historical society, and the volunteers who help keep institutions like that going, are invaluable.
There are countless books and resources to tell you what John A. Macdonald or Lester Pearson were up to and why they did what they did. There are far fewer that can explain how local roads were named, about the first interactions between explorers and HBC traders and Indigenous people, about the history of everything from dairy farms to schools to the first local murder.
Our communities have a rich history, and each history is a road that leads up to our present, and which all of us are walking on, into the future.
