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The 150th anniversary of the founding of the Crown Colony of British Columbia gives us a chance to celebrate all that we have achieved.
It's an exciting time to be living, working and raising a family in British Columbia. We've made a lot of progress as a province, and we have a lot to look forward to in the years ahead.
it is also an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on just what a remarkable province British Columbians have built since that day in 1858 when Sir James Douglas proclaimed the establishment of what would become the province we all cherish.
Working in the Victoria legislature, you are surrounded by the evidence of our history. It's reflected in the hand-hewn stone staircases and panes of coloured glass, and in the faces of community leaders whose photos line the halls. You can see our history there in the Rose Garden built as a relief project by unemployed workers during the depression of the 1930s. It's there in the obelisk honouring Douglas and the statue honouring Queen Victoria, in the 19th century military drill hall behind the legislature and the cenotaph in front honouring B.C.'s fallen soldiers. And it is there in the Knowledge Totem Pole erected for the 1994 Commonwealth Games and the Olympic and Paralympic flags now flying in anticipation of 2010.
But I also have the privilege of travelling beyond Victoria to every corner of our province, and everywhere I go I am always struck by both the rich history of each community and the intense pride British Columbians take in preserving our heritage. From the unique diversity of our First Nations, to the Gold Rush, to the remarkable expansion of our province through the post-war years, history is everywhere in every community from the Islands to the Kootenays, from the desert country of the Okanagan up through the heritage-rich Cariboo to the open spaces of the Peace Country and the ruggedness of the North Coast.
Celebrating B.C.'s 150th anniversary provides us an important opportunity for both reflection and renewal, celebrating accomplishments while embracing the expectations of our future. It is a time for us to look back at the story of this place and the people who live here, and a time when each of us can search for a new understanding of the history that produced our present.
I hope you will all take the opportunity with your families and neighbours to share in and help showcase our history and our many accomplishments in 2008. Participate in your community's local activities or visit your local library to learn about B.C.'s place in history. Be a guest of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria or Fraser-Fort George Regional Museum in Prince George; the Haida Heritage Centre being built on Haida Gwaii or Nk'Mip Desert Cultural Centre that recently opened in Osoyoos. These and the countless other community museums around B.C. provide an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the adventures, struggles, people, events and achievements that have helped shape our provincial identity. Each honours the spirit of the past, the contributions of our ancestors, the successes achieved and our vision of unlimited potential for the future.
It is our time to showcase the story of the people, our province and our past. It's an opportunity to retell the rich record of the place we call home. And it gives reason for British Columbians -- urban and rural, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, from all our many diverse cultural backgrounds -- to talk about where we are, how we got here and where we want to go in the next 50 years. It gives us an opportunity to experience the "splendour without diminishment" that B.C. bears as its own, and to be inspired to continue building on the accomplishment and achievement that have made British Columbia truly the best place on Earth.
Yours Truly,
Premier Gordon Campbell
I have also travelled across Canada by train... for pleasure! VIA Rail has taken me from the Pacific coast and through the majestic Canadian Rockies to the great cities of Eastern Canada. Cities I have visited on my train travels: Vancouver, Calgary, Wnnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, and Halifax. viarail.ca.
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