With
the theme of the 100th commemoration of the Doukhobor move to BC,
the Doukhobor Discovery Centre kicked off it's 37th season in great
style under an azure sky on April 27th.
Highlights
included the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
official unveiling of the Doukhobor Suspension Bridge, and the participation
of the Psalmists' Ensemble, which had been the focus of archival
recordings as the Heritage Project of 2008.
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Posing
from left to right: Doreen McGillis, Senior Communications
Officer, Parks Canada/Mount Revelstoke and Glacier Field Unit,
Larry Ewashen, Doukhobor Discovery Centre Curator, Elizabeth
(Betty) Sloan (representing Parks Canada), Manager of Finance
and Administration, Parks Canada/Mount Revelstoke and Glacier
Field Unit Terrence (Terry) Foster, (Master of Ceremony, representing
the Historic Sites and Monument Board of Canada) and Brian
Higgins, Senior Park Warden, responsible for Cultural Resources
Management, Parks Canada/Mount Revelstoke and Glacier Field
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Both
of these events, as well as a new exhibit focusing on the migration
of the Doukhobors, spoke to the Doukhobor pioneering presence of
the Doukhobors since 1908.
When
the Doukhobor migration began, the population of this area was about
400 souls. By 1913, 5000 Doukhobors had arrived; developing basic
agriculture, orchards, lumber mills, irrigation projects, brick
yards, roads, bridges, apiaries and the construction of over 90
communal villages in the Kootenay-Boundary Region. In 1913, they
built the historic Doukhobor Suspension bridge.
Elizabeth
(Betty) Sloan (representing Parks Canada) and
J.J. Verigin Jr. unveil the plaque commemorating the
Doukhobor Suspension Bridge. |
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This
was an especially auspicious opening and year for the Doukhobor
Discovery Centre, as Peter V. Verigin, mastermind of the
migration, has been declared a Person of National Historic
Significance, and the migration itself has been declared
an Event of National Historic Significance.
The
well attended afternoon program featured speeches by HSMBC
dignitaries, members of the Kootenay Doukhobor Historical
Society board, as well as pioneering members of the Doukhobor
community who spoke of early settlement.
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Before
the program, a well attended prayer meeting took place. The program
was followed by a reception which included sumptuous snacks prepared
by the Village Bistro.
The
Centre looks forward to an eventful and significant season in light
of this historic year and demarcations. It
will now be open daily from 10:00 to 5:00, and the Village Bistro
will be open daily from 10:00 to 4:00 until September 30th.
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