The Euro-focused timeline of the previous display has been replaced by an exhibit that documents Indigenous and settler milestones and environmental changes
About 516 years ago, a Douglas fir seed germinated not far from what would become known as the Nitinat River, west of Cowichan Lake.
An updated display at the forestry centre on West Burnside Road now chronicles those intersecting timelines. “It started with a reconciliation workshop for federal employees from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland,” Trofymow says. “One of the facilitators was from the Justice Institute of B.C. and was of Cree heritage. In her preamble, she pointed out that most people know very little about Indigenous history. ‘For example,’ she said, ‘that big tree cookie out there in the lobby there has this timeline attached to it that doesn’t even mention Indigenous history.
Over the five years that followed, Trofymow volunteered many hours outside of his regular research schedule to scour regional archives and local history books for key local forestry and settler events and consult with local historians. That information indicated the nations whose participation in the project was critical and whose history was appropriate to include in the display.
The Ditidaht, the Huu-ay-aht and the Pacheedaht Peoples’ deep-time use of forest resources and the germination in about 1508 of the seed that became the big tree lead the forest timeline.
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