David Milton McGowan

It appears all the Provincial Governments and Canada’s Federal Government are intent on cutting funding to arts programs. Theatres are closing all over the country due to lack of funding, including a couple that have been the starting points for internationally known writers, directors and actors. Apparently those in government do not understand how significant arts production is for the country. Or perhaps they realize that the monetary value of Canadian artistic production, though an insignificant piece of its total value, far exceeds anything produced in a monetary sense by government. As a result they are in fear that the citizenry will become aware of the true value of government. There still seems to be a strong consensuses that once students have been taught Reading, Righting and Rithmatic that’s all they need to know. In reality all the ‘three Rs’ do is supply a foundation for the beginning of an education. True education doesn’t even start without some understanding of the ar...

When he arrived on Vancouver Island in 1858 he was known as Charlie Brown. Due to his proclivity for so called easy money he soon came to the attention of the newly formed British Columbia Colonial Police and Victoria Municipal Police. However, with a gold rush breaking out in some area of the colony almost every year, law enforcement was hard pressed due to the constant influx of gold seekers. Due to the lack of manpower and time as well as the insipidness of his name, little is known about Charlie’s earlier history except that he may have been in California and Oregon Territory. Once in the British colony, however, it was obvious Charlie’s search for gold would not include digging or washing for it. He was caught on several occasions selling grain alcohol to Indians. Following one of those occasions, while awaiting trial, he was attacked by another arrestee, a Haida Indian to whom he had sold a barrel of sea water as whiskey. Mr. Brown’s last extended stay in Victoria’s Bastion Stre...