Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

by daniel | Jun 1, 2018

“Person of National Historic Significance” designated by the Government of Canada in 2009. The Government of Canada is proud to honour a man who worked tirelessly for the local Black community as a politician, businessman, and defender of human rights...

The M.R. Smith Bakery

by Fran | Nov 29, 2020

This bakery business offered an extraordinary variety of biscuits, fancy breads and baked goods for many decades.   M.R. Smith & Co. Ltd. Biscuits and Confectionary. Courtesy of Royal BC Museum and Archives H-03569 Moses Rowe Smith arrived in Victoria in 1858...

Peter Lester

by Fran | Aug 2, 2018

In February 1860 he was the 1st Black to sit as a juror in B.C. Peter Lester moved with his wife Nancy and five children to San Francisco from Philadelphia in 1850, where he was appalled to find that slavery was still a fact of life in the free state of California. In...

John Sullivan Deas

by blackhistory | Jun 1, 2018

A tinsmith by trade, Deas became the leading canner on the Fraser River in the 1870’s.  Deas Island, where the cannery was located, bears his name. To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, 150 noteworthy British Columbian’s were named: February 24,...