The Vancouver Island University Elder College has sponsored a community event for Nov. 24 — A Dark History: Finding the Hidden Story of Italian Immigration to British Columbia.
Guest lecturer Lynne Bowen will bring to light a little-known and fascinating part of B.C.’s history: the early Italian immigrant.
Bowen shares her insight into the colorful and often precarious experiences of those who helped to shape our province’s history. This presentation will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the social development of B.C. and especially to those of Italian lineage who are curious about their ancestors, as well as historians with an interest in migration and ethnicity.
Bowen took several years to track down the poorly documented story of Italian immigration to British Columbia, but with the help of sympathetic historians and expatriate Italians, as well as travel throughout British Columbia and Italy, she has a fascinating story to share.
Lynne Bowen is the author of six books: Boss Whistle, The Coal Miners of Vancouver Island Remember; Three Dollar Dreams; Muddling Through, The Remarkable Story of the Barr Colonists; Those Lake People, Stories of Cowichan Lake; Robert Dunsmuir, Laird of the Mines and Whoever Gives Us Bread, The Story of Italians in British Columbia. Her books have won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Prize for Writing British Columbia History.
This event Nov. 24 is from 10 a.m. to noon at the VIU Parksville Campus, The Forum, Main Floor, Parksville, Civic and Technology Center, 100 Jensen Avenue East.
Tickets are $5 at the door (Elder College membership not required) or call 1-866-734-6252 to reserve your seat.