The British Columbia Legislature is by far the most imposing building in James Bay. It has stood overlooking the Inner Harbour for over 110 years, and in that time it has become such an intregral part of the landscape that it is hard to imagine a time when it wasn't there.

"Victoria's old legislative buildings, also known as the Birdcages."
Image A-00934 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives.
Click here for more info about this photo and to find a larger image.

But, before there was a legislature the Songhees camped nearby to take advantage of the bounty of James Bay's tidal mud flats, and to cultivate the Camas growing in nearby meadows. In the 1840's James Douglas built his house on the South side of James Bay. Other local elites followed and James Bay became the first upper-crust neighbourhood of this small colonial outpost.

For several years Douglas represented the interests of both the Hudson Bay Company and the Crown in his dual role as Governor of Vancouver Island and agent for the HBC. But as the colony slowly grew it became clear that Douglas and his appointed council were not in a position to fairly govern the colony.

The Colonial Office decided it was time to have a more formal and accountable system of governance in the colony. And so, The first legislative assembly of the colony of Vancouver Island, consisting of seven members, was elected in June 1856. The meetings of the newly formed legislature were conducted in the Bachelors' Hall at the HBC Fort and much government business was still conducted at Douglas' home for several years after the legislative assembly was formed.

But when the discovery of gold in the Fraser River Valley in 1857 brought a flood of treasure hunters streaming through Victoria on their way to 'the diggings', it became apparent that more suitable facilities for government business were required.

In 1859 Assistant Surveyor H.O. Tiedemann drew up plans for the first group of capital buildings that would occupy the site of the legislature. The plans called for a legislative assembly, a supreme court, a governor's residence, a fire-proof vault for the treasury, a land registry, an office for the colonial secretary, as well as a military barracks. Unfortunatley before the project could be completed the gold rush petered out, the population declined and tax revenues dried up. Construction was stopped in 1860 due to lack of funds. Only one of the six structures was complete enough to be opened. The legislature and the Supreme Court had to share cramped quarters until the rest of the project was finally completed in 1864.

"Assay office at the Birdcages."
Image A-00934 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives.
Click here for more info about this photo and to find a larger image.

The six low slung structures with curving roofs and verandas were dubbed 'The Bird Cages' by the Gazette because of their appearance, and the name stuck. It was not exactly an affectionate label. The Bird Cages showed signs of cheapness and cost-cutting in their design and construction. Bricks were painted to look like stone, pine used in doorways was grained to look like oak, and cheaper imitations were used to stand for real marble on the mantle pieces.

At the about the same time that the Bird Cages were being constructed the first bridge was built across James Bay, extending Government Street and providing easy access to the new government headquarters. The transition from trading post to colonial capital was further enhanced when Douglas began the dismantling of the Fort's pallisades in 1860.

Except for a brief period when the capital was moved to New Westminister in the 1860's, the Bird Cages served as the legislative and administrative capital of the Colony of Vancouver Island, then the combined colony of British Columbia, and finally for the province of British Columbia. In the late 1890's the government decided to hold a competition to build a new legislature that would instill pride in the citizenry, and hopefully, restore some vigour to the ailing local economy.

"Victoria, Birdcages moved to allow the construction of the new
legislative buildings."
Image A-02780 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC Archives.
Click here for more info about this photo and to find a larger image.

But, the new legislature didn't spell the ultimate end for the Bird Cages. The new building was sited to fit the alloted space while leaving room for some of the older buildings to remain, others were actually moved out of the way. The main building, where the legislature had sat, was used by the Department of Mines until 1957 when it was finally destroyed by fire. Bricks from the other Bird Cages were used to pave the front carriageway leading to the new legislature.

Thanks for reading, In my next few posts I'll look into the building of the new legislature and the brash young architect who arrived to build it.

To see more Images of the Bird Cages Visit the BC Archives Website:
Victoria Legislative Buildings, ca. 1862.
Central Legislative Building, Rear View, 1866.
Assembly House, Victoria, 1860s.
The Birdcages in Victoria after a snowstorm, ca. 1870.
Photo Collage: The legislative buildings in Victoria, 1888.
A function at the legislative buildings in Victoria, 1889.

Further Reading:
The Legislature has an interesting interactive website about the history of the legislature. Click here to Visit

Robin Ward, Echoes of Empire: Victoria and its Remarkable Buildings, Maidera Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 1996.

Martin Segger and Douglas Franklin, Exploring Victoria's Architecture, Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1996.

Terry Reksten, Rattenbury, Victoria: Sono Nis Press, 1978, 1998.

What do you think? We'd love to hear your opinion. Join the discussion of this topic in the JamesBay.org Forum

Except where otherwise noted, this content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

James Bay Culture Blog #3

1. TRUST

Listen -- I don't want to lie to you.

When you read this blog, you must trust me to give you “the real dirt.” Otherwise how can I expect you will be deliriously, wonderfully addicted to my fantastically unusual blogs? So I have no choice, I've got to give it you straight:

James Bay Day was NOT REALLY A DAY.

It was a mere 4 hours, from 11AM-3PM on Saturday Sept 13 2008. 240 minutes in which to gather in Irving Park (Michigan & Menzies) to revel in the tangible soul of our fair region.

I know you're probably thinking, "Hey! 4 hours isn't nearly enough to honour this community!" And I agree with you. You have my promise that we are working to extend it to a full day. The kindly old ladies at the James Bay New Horizons Center assure me that by working together with focus and commitment... We'll get those other 20 hours!

2. FESTIVE ENCHANTMENT

I, your humble Community Adventurer had been lured down to this event by large, black-on-blue posters featuring a Giant Heron. The cheerful volunteer-girl at the Park entrance informed me solemnly that this bird was now the official mascot of James Bay: Irving the Heron. It was, she said, the indwelling spirit of Irving Park. This was the first I had heard of any “official mascot” nonsense, but – what the heck! -- we could do a lot worse than worshiping a giant mystical bird. They could have chosen "Woo"... Emily Carr's depraved pet monkey.

Wandering into the park, I encountered a realm of festive enchantment. Rows of multi-coloured, gravity-defying balloons mingled with huge flags depicting butterflies and Pegasuses (Pegasi???). Gentle sunlight warmed the thick green grass while a gentler breeze cooled it back down. Waves of rustic-eclectic Worldbeat music floated around our heads while children scampered, seniors puttered around, and we all wondered what “Lily's Famous Afghani Bolanees” would turn out to be. Delicious scents of popcorn were sneaking up my nostrils -- just one of the many PG-rated treats available from the James Bay Parents- Advisory-Council Hot Dog stand. We sat on hay bales, listening to the soft braying of baby goats, wearing cheap, crafty fake-floral head-dresses with veils (Martha Stewart meets Cleopatra?).

The bored ambulance crew waited, made cell phone calls, dozed, and waited.

Very, very nice. But something was missing...

3. GLIMPSES FROM BELOW

Where, I wondered, were the regular Park inhabitants? Had the hippie hobos, scruffy can-collectors, drunks and “musicians” left of their own accord? Or were they driven away by this armada of tidy Good Citizens? My communal instincts longed to reunite these tragically divided population segments. Pondering this matter, I took seat under an ancient Beech tree in the shade, watching for any signs of madness bubbling up from the “underground reservoir” of James Bay's collective mind.

For a long time, I only saw superficial family-friendly recreation.

Then:

A crazed woman. Her enormous haunches straining the seams of her bright blue trousers (I hope she isn't reading this...)as she waddled past me with a piping hot Starbucks coffee. The slight 2-degree slope of the ground was too much for this poor lady and – she lost control. Crying out, “Uhhnngph!” she dropped the cup which, it turned out, was actually filled with piping hot Vegetarian Chilli. Dismayed and overwhelmed, this poor thing proceeded to wander the area making odd clucking sounds deep in her throat. The discarded smear of faux-Starbucks, half-liquefied bean sludge remained long after her departure. Perversely intriguing.

Then, even weirder, was the LARGEST CARROT I HAVE EVER SEEN! This creature was grooving to the wild maracas and bongo beat, clapping his obscenely oversized hands and trailing around behind a golden-skinned cowgirl -- his “keeper.”

His propagandistic t-shirt read “Active Communities of Victoria”... but mere slogans could not justify this LSD-inspired, humanoid root-vegetable whose permanently fake smile was not -- I prayed – the true embodiment of James Bay Day.

Monstrous.

4. THE MYSTERY

Everyone here was, apparently, willing to “go with it,” surfing passively on the easy energies of this event. As the only critical observer and, possibly, the only sane man left in James Bay, I certainly had my work cut out for me.

Quite sanely, I rose and walked to the Irving Park Grass Labyrinth, following it slowly to the Center. At this hallowed location, I intoned certain archaic incantations preserved by the ancient Hermetic-Occult mystery cults. After a moment, I felt the familiar “fuzzy streaming” as I slipped beyond normal consciousness into that strange Interspace between worlds. Here I called upon Irving the Heron God.

His eyes were terrible, vast and curious.

What...do... you... seek?

“How,” I demanded, “can we enliven true depth of community among these people?”

FOOL. Your entire world trembles in blood & madness. First, let all the nations rise up to this empty, golden plateau of good cheer. Help James Bay to assimilate the goodness it already has. Many wretched mortals will die for a flag, a drug or a quirk of religious terminology. Who among you is willing to vigorously defend what is NICE and PLEASANT? Digest THIS feeling. Protect it and spread it. Only then we will worry about transcending it...

“Thanks,” I said, turning to leave. “You've given me a lot to think on.”

And one more thing...

“What?”

...Kill that goddamn carrot.

What do you think? We'd love to hear your opinion about this post. Join the discussion of this topic in the JamesBay.org Forum

JAMES BAY CULTURE BLOG #2

(Editor's note: “Blows” is a technical term suggesting flagrant disparagement or the outright dismissal of a given topic. It is considered a synonym for “sucks.”)

Dear James Bay,

Several days ago, soy latté in hand, I was out vigilantly patrolling the border regions of James Bay. I consider this the duty of every citizen. We all must work to stave off waves of scurrilous invaders from Cook St. Village – bakery & antique store refugees. So I was heading South through Beacon Hill Park when - BAM! – I ran smack into the World's Tallest Totem Pole. Moments later, lying in the dry brown grass, I regained my senses and soy latté foam was everywhere.

fig 2. A Freudian Slip – in which old
Sigmund is slipped into a photo of Beacon
Hill Park.

I admit it: I adore totem poles. That's not a secret Freudian confession, these archaic monuments really are breathtakingly magnificent -- statues, books, flags & DNA codes rolled into one.

Sigmund Freud, in TOTEM AND TABOO wrote:

“...the totem is the common ancestor of the clan; at the same time it is their guardian spirit and helper, which sends them oracles and, if dangerous to others, recognises and spares its own children.“

That sounds about right. Freud also wrote: “It is certainly noticeable that the ambivalence attached to the father complex also continues in totemism and in religions in general." Hmmm. Less clear.

I assume he meant that boys obey their fathers, kill their fathers, force their wives to become their mothers and then regret the whole damned operation – a murky mix of love and hatred that later gets projected onto carved wooden poles. A strange fellow. The longer I looked at this Pole, however, the more ambivalent I felt. Maybe the old goat was onto something. I had to find out more...

Read more

If you are interested in the history of the Victoria then you will certainly be familiar with Danda Humphreys. Danda has been entertaining and enlightening visitors and locals with her books, walking tours and talks about the history of Victoria for more than ten years. I recently had the chance to chat with her about the richness of James Bay’s past.

Q: How did you come to write about the history of Victoria?

A: Very basically, the street names fascinated me because they don't exist anywhere else. People kept asking me to meet them at an intersection. 'Yes we've got a job, our office is at Douglas and Yates,' and I'd be looking at the names and thinking I don't remember seeing that anywhere across Canada. So I was spending an awful lot of time on street corners. I was getting quite a reputation. And I decided to start looking into who these people were, and why we chose to name our streets after them. So that's the basic story of how I got into it. It was just curiosity.

My first contract with the Times Colonist was for three articles, but I ended up writing close to five hundred. People reacted to them. 'Oh Wow! What about my street,' they said. It was something that people could relate to, which kept the interest going, and the more I wrote the more interested I got in it.

Q: What aspects of James Bay's history are people most interested in?

A: They are most interested in the fact that we are so much more than a little bit of old England. Which is how Victoria was being sold by the travel people, particularly in the sixties. Anybody who came here around then thought that's all we were. But what is interesting is why the settlement here is different. It was not just a group of hardy pioneers. It was actually an international fur trading company, which brought a whole different breed of men, with a different focus. Then in 1858 all that changed with the gold rush, so we left that behind and became a commercial centre, as people came to service people who made money in the gold rush.

People also want to knowwhat happened in all the old buildings. Victoria has more commercial heritage buildings than any other city I've lived in. Vancouver has a few. Toronto has about three, I don't know, I'm just guessing. But, you know, in those cities, there's more focus on building new stuff. I think we're very fortunate here that we have a couple of people on city council who are very concerned about heritage. Otherwise, we would be going the same route as Vancouver. We'd be losing them all, and really right now our heritage is our biggest selling point.

The other thing I think people are interested in is the myths. Very often they'll say 'Oh I heard there were tunnels under China town where they smuggled people in and out,' and different myths that they've heard. It's fun to go through them because we all want to believe stories, but it's even more fun to find out what the real story was.

Q: What is the most interesting thing about James Bay to you?

A: Well it was the first residential area in Victoria, apart from the Fort and the buildings surrounding the Fort downtown. It was supporting the Fort with farms and bakeries and everything else. Once the first legislature buildings were built on the South side of James Bay that opened everything up. They had to build a bridge to access those buildings. The people who were settling didn't want to be in the downtown Fort area so they moved to James Bay. They built grand old beautiful homes, especially along the waterfront, a lot of which are gone. Probably the only remenant on Bellevile is the Pendray house, which is now the Gatsby Mansion, but they were all beautiful old homes like that along there. So James Bay was the first residential area. I think that was the most important part.

Q: What do you think are the most significant events that have happened in James Bay?

A: One of the most significant by far from an arts point of view was the birth of Emily Carr and the construction of her family home. Richard Carr built the second residence along what is now Government Street, but used to be called Carr Street. And that his daughter should have gone on to fame and fortune, albiet alot of it posthumously, is very significant. We're very proud of the fact that she's a native daughter, and that she's known all over Canada. I do tours of her childhood neighbourhood in connection with Carr House. I take groups to the house and they do a tour there, and then we go on a walking tour around Emiliy's neighbourhood, and we go past all the places were she lived and worked and died, all within one city block. That's pretty special.

Another significant event was the creation of Beacon Hill Park at such an early time. James Douglas set that aside, in theory anyway, way back in 1843. It wasn't actually named as a park by the city until later, but it was never used for anything else, but parkland. We're incredibly fortunate to have that, 154 acres smack bang in the middle of the city like that.

But what makes James Bay unique? It's surrounded on three sides by water, and the fourth side by a park. I mean that's wonderful. There's nothing else like that around.

Q: Why is it important to learn about the history of the neighbourhood you live in?

A: One thing about Victoria is we don't have an awful lot of people who were actually born here. Most of us have come from somewhere else, and that does make a difference to the history. And because this is an island a lot of people who were born here ended up leaving the island to go to University or to different parts of Canada and different parts of the world. And a lot of them never did come back, so we lose that continuity. Because by the middle aged years it's hard to come back. Things are expensive on this island. Eighty per cent of the things we use, pretty well, come across the water that drives all the prices up. People are tempted to stay somewhere a little bit cheaper. Which is a shame because, again, the continuity is lost.

I believe history gives you a sense of belonging. Otherwise it's just living on the surface of a place, and not really appreciateing how it started and how it grew, who came here, what contributions they made, where they ended up.

I think we have a responsibility to protect the past. We need to look after our older structures, our older people, and their stories, and make sure that those connections with the early settlement of this area aren't lost. Whether that's First Nations settlement and First Nations existance in these parts, or European. Our European history is just so short, 1842 really that's nothing when you think about the Eastern part of Canada, or any other place in Europe. I always say to people 'It may be short, but it's very colourful.' because the people who came were such characters.

Danda Humphreys has published four books on the history of Victoria:

On the Street Where you Live: Pioneer Pathways of Early Victoria
On the Street Where you Live: Victoria's Early Roads and Railways
On the Street Where you Live: Sailors Solicitors and Stargazers of Early Victoria
Building Victoria: Men, Myths and Mortar

Each of these books can be found in local bookstores. You can also visit Danda's website to find learn more about her guided tours, events and speaking engagements.

This is the first in an irregular series of posts about the people in James Bay who go the extra mile to make a difference. We're on the look out for passionate people who are dedicated to our neighbourhood to feature in this section. If you know anybody who fits the bill please let me know: joel[at]jamesbay.org.

This is the first post by our newest contributor and culture editor, cyam/pascal. He'll be offering up a regular mix of cultural threoy and everyday life, from a quirky, and I dare say, eccentric point of view. It's sure to be entertaining and informative. --Joel

the splices of local life

Welcome to the new James Bay Culture Blog.

fig. 1 - A monstrous French philosopher peers
down curiously at quaint James Bay.

Our plan here is to explore the shared reality of the James Bay community in all its different dimensions. We want to find the living web that is woven invisibly between us all – both the daylight and noctural minds of the region. Although we must give all fair praise to the garden markets and heritage plaques with which we identify ourselves, they do not always succeed in identifying the deep cultural field in which we are so intimately embedded. The organic mechanics of our mutual identity are surely not so easily determined by the regular routine of life.

It was the famous French philosopher Gilles Delueze (fig. 1) who said,

“Style is a quality possessed by those people of whom we say -- they have no style!”

This curious statement suggests that we define ourselves at our edges, by our exceptions and via our boundary conditions. The great "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville was denounced as trash by those few who read it and generally ignored by everyone else. It would come to define the style of American novels. Emily Carr was -- often as not -- a kind of alien or lunatic in the eyes of her neighbours – yet she would later symbolize both her era and her community. We inhabit culture just like fish live in water, usefully, sure, but with no real sense of its external qualities. The James Bay Culture Blog will attempt to open us to the great diversity and depth of our landscape no matter how strange or trivial it becomes.

I am a proud supporter of the halcyon ease and familiarity which hangs in the atmosphere over this beaucolic boot-tip of Vancouver Island. This sense in the air is our real legacy and, frankly, I see it as the root of an ethical approach to living. Yet this golden ease is not indestructible. In order to secure its continuation we must keep the hidden roots of the community churning out raw nutrient into our collective social space. Let us honour what James Bay stands for by seeking the odd perspectives, the curious glyphs, far-out paranoid notions and the true artistic-spiritual epiphanies that have always sustained us.

How's that sound? Too complicated or just-complicated-enough? I think you'll love it. It will be juicy, smart and full of attitude. Think of it as accupuncture down upon the social body of James Bay – with this blog as the needle!

Just remember:

1. I will be your proxy in the realm of local curiosities, always on the lookout for perplexing objects, visionary persons and weird reasoning of all kinds. If you spot fertile oddities in the community please contact me at pascal[at]jamesbay.org and you may find yourself woven into the fabric of the The James Bay Culture Blog.

2. Each short essay will address one unique vortex of local life, and then SPLICE it together with one high-concept thinker or historical event -- setting us in greater context. This welcoming entry, for example, touches on the recent French philosohper Gilles Deleuze. Researches suggest that our intelligence is not measured by the sheer quantity of our knowledbe but by the rich diversity of interesting connections we stretch between all the things we have learned.

3. This is going to be great fun, I assure you. The trivial will become vast and the great will be microscopically reduced just as occurs in comedy -- but that will not detract for the genuine ethical committment that I would like too see blossoming in this community and toward which all these blog entries will be reaching. I hope our mutual pleasure, our mutual increase of understanding, and the enlivenment of authentic community spirit will go hand in hand together.

Thanks for reading this!

“Hmmm.... sounds cultural.”

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