Library openings, or other stories for a general News audience. (Not for minor updates for teams or partners.)
Write to Read BC volunteers joined the village of Quatsino to officially open its new library on February 7, 2017. Quatsino community leaders and lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon also joined the ceremony.
The village is on Vancouver Island, 15km south of Port Hardy. Most of its residents of Quatsino work in forestry, fishing, and eco-tourism.
A library opening today in Nooaitch, BC, also represented a new kind of library for Write to Read BC. The new facility, near Merritt, BC, not only offers books and recorded media. It also has Internet-connected computers that offer remote access to courses and conferences. The Nooaitch library was Write to Read’s eleventh partnership to install libraries in isolated, Indigenous communities across BC.
At the Nooaitch opening, Chief Marcell Shackelly said the library is a tool that builds a vision for their band’s future.
The previous Chief, Joyce Sam, partnered with Write to Read BC to start the Nooaitch project. Sam is excited to see how the band will use the new building. “It’ll get us together,” she told a Merritt Herald reporter, adding that it’s a place for children to read quietly, or for learners to study for an exam. “All the tools are there, the resources are there,” Sam said.
The opening was a festive event. Judith Guichon, the lieutenant-governor of BC, also attended.
The village of Ditidaht opened its library in mid-September 2014, with community fanfare and visiting dignitaries. The library is the result of a partnership with Write to Read BC.
Cutting the ribbon were British royals, Prince Edward and Princess Sophie. Edward formally asked the permission to be on Ditidaht titled lands. Sophie was given a cedar band for her head, which had been woven for the occasion by one of Ditidaht’s eldest citizens, Sophie wore the headband throughout the visit. The royals were accompanied by the lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon.
In addition to celebrating the library, the ceremony honoured Ditidaht schoolteacher Eva Clarke for envisioning a space for storytelling, theatre, and reading aloud. Clarke, with the Rotary Club and Write to Read BC, was instrumental in getting the library installed.
With this new library and community gathering place, the community hopes to promote literacy and learning for its younger members.
On 27 May 2014, CBC reported six new libraries have been installed in isolated, Indigenous communities across BC. Each new library adds to the 200 First Nations that already have a library.
CBC credits Write to Read BC, along with Bob Blacker and former lieutenant-governor of BC, Steven Point.
At its start, the project recruited retired librarians to solicit book donations. Write to Read BC soon had over 30,000 new and used books to assess and catalogue from their headquarters in a donated storage locker.
The work is ongoing, with more libraries planned.
The Heiltsuk First Nation and the Qqs Projects Society officially opened the Thistalalh Memorial Library in Bella Bella on March 26, 2014. Qqs is pronounced kuks, means eyes, and refers to the community’s watchful stewardship of the area.
The portable building that now houses the library was renovated and shipped to Bella Bella complete with shelving and computers thanks to a unique partnership between Write to Read BC and its partners. The Rotary Club led the project’s fundraising. Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular) provided the portable building. Nanaimo Correctional Centre built the shelving. London Drugs provided computers that allow the library to offer remote attendance in courses and conferences online, in its learning centre. Other supporters provided shipping, books, and volunteers.
The library is home to books donated from around the world after the town’s previous building burned down. “We are incredibly moved by the upwelling of support from strangers and booklovers who want to help us get back on our feet and put books back in the hands of our community members,” said library curator Jessie Housty. She told The Tyee news that the library is “a gathering space around stories.”
Housty added: “Stories are sacred things. As Heiltsuk people, we really are nothing more than the sum of the stories we have lived in.” In addition to books and stories important to its culture, the library and its learning centre form an online bridge to other places and cultures.
The Write to Read BC library has a beautiful view of the Inside Passage, the sheltered waterway between the BC mainland and Vancouver Island. Travel to Bella Bella is only by sea and air.
The original library was built in 2007 by Qqs Projects Society, a Heiltsuk First Nation non-profit organization.
For Rupert celebrated the grand opening of a library, on August 20, 2013. Fort Rupert is a west-coast, First Nation community located next to Port Hardy, BC. This is the 8th library installed in an isolated community by Write to Read BC.
This library was a collaborative effort between participating partners. Three Rotary Clubs—Burnaby Metrotown, Port McNeill, and Port Hardy—worked in partnership with the Kwakiutl band of Port Rupert. Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular) donated the modular building, and BC Ferries assisted with its delivery. TLD Computers, with London Drugs and Hewlett Packard, donated the computers.
The contents of the library—the books, cataloguing, computer systems, and shelves—were assembled by Write to Read BC’s library response team, Carol and Barbara. In what was a truly cooperative effort, they were joined by Bonnie Sutherland of North Delta Rotary Club and Afroteck, and Marion Hunt, Carole Ford, and many other Fort Rupert community volunteers.
Lieutenant-governor of BC Judith Guichon opened the library. Also in attendance at the opening were Rotary District Governor Ken Wilson (D5040) and Peggy, along with Gloria Wing Stadt, Bala Naidoo, Elizabeth Cheung, and Darlene Broadhead of the Burnaby Metrotown Club.
In her 2013 annual statement, Judith Guichon, lieutenant-governor of BC, said she will continue to build on the literacy program developed by Steven Point, the preceding lieutenant-governor of BC.
Point developed the Write to Read BC project by partnering with several Rotary Clubs in the province.
On September 11, 2012, the BC community of Yunesit’in, Stone, opened a library, thanks to Write to Read BC.
The Rotary Club of Williams Lake joined the community to install and open the facility. The Rotary Club of Sechelt gave a $15,000 grant for books. Steven Point, the lieutenant-governor of BC, attended the opening.
Point said the library is an example of what can be accomplished when people work together.
Britco donated a 10×40-foot trailer that was used during the 2010 Olympics by the media, and transported it to Stone. The Rotary Club Williams Lake purchased a second trailer. The community itself told its partners their vision: a library and a community centre.
