Dec 11 - How a pair of shoes shaped Victoria history

Good morning !

Holiday travel is now only about a week away. It’s a process that can be anxiety-inducing to begin with but has been made even more so by the chaos of last year’s local winter travel.

— Cam

Today’s approx. read time: 6 minutes

🌡️ Weather Forecast

Today: 🌧️ 8 / 3

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 7 / 4

Day after: 🌧️ 10 / 2

7-day forecast

NEWS

How a pair of shoes ended up shaping Victoria history

December 6th was “Put On Your Own Shoes Day.” It’s not clear who made it a day of recognition or why. 

But local history is partly a story of shoes—not only in the sense of walking different paths in individual ways, but also because shoes were the literal catalyst for a key part of Victoria history. 

After a white man stole a pair of shoes from his shop in 1858 San Francisco, the Pioneer Boot and Shoe Emporium proprietor Peter Lester and his business partner decided to try their luck on Vancouver Island.

They, along with hundreds of Black Pioneers, as they came to be known, were called by Governor James Douglas, who was worried that if he didn’t come up with a population scheme the Brits would lose the island to the Americans.

These immigrants were able to buy land, build homes, and become British citizens. Lester and Briggs thrived in their new home, but the path they and their peers walked as Black residents of early Victoria was as full of obstacles as opportunities.

Read more about their history, and our region’s, at Capital Daily.

NEWS

Fundraiser identifies Saanich woman killed in medical event & car crash

The van that crashed into a Saanich home last week was driven by Corrina McDonald, a mother of two kids at Rogers Elementary, according to the PAC of that school. Their GoFundMe has raised nearly $7K to support the grieving family. 

Police said at the time that the low-speed Wednesday morning crash on Rogers Avenue happened after the driver, 46, suffered a medical event. She was pronounced dead on scene. 

CHEK reports that McDonald was driving her kids to the school when the fatal medical episode struck. Neighbours told the Times Colonist they heard a thud and children calling for help; the home’s resident said she had left only just before, to take her own kids to the school. 

There was another high-profile crash into a building just three days later, when a car hit Langford’s Loghouse Pub. The owner speculated that that, too, may have been a medical incident, and credited the namesake logs with protecting people in the pub.

⚠️ Capital Bulletin

Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google.

Maintenance on Salt Spring’s Beddis Water system tomorrow; CRD asks area residents to limit water on day-of.

NEWS

Victoria’s big winter food festival returns next month for 20th anniversary

Dine Around and Stay in Town is running in Victoria from Jan. 26 to Feb. 22. This annual fest, launched in 2004, features a dozen hotels and 45+ different restaurants in Greater Victoria. 

Participating restaurants set up menus with meals in five tiers ranging from $25 to $65, giving people the chance to try a variety of unique cuisines without breaking the bank.

For the restaurants (which range from mainstream staples like The Keg to small but acclaimed local spots such as Wind Cries Mary) it’s a way to spur some sales in what is otherwise a very slow time of year. 

Read more about the event at Tasting Victoria.

SPONSORED BY UNITED WAY SOUTHERN VANCOUVER ISLAND

Food for thought

While many of us gather to enjoy the festive season with our loved ones, an overflowing dinner table remains a distant dream for some in our community. The issue of food insecurity is much more than a one-time empty plate; it's the ongoing lack of access to nutritious, substantial meals, leading to a life of constant uncertainty and compromise. Too often, we hear stories of people, young, elderly, and everywhere in between, for whom a box of crackers or a cup of yogurt had to suffice for an entire meal.

This is not dinner – for anyone.

Support United Way Southern Vancouver Island by donating between now and Dec 31 and your contribution will be doubled. Every donation of $25 or more enters you into a draw for a $250 gift certificate, courtesy of Old Farm Market.

⭐️ Capital Picks

 🦆 Puffed up: A trio of hooded male mergansers compete for attention. [Photo]

🌊 “Crazy wave action” during recent storm was captured by an Island photographer near Tofino. [Photo]

🧁 Holiday recipes: Tasting Victoria presents how to bake rum cakes and sprinkle cookies. [Info]

🤝 Now hiring: Manager of Donor Relations at Victoria Conservatory of Music.

🗞️ In Other News

Local stores named best independent grocers in Canada
Pepper’s Foods was named the top small-size store and Country Grocer the top medium-sized at the annual Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers awards. [Saanich News]

Power restored to around 10,000 BC Hydro customers on the Island
The most affected areas were the Gulf Islands and the North Island region.
Hydro crews faced “pretty gnarly conditions” in the north, a rep told CHEK given the remoteness of some affected areas and the intensity of some winds (150+km/h) in the storm.
Early on Monday morning another 3,000 Island customers had outages, but this was tied to vehicle crashes.

Nanaimo council reverses several steps of major downtown development’s approval
The proposal is for a hotel and 750 housing units on the site of the Howard Johnson, a hotel shuttered since 2018. Snuneymuxw First Nation has said it wasn’t consulted enough about the site, which once held Sxwayxum village. Nanaimo now says it won’t proceed until that process, facilitated by the province, is completed. [NNN]

🗓️ Things to do

🎙️ Holly Jolly Christmas: Zachary Stevenson will be joined by Chicago-based trio The Lovettes at McPherson Playhouse. Today. 7:30pm.

🎅 Anything Goes Market: Christmas market with all proceeds from the door going to food outreach for the homeless. Dec. 17. Victoria Legion on the Gorge. [Legion Info]

🧠 A talk on brain health and aging: UVic’s Cafe Scientifique presents the Forever Young series of lectures on physical and mental health and aging. Today’s is at 3:30-5:30pm; Eventbrite registration has ended but organizers say people interested in tuning in can email [email protected] for access.

👀 In Case You Missed It

Mild winter expected—but that could cause another summer drought. [Capital Daily / LJI]

The best gifts for foodies in Greater Victoria are in this holiday shopping guide from Tasting Victoria. 

Sunday headlines: Weekend storm knocks out power & sailings. New local recycling contract. Car drives into pub. [Newsletter]

Bear eats whale near Tofino. [CBC]

A “good day” after “a year of anguish“: Family glad to have closure after hiker’s body recovered at last. [Capital Daily]

Michael Kay becomes Saanich fire chief on Feb. 1. [District of Saanich]

Heartbreak for many baseball fans, here and across Canada, as Jays fall short in race to sign all-timer Shohei Ohtani. [Star]

That’s it!

A couple corrections from yesterday, folks.

I failed to update the Ellice Recycling write-up to its final version, so there were some typos still in there. The web version is correct, and the original Westshore story is fine.

I also misspoke (well, mis-wrote) in calling the weekend weather the first big storm of Dec. rather than the season’s first big winter storm (i.e. snowfall in several parts of the Island). There was a rainstorm the week prior, and I apologize for the inaccurate phrasing.

–Cam