The West Coast Chapter of the Captain Cook Society had their sixth annual meeting and lunch at the Tigh-Na-Mara Resort in Parksville, BC, on Vancouver Island on 7 March, 2020. In attendance were Don Reksten and Leona Taylor of Victoria, Dennis and Janice Flewelling of Saanich, Catherine Gilbert of Black Creek, and Maggie and Randy Komar of Comox.
Even though many of our usual attendees were not in attendance due to illness or weather conditions, the meeting was productive, with lots of discussion.
Randy Komar chaired the meeting, bringing greetings from Avis and Graeme Brown of New Zealand. He reported that there are now 35 CCS members who are part of our West Coast group. There is interest from people all over North America, but our little group seems to be the only thing happening on this continent!
Aside from discussing books that some of us have been reading relating to Cook’s explorations, the main focus was on how to get things happening for the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s landing on the west coast of Canada at Nootka Sound. We would like to see involvement of the government at both the federal and provincial levels, with funding for events across the country. One idea is the involvement of schools and teachers in the development of learning materials as a way of creating awareness in the younger generations of Cook’s many achievements, and their importance.
A new Maritime Museum is being built close to Victoria, so the involvement of that facility would be ideal, not to mention other maritime museums throughout the country, on the east and west coasts.
Maggie Komar
Originally published in Cook's Log, page 31, volume 43, number 2 (2020).