Around and about British Columbia

By Dimitrios & Katerina Angelatos

Cannery Day 2001

Celebrating Greek contribution to BC fishing industry since 1890’s

            Every year the Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society celebrates the multicultural history of the West Coast fishing industry at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery national historic site in Richmond, BC. This year’s celebrations were held on August 5. Each year highlights a particular cultural group’s contribution and this year featured the Greeks. Co-organizers of the event were the Hellenic Community of Vancouver and the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC.  

           Tony Capadouca, an 83 year old Canadian who belongs to the first generation of Greek-Canadians immigrants in BC.  

  The Gulf of Georgia Cannery, situated in the picturesque village of Steveston in Richmond is a museum that shows the stages of the fish processing from the boat through the gutting and cleaning, the canning and the packaging. The old equipment is all set up so that one can follow the process as if one was actually there. At the same time, the museum is a record of all the various cultural groups who made their livelihood from the industry. It is certainly worth including on the list of points of interest for tourists to the area to visit.  

Members of the “Philhellenes” dancing group perform on Cannery Day in Richmond, BC.  

Fishing families from Greece first began settling on the banks of the Fraser River in the 1890’s. Many of them lived on cedar float houses. They raised goats and chickens and farmed vegetables on Deas Island but their main livelihoods came from fishing and the cannery. They were a close knit community, working together and helping each other. They kept alive the traditions and songs from their homeland. From these beginnings their communities gradually spread out to other areas such as Ladner and Vancouver. Many of the descendants of these original settlers are still involved with the fishing industry to-date.

            The weather on this year’s Cannery Day put a slight damper on the event. It rained most of the day so the outdoor food concessions and the art booth did not receive much traffic. Yiorgos and Yiannis had to move their live bouzouki and guitar music indoors by the entrance. The dance performances and the Historic Street Theatre also had to move indoors. There was however so much activity going on indoors that it was impossible to see everything, especially if one arrived late.

            Visitors saw the Young Canada Works group put on several performances of “Salmon Fever”, an historic street theatre presentation that included a tribute to the Greeks on the Fraser. There were also historic displays and guided tours. Tom and James Capadouca demonstrated salmon gillnet making techniques. Homer Stevens discussed his experiences as a working fisherman and as leader of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers’ Union. His story “Homer Stevens – A Life in Fishing” was on sale at the gift shop. Peter Capadouca presented a slide show entitled “From Skopelos to Deas Island – The Greek settlers and their descendents”. Stella Panagiotidis presented “Stella’s Journey – A flight of the Spirit”, a six minute promotional rough-cut for a feature length television docudrama. She discussed her journey of self-discovery to reclaim her Greek heritage.

Children’s activities were featured in the icehouse. These included “Karaghiozis”.

 The shadow puppet theatre feature “George’s Big Day” was about a young Greek boy’s fishing adventure and involved the participation of the young audience as puppeteers. Greek folk dance performances were put on by the Hellenic Community Dancers, the Cretan Association of BC dance group “Minotavri”, “Alexander the Great” dancers and the Philhellenic Dancers of Vancouver. Alpha Video Productions provided taped Greek music.

            On hand for the celebration were many generations of descendants of those original Greek fishers, among them 83 year old Peter Kanellis and John Capadouca and 85 year old Kostas Tsoukalas and Dimitri Capadouca. They were born to early settlers and all have a wealth of stories to tell of growing up along the banks of the Fraser. They passed along the Greek customs they learned from their parent to their own children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They still speak the Greek language fluently, as if they had only recently arrived from Greece and hope that the language of their forefathers will continue to be kept alive. He newer generation are not as isolated as theirs were and therefore not as motivated to retain the language. If the language is lost, a great part of their Greek heritage will be lost to future generations.

Cyprus Community holds picnic

            The Cyprus Community of BC held its annual picnic on Sunday, Sept. 2 at Peace Arch Parch in Surrey. This park, situated by the Douglas border crossing to Washington State, USA has been a popular site for Greeks and other ethnic groups to gather in the summers for such events for many years.

            While Greek-Cypriots had settled in Canada over many years, a large number arrived here as a result of losing their homes due to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. Many still hope that one day they may be able to reclaim their former homes but in the meantime, they get along with their lives, raising their families in their adopted land and earning their daily living.  

The board members of the Cyprus Community at their annual picnic.

              The annual picnic gives the Cypriot families an opportunity to visit with one another, reminisce about their past and plan for their future. Although this picnic was held late in the summer, on the last weekend before the start of the new school year, the attendance enjoyed the free barbecue, the fun, games, and the nice weather in a beautiful setting.

SFU’s Hellenic Studies program blessed

            Although the Chair in Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University was established a number of years ago and the number of courses offered each semester has increased dramatically, this was the first year that a special blessing (agiasmos) was performed for the Hellenic Studies program before the beginning of the new school year. This ceremony took place at SFU on Wednesday, August 22 at 10:30 a.m.  

        Dr. Andre Gerolymatos, Hellenic Studies Chair at Simon Fraser University, BC, with Peter Capadouca, president of the Hellenic-Canadian Congress of BC, and Nikos Panos, past president of the National Hellenic-Canadian Congress. The two community leaders were the main force for the establishment of the Chair in Western Canada, the home of 100,000 Canadians of Greek descent.

    Rev. Demetrios Partsafas (St. George Cathedral, Vancouver) and Rev. Panayiotis Pavlakos (St. Nicholas & St. Dimitrios Church, East Vancouver) officiated. On hand for the ceremony were Prof. Andre Gerolymatos (chair holder), Maria Hatzigiannakis (the program coordinator/advisor), Peter Capadouca (president of the Hellenic Canadian Congress of BC), Nikos Panos (past national president of the Hellenic Canadian Congress) and Stathis Bozikis (president of the Hellenic Community of Vancouver – St George). Also among the others in attendance were students of the Hellenic Studies program.

            Hellenic Studies courses are credit courses. The Hellenic Studies Certificate at Simon Fraser University offers the students two avenues of study, one for those interested in acquiring a general knowledge, and another for those interested in graduate studies in history. The intention of the certificate is to provide the students with a basic understanding of the Hellenic world from ancient times to the present. Therefore the core courses include history (ancient and modern), literature, language, philosophy, political science and studies in antiquity.

             If anyone would like more information, please contact Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, at 604-291-4232, fax: 604-291-5880, or e-mail: sfu_international@sfu.ca, web site:http://www.sfu.ca/iess/.