Latest news with #RoyalB.C.Museum
Ottawa Citizen
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Today's letters: National Gallery mustn't neglect these volunteers
In search of Emily Carr, without help Article content I recently visited the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria. I was hoping to see many of Emily Carr's paintings but I was told that the National Gallery of Canada has a lot more. I visited the gallery on Victoria Day, May 19. The information desk in the Great Hall was empty. I couldn't find any of Carr's paintings near the Group of Seven collection. The only person to ask was a security guard but he wasn't able to help me. I am wondering: Why is the gallery cutting the service of knowlegable volunteers? Article content Article content Maria Barczyk, Ottawa Article content Thank you for recognizing the important work of the volunteers at the National Gallery of Canada. Having worked at the gallery as a docent since 2016, I have found it rewarding at so many levels. I have loved working with children visitors, doing tours, giving talks and appreciating art with both friends and the public. I have learned so much. Article content It would be wonderful to hear that the service of the volunteers could be re-instated. Article content Why would the National Gallery silence its most passionate, knowledgeable ambassadors? Volunteers gave freely — and this is the thanks they get. Kicking out trained volunteers who helped thousands engage with art is shameful. Article content The gallery claims to care about education and access, then scraps the very program that delivered both. Hypocrisy in action. Thousands of hours of free, expert work were erased overnight. This isn't just a mistake. It's an insult to the public, which funds the gallery. Article content Article content Royal visits can prompt grumbling about the monarchy. While it is indeed odd that the individual who is 'the final decider' in matters of public policy and appointments is someone in another country — who has that role by virtue of who their parents were, and their birth order — let us consider the positives. Article content As we look south, we see an administration that increasingly exploits the levers of governance for personal and partisan advantage, to the detriment of much of the populace and the world. Although it should be subject to the law and courts, it has structured the courts to its political advantage. Article content So it is comforting to know that, under our constitutional monarchy, the 'final decider' is someone who is completely insulated from all of that, and gives assent based on whether something is good for the nation, rather than for himself or herself personally or politically.
Global News
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Former B.C. minister Melanie Mark asks NDP to walk back ‘disheartening' Bill 15
Former British Columbia minister Melanie Mark is accusing Premier David Eby and his cabinet of 'turning their backs' on First Nations, local governments and environmentalists by passing controversial bills to fast-track infrastructure projects. Mark, the first First Nations woman elected to B.C.'s legislature and a former cabinet colleague of Eby, says it's 'astounding and disheartening' behaviour by the government. Both bills passed in the legislature Wednesday night, with Bill 15 that fast-tracks public and private infrastructure projects getting through thanks to a rare tiebreaking vote by Speaker Raj Chouhan. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Bill 14, which would speed up renewable energy projects and transmission lines, also passed by a single vote. Critics say the bills undermine environmental standards and constitutional obligations to consult First Nations. Mark says the government should reconsider the bills, saying in a statement that the province has walked back plans in the past. Story continues below advertisement She pointed to a controversial $789-million plan to rebuild the Royal B.C. Museum under former premier John Horgan, which the government ultimately suspended after intense criticism. 'It didn't go over as planned but former premier John Horgan had the fortitude to recalibrate, pause the project and mandate more meaningful consultation,' Mark says in a statement issued as the legislature was sitting to vote Wednesday night. Mark says Eby can do the same in this situation, which would show the government honours the Crown's duty to consult with Indigenous people. 'Politics should not stand in the way of progressive policies. Trampling on Indigenous rights just ends up getting reversed in the highest courts — taxpayers will end up paying for this oversight,' Mark says in the statement. 'It's never too late to do the right thing.'
Winnipeg Free Press
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
B.C. NDP ex-minister urges Eby to walk back ‘astounding and disheartening' Bill 15
VICTORIA – Former British Columbia minister Melanie Mark is accusing Premier David Eby and his cabinet of 'turning their backs' on First Nations, local governments and environmentalists by passing controversial bills to fast-track infrastructure projects. Mark, the first First Nations woman elected to B.C.'s legislature and a former cabinet colleague of Eby, says it's 'astounding and disheartening' behaviour by the government. Both bills passed in the legislature Wednesday night, with Bill 15 that fast-tracks public and private infrastructure projects getting through thanks to a rare tiebreaking vote by Speaker Raj Chouhan. Bill 14, which would speed up renewable energy projects and transmission lines, passed by four votes. Critics say the bill undermines environmental standards and constitutional obligations to consult First Nations. Mark says the government should reconsider the bills, saying in a statement that the province has walked back plans in the past. She pointed to a controversial $789-million plan to rebuild the Royal B.C. Museum under former premier John Horgan, which the government ultimately suspended after intense criticism. 'It didn't go over as planned but former premier John Horgan had the fortitude to recalibrate, pause the project and mandate more meaningful consultation,' Mark says in a statement issued as the legislature was sitting to vote Wednesday night. Mark says Eby can do the same in this situation, which would show the government honours the Crown's duty to consult with Indigenous people. 'Politics should not stand in the way of progressive policies. Trampling on Indigenous rights just ends up getting reversed in the highest courts — taxpayers will end up paying for this oversight,' Mark says in the statement. 'It's never too late to do the right thing.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2025.
CBC
16-04-2025
- Science
- CBC
Ankylosaur footprints from Canada are first of their kind in the world
Scientists have identified fossil dinosaur footprints from a new species in B.C. and Alberta. They're believed to be the first tracks found in the world to be identified as belonging to club-tailed ankylosaurs, offering new insights about gaps in the fossil record. The new species, which has been named Ruopodosaurus clava, would have been an armoured dinosaur about five to six metres long, reports a new study published this week in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Victoria Arbour, curator of paleontology at the Royal B.C. Museum and lead author of the new study, said Ruopodosaurus would have lumbered through the coastal redwood forests between the Rocky Mountains and an inland sea that covered Saskatchewan and Alberta during the Middle Cretaceous, about 100 million to 94 million years ago. Previously identified footprints suggest the other creatures it lived alongside: giant crocodiles, duck-billed dinosaurs and bird-like dinosaurs — and a related group of four-toed ankylosaurs. But no bones of three-toed, club-tailed ankylosaurs have ever been found in North America from the Middle Cretaceous, which, until now, suggested they may have gone extinct during this time, before reappearing about 84 million years ago, perhaps by the migration of populations from Asia. The tracks from this new species suggest otherwise. This species, Arbour said, is "new for North America. It's new for the world…. And it really helps us fill in this gap in the fossil record." A tale of two ankylosaurs Like two-toed and three-toed sloths, there are two closely related branches of ankylosaurs with different numbers of toes: Ankylosaurids, which have three toes, and are famous for their tail clubs, which were either slim and stiff like a baseball bat, or round like the one on the famous well-preserved ankylosaur Zuul crurivastator, which lived around 75 million years ago. WATCH | Dinosaur Cold Case: Armoured Dinosaurs, featuring Zuul This "destroyer of shins" dinosaur may have used its armour as weapons |Dinosaur Cold Case 5 years ago Duration 1:34 Victoria Arbour, an evolutionary paleontologist at the Royal BC Museum, describes how some armoured dinosaurs likely used their horns, spines and armour for fighting each other, not just for protection. Nodosaurids, which have four toes, a flexible tail, and a longer snout. Many had big shoulder spikes, including Borealopelta ankylosaur, a well-preserved specimen found an an oilsands mine in 2011. WATCH | Meet one of the world's best-preserved dinosaurs, featuring Borealopelta Meet one of the world's best-preserved dinosaurs | Dinosaur Cold Case 5 years ago Duration 0:58 Nodosaurid prints were first found at Tumbler Ridge by two boys, 11-year-old Mark Turner and eight-year-old Daniel Helm, in 2001. That led to the discovery of other dinosaur trackways and fossils in the region, and the founding of the Tumbler Ridge Museum. What scientists learned about the new species Arbour first saw photos of the unusual tracks in the new study about five years ago. Some were found near Tumbler Ridge and others at a gas well on the other side of the B.C.-Alberta border. "I thought they were really strange and interesting looking and I was really curious about them," she recalled. Then in 2023, she visited the Tumbler Ridge Museum, and Charles Helm, Daniel's father and the scientific advisor at the museum, suggested they study the tracks together, along with some new ones that he and Daniel had found. Many included not just three-toed footprints, but the crescent-shaped, five fingered handprints that ankylosaurs are known to have. "And I got really excited," Arbour said. "I was like, 'You know, I think the only thing these really can be … is an ankylosaurid." The research confirmed that, and named the new species Ruopodosaurus clava, which means "tumbled-down lizard with a club/mace" referring to the location they were found and the distinctive feature of this ankylosaur family. Arbour said fossils found in China suggest that at this time, tail clubs were just starting to evolve in ankylosaurids, so this species may not have had a full round club like Zuul. Almost all the footprints were similar in size — about 30 centimetres long — suggesting that the average size of this species was about five or six metres long, or smaller than many ankylosaurs without tail clubs. Sometimes multiple trackways were found together, all heading in the same direction and never crossing, suggesting several animals may have been travelling together. Anthony Shillito is a University of Saskatchewan researcher who has previously studied dinosaur trackways from the Cretaceous that included four-toed ankylosaur footprints. He said footprints from three-toed ankylosaurs may have been found before, but there are so many three-toed dinosaurs that they would have been hard to identify without the distinctive handprints that were found with the footprints in Canada. "[The study] really made me think back to some of the footprints I've seen — maybe I misinterpreted it because I didn't have this information," he said. "Now people have a better idea of what they're looking for." And that may lead to more being found, and a better idea of where else these club-tailed ankylosaurs may have lived during the Middle Cretaceous, he suggested. The value of footprints vs. bones Paleontologist Scott Persons studied both fossil dinosaur tracks and ankylosaurs during his PhD at the University of Alberta, and is currently working on the study of a new nodosaur species. He said in showing that ankylosaurids lived in North America earlier than thought, the new study demonstrates the value of looking at both fossil footprints and bones. Those often get preserved under different conditions and contain different information. He noted that trackways often show multiple species that lived together at the same time, and can reveal other information. This new trackway also shows that wide, squat ankylosaurs — sometimes described as being coffee-table-like — had a surprisingly bird-like gait, lining up left and right feet like "supermodels on a runway." He added, "This track record shows us the coffee table analogy is a little bit flawed." On the other hand, he acknowledged, there is one drawback of footprints compared to bones.
