The City of Richmond announced the winners of the 2023 Richmond Heritage Awards at the July 24 Council meeting.

The Richmond Heritage Awards are organized by the Richmond Heritage Commission annually to recognize people and/or organizations for their dedication to the conservation of a historic place or promotion of heritage in Richmond.

“The Richmond Heritage Awards honour and celebrate the past and pay tribute to those who contribute to promoting awareness of Richmond’s diverse heritage,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie. “The awards also provide a platform for people to learn about the many interesting and important stories that shaped our history. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations and to the many people and organizations dedicated to preserving Richmond’s heritage.”

The Richmond Heritage Commission selected five recipients for the 2023 Richmond Heritage Awards:

• Richmond Museum Society for the new Richmond Museum website
  The new Richmond Museum website provides opportunities to new audiences to engage with Richmond’s rich history and culture. It also hosts online exhibits and provides short films and access to research resources and an artefact collection database. Further information is available at https://www.richmondmuseum.ca/.

• Andrea Phillpotts and Hayley Valliquette for customizing the course content for Social Justice 12 at McMath Secondary School
  These teachers took an innovative and unique approach to educating about the injustice of the Japanese Canadian internment by using primary sources connected to Richmond and making extraordinary efforts to connect with different community members in their development of the course content. 

• Blue Cabin Floating Artist Residency (Floating Artist Residency) and Debra Sparrow for the “Skeins: Weaving on the Foreshore” program
  Debra Sparrow was invited to participate in the Blue Cabin artists in residency “Skeins: Weaving on the Foreshore”, a celebration of Coast Salish weaving practices. The program highlighted the importance of Indigenous cultural heritage practices in Richmond. Details can be found at https://thebluecabin.ca/residency/skeins/ or https://othersights.ca/bcfar-debra-sparrow-2/. 

• WS Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society for the Canada Multicultural Creative Festival
  The Canada Multicultural Creative Festival is an annual event that provides an opportunity for people from various backgrounds to share their own stories and celebrate many cultures, traditions and beliefs that make up a diverse cultural heritage. For example, the Celebrate Canada 150 Culture Days from Far and Wide – Multicultural Creative Writing Collection 2017 was published for the annual Canada Multicultural Creative Festival; it includes 150 original writings such as poems, essays, short stories, dramas, songs, letters, plays, Lushi and Haiku.

• Kevin Takahide Lee for fostering relationship to the social history of the Edwardian Cottage
  Kevin is a grandson of Hiroyuki Koyanagi, who lived in the Edwardian Cottage that is now home to Terra Nova Nature School’s licensed preschool program. Kevin used theatre arts to educate the community, including the preschoolers at Terra Nova Nature School, on the forced internment and dispossession of Japanese families during World War II, enriching the community’s understanding of this important piece of social history.

More information about the 2023 Heritage Awards can be found at www.richmond.ca/HeritageAwards.