Distributed free of charge to interested subscribers and former members.

In this newsletter:

- Upcoming VGS Events includng Workshops, Seminars, Heritage History Hours and Genealogy Coffee Chats

- VGS 2026/27 membership drive is underway: fee discounts, free discussion groups, and much more

- New to genealogy research? 3 Steps for beginners
- VGS Social Media channels

Scroll down to read these articles.

 

Upcoming VGS workshops, seminars, Heritage History Hour presentations, Genealogy Coffee Chats and more are listed below and also available online at  VGS Calendar of Events

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2026

 

Patricia moved to Victoria in 1967 and has lived up and down Vancouver Island and on a number of the gulf islands for most of her adult life. She now lives in Nanaimo, BC.

 

Being a daughter of a child migrant was a shameful and often worrying experience. She didn’t feel that she belonged. There was no sense of family and no roots to ground her to her place of birth. Her mother Marjorie’s background, her past, her childhood, and her family, were missing, and her mother would not tell her why. It worried her deeply.

Her mother rarely spoke of her five years at the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School on Vancouver Island or why she was sent there as a little girl. It took Patricia well into her adult years to confront the issue — child migration and the role her family played in it — and try to understand it.

Patricia began searching for her mother’s past in the late 1990s. During her final year (returning in 1996 to complete a degree started in 1969, as a ‘mature’ student at UVic,) she was introduced to the BC Archives. There she found records for her mother while at the Cowichan Station Fairbridge Farm School and that was the start of the hunt for her mother’s lost childhood. Over the next few years, she explored various archives across the UK and Canada. Finally, the pieces of her family’s puzzle were taking shape – and at the same time, she discovered that British Child Migration had an astonishing 350-year history: 1619-1970s.

Two books were produced from this research, and a third one is underway on the history of British Child Migration, with a focus on the Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School off Koksilah Road, near Cowichan Station.

Pat Skidmore is the President of Fairbridge Canada Association and the Fairbridge Alumni Bursary Society, as well as the Editor of the Fairbridge Gazette.

Date: Thursday, September 10th, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM Pacific Time
Presenter: Pat Skidmore
Location: via Zoom

REGISTER HERE 

The ZOOM link will be emailed to registrants following registration.

 

Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only

We will cover storage, preservation, and organization options to make sure your family history records last for years to come. We will also highlight some of the challenges faced by people who manage their family memorabilia and some of the most useful, effective, and cost-efficient approaches for caring for these collections. You will be able to immediately apply what you learn in this session to improve how you care for and manage your personal family collections.

We will also discuss what records or materials can be donated to public institutions for care and preservation in perpetuity and how to prepare your donation. Included in this discussion will be an overview of how to locate items in an archive, how to view items in an archive, why archives differ significantly from libraries, and what genealogical resources might be available in the Saanich Archives.

Kaetlen Bursey has a master's degree in Museum Studies, where she specialized in collection management, particularly of archival materials. With over 15 years of experience in information management, organization, and project management, as well as hands-on collections care and archival work at the Royal Ontario Museum, she is now in her dream job as Archives Supervisor with the District of Saanich.

 

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 (noon) PST

Location: This is a hybrid workshop. You may attend by Zoom or at the VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre 209 - 4475 Viewmont Avenue, Victoria, BC V8Z 6L8 CAN

Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only

For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE  

 

No longer just a summer event, the VGS Genealogical Coffee Chats are now being offered year round.

 

For the past three years the VGS has offered Genealogical Coffee Chats (GCCs) as a summer event to keep members engaged, tell stories, meet up with other members and non-members learn about the VGS environment while asking questions. They've proven to be so popular that VGS is now offering them year round.

 

How do the GCCs work? There is no agenda or format. People arrive with books, binders, papers and some come with just a coffee. Anything goes. Questions are asked and a dozen people will join in with thoughts, solutions, websites and personal information. One session had our laughter drowning out the daycare across the hallway!

As the number of hosts increases, the scope of the GCCs has evolved and every session gives attendees a new perspective. The hosts have commented on how much fun they had and all have asked if they can host again.

The big news! We can confirm VGS has booked the Saanich Centennial Community Room (G R Pearkes Centre, Tillicum) from 1:00-3:00 pm on:

• October 7 and 21
• November 4 and 18
• December 2 and 16

Dates and places from January through June will be announced as the sites are booked and hosts are confirmed.
 
Lois Thompson, VGS Member

In 2012, Dave was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws by the University of Victoria for his work as a historian, genealogist and journalist. In 2023, the university named Dave an honorary librarian and archivist.

In 2017, Dave was awarded the annual Bill Good award, which recognizes a B.C. journalist, leader or educator who has made a significant impact in journalism and in the community at large. In 2014, in recognition of his work as a community volunteer, he was presented with the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award, now known as the Sovereign Medal for Volunteers.

In 2021, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International named Dave a Paul Harris Fellow, in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world.

Dave was born in British Columbia, and his roots there goO back to the arrival of his great-great-grandfather from Manitoba in 1890. Some of his paternal ancestors arrived in North America from England and Ireland two centuries ago, settling in New York State and Ontario. His mother was born in a German colony in the Soviet Union, and came with her parents to Canada in 1928.

Date: Saturday, October 24, 2026
Time: 10:00 am - 12:00 (noon) PST

Location: via Zoom only

Note: Video recordings of this event will be available online for 30 days to registered attendees only

For more information or registration visit REGISTER HERE 

The 2026-2027 Memberships are effective from June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027. The VGS has just completed another successful year therefore membership prices are not being increased this year.

 

The following annual membership types are now available: Single Membership $65 (for a person over the age of 25 years); Family Membership $90 (two or more annual memberships for people living at the same address); Youth Membership $35 (25 years or younger).

This great membership value includes:
1. Price discounts for our popular workshops and seminars;

2. Free Special Interest Groups – SIGs are one of the most valuable resources available to VGS members and are free as a benefit of membership. SIG meetings are an opportunity to discuss your genealogy experiences and challenges with members who are interested in the same kind of research that you are. Our SIG leaders have genealogical expertise on the specific SIG focus area. SIG members help point you in the right direction and give you new ways to think about your family history challenges. With your membership you can join any number of the SIG's available: DNA; England; Ireland; Netherlands / Belgium / New Netherland; Ontario; Scotland; Nordic; 

3. Free bi-weekly VGS Members Update e-newsletter offers information on upcoming VGS events as well as events hosted by other related societies. Meet our vounteers and Members Tips and Tricks are popular as is VGS business updates, and more;

4. Free Heritage History Hour – our free monthly on-line video conference evening presentation on a genealogical, heritage or history topic;

5. Free assistance from our volunteer Genie Buddies at the VGS Genealogy Learning & Research Centre. Our library is stocked with a unique collection of paper-based resources, searchable using our VGS online Library Catalogue;

6. Our website offers free 'members only' access to the minutes of our latest VGS board meeting, finance statements, past AGM materials, along with our VGS constitution and bylaws, and more;

7. Benefits of being part of a community of common interests include volunteering opportunities and more; and,

8. Voting rights at the VGS Annual General Meeting (AGM).

 

For more information visit Membership Options