Sooke museum presents First World War exhibition

The Sooke Region Museum is presenting British Columbia’s War, 1914-1918, an exhibition that aims to educate British Columbians about the contributions of their forebears in the First World War.

The travelling exhibition, which opens Friday, features powerful material about the Great War from the Royal B.C. Museum collections.

The Sooke Region Museum will contribute artifacts, photos and archives from its own collection to offer a local perspective.

Among the contributions is an army pay book, a square wooden carving by a soldier from 1914 and a painting of a war scene by Vera Theussen, donated by the Sooke branch (#54) of the Royal Canadian Legion.

“The Great War had a monumental impact on the formation of British Columbia as a political entity, with its own emerging sense of identity,” said the Royal B.C. Museum CEO Jack Lohman in a statement. “The Royal B.C. Museum’s collections help show how the province coalesced around this traumatic global event, as soldiers and nurses from all corners and various ethnic groups of the province signed up for service.”

The exhibition is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, until Feb. 10 at the Sooke Region Museum, 2070 Phillips Rd. in Sooke. For more information, go to sookeregionalmuseum.ca.