Take a look at the careful preparation that goes into the Royal BC Museums travelling exhibitions on this episode of This Week In History.
Season 11 Episode 10, Dec 2022
Credit: RBCM and CHEK-TV (2022)
Orcas: Digital Field Trip Taster Series - Episode 1
In this first episode, we'll be taking a look at what orcas are, and where they live. You'll meet some of the members of J-Pod, who belong to the endangered southern resident killer whale population.
Credit: RBCM
Orcas: Digital Field Trip Taster Series - Episode 2
This episode will delve in to some incredible Orca facts, and share more of what we know about the lives of these majestic creatures.
Credit: RBCM
Orcas: Digital Field Trip Taster Series - Episode 3
This episode will take a look at orcas in captivity.
Credit: RBCM
Orcas: Digital Field Trip Taster Series - Episode 4
In the fourth and final installment, we will take a look at what we can do to protect the future of both orcas and the oceans.
Credit: RBCM
World Whale Day 2022: Southern Resident Killer Whales
In celebration of World Whale Day, join us as we learn about the incredible Southern Resident Killer Whales. Learn about their behaviour, diet and even how to identify this distinct Orca ecotype!
Credit: RBCM
Saving Luna
Join filmmaker Michael Parfit as he speaks about one of our favorite films! Saving Luna is an incredible story that explores how humans interact with nature, and how a little lost whale captured peoples hearts and minds. This Week In History - Season 10 Episode 17. Feb 9, 2022
Credit: RBCM and CHEK-TV
Saving Luna: Director Discussion
We were lucky enough to have Michael and Suzanne join us to discuss their incredible film, Saving Luna. Follow along as they dive into the story behind this incredibly moving film!
RBCM@Home (Summer) Orcas, Orcas Everywhere!
For this special session of RBCM @ Home (Summer), we are partnering with NatureKids BC to celebrate all things Orcas. We'll explore the many different ways museums try to understand this amazing animal, while wondering about the many different parts of the world they roam.
Credit: RBCM
Accessibility
Join best-selling author and disability advocate Tara Moss as we learn about accessibility in the Royal BC Museum -- the positives of Orcas: Our Shared Future and some of the challenges with other parts of the galleries. This Week In History - Season 10 Episode 10. Dec 21, 2021
Credit: RBCM and CHEK-TV
The Making of Orcas
See the Exhibitions department hard at work creating Orcas: Our Shared Future. The exhibition will be visually stunning, but, as Jana Stefan from the department explains, it must be durable too. Find out how museum exhibitions are created and how they're created to travel, in this episode of This Week in History!
Credit: RBCM and CHEK-TV
RBCM@ Outside Saturna Island
Join us for this special RBCM@Outside at East Point on Saturna Island. We virtually journey to Gulf Islands National Park Reserve to meet up with Parks Canada interpreter Athena George for a guided walk along this scenic coastline. We’ll learn about southern resident orcas and Moby Doll, one of the first whales captured for captivity, right off East Point. We’ll also have time for a quick stop at Saturna Heritage Centre.
Credit: RBCM
The Loss of Southern Orca Resident J-32
Some of the most magnificent specimens in the Royal BC Museum’s collections are the skeletons of orcas that have died along our coastline. Veronica Cooper has more on the story of southern orca resident J32, nicknamed “Rhapsody”, and her calf.
Credit: RBCM and CHEK-TV
Pop Culture and Orcinus orca
Highlights from Dr. Lorne Hammond's discussion on pop culture and Orcinus orca at the museum's Spring Institute event on April 13, 2019.
Credit: RBCM
Orcas: Art, Stories and Indigenous Knowledge
Royal BC Museum researcher Dr. Martha Black discusses art, stories and Indigenous knowledge about orcas at the Research Day event on March 15, 2018.
Credit: RBCM
From the BC Archives
Whales at Sealand
Trainers and orcas develop a close relationship. Tricks and routines develop slowly in stages with clear repeated gestures and whistles tuned to specific orcas.
Sealand of the Pacific (1969–1992), near Victoria, BC, billed itself as the wettest show in the world. It delivered. Orcas appeared to select their spraying victims with glee. But there was no mistaking the power, beauty and freedom expressed by the captive orcas themselves.
Credit: CHEK-TV Ltd., courtesy of BC Archives AAAA3511 V2009:01/007.01 item #1 Part of PR-1781 Chek TV fonds.
Miracle the Whale
In 1977, a young orca was rescued after being found shot and starving. Miracle was brought to Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, BC. She was slowly nursed back to health and taught to perform. Sealand was under increasing pressure from local activists to release her. Miracle drowned in 1982. Some say the net holding her in captivity was cut, and she got tangled while escaping
Credit: CHEK-TV Ltd., courtesy of BC Archives AAAA3823 V2009:01/009.01 Part of PR-1781 Chek TV fonds.
Webster! Full Episode September 27, 1984
The long-running Webster! show featured the host’s interviews with public figures such as politicians, entertainers and environmental leaders, as well as other British Columbians through call-in debates. This episode explores the proposed expansion of the Vancouver Aquarium orca pool in Stanley Park.
If this topic was done today, would interactions between participants be different? What points have they left out? Which questions might be phrased differently?
Credit: BCTV, courtesy of BC Archives V1988:25/1519 AAAA7487, V1988:25/1520. Part of PR-1855 Jack Webster Productions Limited fonds.
