Mass business closures in Nanaimo from COVID-19 are one of many indicators life is nowhere near normal.(Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

COVID-19 history project

Nanaimoites asked to share their COVID-19 experiences for history project

Apr 28, 2020 | 7:10 AM

NANAIMO — Capturing stories of the life-changing COVID-19 pandemic are designed to show future generations what living through the crisis in Nanaimo was like.

A joint project led by the Nanaimo Museum is a multi-phase collection effort of local stories, artifacts and videos detailing how the coronavirus health pandemic impacted the harbour city.

A questionnaire opened on the Nanaimo Museum website Monday, April 27, allowing people to be a part of history by sharing their experiences, pictures and videos.

Nanaimo Museum general manager Sophia Maher told NanaimoNewsNOW their team had a “light bulb moment” to act on capturing history in the making.

“The museum staff started talking and discussing how we can begin collecting these things. We started collecting on our own and taking photographs.”

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Maher said Nanaimo Community Archives general manager Christine Meutzner was also thinking about how to effectively capture history before our eyes.

“At that point we decided to do a joint initiative to collect together and reach out to the community and hear everybody’s stories and experiences,” Maher said.

She said artifacts like homemade protective masks and hand sanitizer from local distilleries will be collected later on.

“We’re very interested in how businesses have been impacted by this, what experiences they’ve had, how they’ve changed their business model to adjust to this new reality.”

Maher said depending on restrictions a COVID-19 exhibit will open at Nanaimo Museum this fall, which will serve as another platform for people to add to the collection.

She said it’s vitally important to put these challenging times into perspective.

“It really shapes what’s going to happen into the future, we can learn from the past and we want to be able to set our future up for success when they are looking back and remembering this situation.”

Meutzner of Nanaimo Community Archives is helping to coordinate targeted remote video interviews as part of the project.

“Those are to ensure we get every income class and all ages,” Meutzner told NanaimoNewsNOW. “You don’t know if you get that kind of representative data if you open it up to the public.”

Meutzner said interviewing representatives from Harmac Pacific pulp mill and other front line officials will help explain how people in Nanaimo directly fought back against COVID-19.

Life drastically changed as of March 16, 2020 across B.C. when provincial health officer Bonnie Henry banned crowds of more than 50 people from forming. The order led to the closure of schools, recreational facilities and widespread business shut-downs.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com
On Twitter: @reporterholmes