A Measure of Value

Résumé du livre

Lepers... wandering about the City. It was this alarming statement in 1891 that prompted Victoria City Council to establish a leper colony; D'Arcy Island became "the Island of Death," the final stop in the lives of a group of outcasts until 1924. The press called them "the unfortunates." Why? They had leprosy and they were Chinese. They were imprisoned on the island with no medical attention while governments argued over who would take responsibility for them. Their only contact with the outside world was a supply ship that came every three months to drop of food, coffins and opium. The life of one such unfortunate, Lim Sam, is recreated from historical documents to draw the reader into this true story of a shameful period in BC history. Follow him on his journey from China to Victoria to Nanaimo. Finally go with him to D' Arcy Island where a little society of outcasts cared for each other, planted their gardens, and dreamed of going home. They lived and died unquoted and unrecorded. That they lived was acknowledged only by 15 unmarked graves on a tiny island in Haro Strait, until now. Chris Yorath's dedicated efforts to have them remembered has been acknowledged with a memorial at the site of the colony. It is his hope that this book telling their story and that memorial return a measure of value to their lives.