Echo Bay

Places People Call Home

By Lisa Nohr

A few intrepid souls share a passion for living an authentic life off the grid at Echo Bay, a remote area on Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago, accessible by boat or float plane. The Kwakwaka’wakw Nation lived here for thousands of years as evidenced by the pictographs on the cliffs and the shell midden deep in the bay. Seeing the piles of white shells one can imagine the hundreds of community gatherings and meals of fresh clams the sea provided for the First peoples so long ago. Our visit to Echo Bay was a discovery of the past and the present.

Determined to meet lifelong resident of Echo Bay, Billy Proctor and visit his homestead and museum full of artifacts such as First Nations arrowheads, Russian Trading Bead, masks and Japanese opium bottles, collected over a lifetime, we set out along the waterfront trail to Bill’s. Our robust Chihuahua Mojo was in his element climbing up 45 degree inclines – we welcomed the rope tied to a tree on the bottom and top of the steepest part of the trail. As we approached Billy’s homestead and museum an old dog was stretched out across the pathway, unmoved by our arrival and Bill was sitting alone, a permanent fixture on his front porch, wearing a plaid shirt, jeans, suspenders and a ball cap - very youthful for guy who is in his 80^th year - his attire like the young hipsters we see downtown Victoria. Bill is an icon in these parts being a high-liner fisherman and a keen advocate for wild salmon, he is visited by scientists seeking his knowledge of the salmon and shellfish populations in the Broughton Archipelago, and will happily share the findings of years of scientist research documenting declines in stock and the increase of sea lice transmitted from the farms. Bill and Yvonne Maximchuck, local artist, teacher and writer, wrote a book about Bill’s life, ‘Full Moon Flood Tide - Bill Proctor’s Raincoast,’ full of heartfelt stories and illustrations by Yvonne. Yvonne told me in a recent email that the school board had demolished the old schoolhouse, but Billy Proctor’s pioneer spirit and desire to preserve history prevails. He recently built a little schoolhouse on his property, salvaging from the demolition an old upright piano, school desks and chairs, a chalkboard, various papers, children’s workbooks, photographs and the old school bell. He also built a hand-loggers shack several years ago with a bunk, old hand saw, logger’s boots and a lantern. He aspires to educate future generations of how life was at Echo Bay. Ever take a walk through the Royal British Columbia Museum’s Old Town? Billy is re-creating the history of Echo Bay as it happens and while he is still alive. He told us he was one of the last old ones left who has lived his life in this remote region and when he is gone there won’t be anyone to take his place…. he has such a sense of pride in this place where he and other pioneer homesteaders chose to call home.

One more visit was to the home and studio of Yvonne Maximchuk, artist, potter, teacher and writer and her husband Albert, also a potter, who spent many years earning a living fishing and crabbing. They have lived off the grid and called Echo Bay home for three decades, forging a life in this remote area. Arriving by dingy, we tentatively disembarked and tied up to their dock. A small ‘Gallery Open’ sign put us at ease as we looked up towards their private sanctuary on the rugged, isolated coastline.

Yvonne was warm and friendly - she graciously showed me her home and studio, appropriately named Sea Rose Studio as I learned her love of the sea and passion for her garden. Her body of work documents her surroundings, the sea, her garden, the rugged cliffs and the abandoned Indian Villages. Yvonne and Albert built their home and pottery kilns by hand over several decades and Yvonne says, it is still a work in progress.

This intrepid woman decided long ago to live an authentic life true to herself and her passion is infectious. She has strived to sustain her chosen lifestyle by adapting, fishing many seasons with Billy Proctor, painting, sketching, teaching and writing. Her memoirs ‘Drawn to Sea’ is a testament to her strength and is full of wonderful stories about her life at Echo Bay. I recently heard from Yvonne that she and Albert were just about to open a full kiln. Their hard work was rewarded by a pod of visiting killer whales frolicking in the bay and the completion of their latest works of art.  These resilient people of Echo Bay have found harmony in this place they call home.