On The Island of Shadows

On the Island of Shadows
photo courtesy B.C. Archives
A solitary leper at the D'Arcy Island colony in 1897 sits amid supplies that were dropped off by boat once every three months.
Island of Shadows: D'Arcy Island Leper Colony 1891-1924 -- VTV (ch. 9) 2 p.m. Sunday May 14, National Premiere on Vision TV (ch. 40) 9 p.m. Wed., May 17.
By Katharine HamerNews Reporterkhamer@nsnews.com
ERIK Paulsson was planning a camping trip to the Gulf Islands with his wife when he picked up a guide with a brief description of D'Arcy Island.
He was taken aback to discover that the island -- 30 km. from Victoria in the southern gulf island chain -- had once been a leper colony.
Curiosity piqued, Paulsson headed for the B.C. Archives in Victoria to find out more -- and discovered that during its 33-year tenure as a leper colony, D'Arcy Island was populated almost entirely by Chinese men: migrant workers who had left their families behind in search of employment.
Shipped to the island, the lepers were left on their own in groups of no more than nine, with a supply boat coming only once every three months to drop off food, opium and coffins.
The head of the federal quarantine service at the time said of the island, "We may all agree that for Whites D'Arcy Island would be a dismal prospect, but for Asiatics the conditions answer fairly well."
Through dramatizations and interviews with historians and doctors, Island of Shadows recreates turn of the century life in the isolated colony.
Despite his meagre budget, Paulsson and his crew managed seven days of shooting -- all on film and in eight different locations -- for the reconstructions. Twenty cast members and eighteen crew helped shape the picture.
Along with historian Chris Yorath, Paulsson has since persuaded the provincial government to erect a memorial plaque on the island, and to mark the graves of those who died there.
The son of a Holocaust historian and a social activist, Paulsson says he's "always been fascinated by history."
The Ontario native was "shocked by the level of intolerance" he found in Vancouver when he moved here in 1997, particularly towards those of Asian descent.
"I would ride the Hastings bus to work every day and hear horrible slurs," he says.
In the wake of last year's mass arrival of Chinese migrants, with its attendant clamour for an immigration clampdown, Paulsson believes his film is nothing if not timely. The notion of isolating victims raised its ugly head in B.C. not so long ago: Paulsson points to a Socred discussion in the 1980's of establishing a colony for AIDS sufferers.
Of his film, Paulsson says, "I want people to walk away with an understanding of the real lives that were destroyed."
Island of Shadows kicks off Asian Heritage Month in Greater Vancouver.
The film is narrated by Sook-Yin Lee -- well-known to Vancouverites as the former lead singer of local band Bob's Your Uncle -- and executive produced by David Vaisbord, whose own film about the community of Britannia Beach is set to air on VTV later this year