Elida Peers | Contributed
Longtime Sooke residents were thrilled when then-premier Mike Harcourt announced the first female lieutenant-governor of British Columbia in 2001. With two Sooke aunties, Iona Campagnolo was almost one of our own.
It was fitting that Campagnolo’s first official visit to Sooke was in 2002 when she was invited to open the annual Sooke Fine Arts Show.
Beverley Myers, then-president of the Sooke Region Historical Society, which organized the annual show, remembers, “We were so proud to have her with us.”
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Campagnolo’s roots can be traced back to Galiano Island, where her grandparents, Finlay and Ethel Murchison, lived. Her mother, Rosalind, was the eldest of their children and later moved to Prince Rupert after marrying Ken Hardy. It was in Prince Rupert that Iona was born in 1932, the first child of Rosalind and Ken.
Among Finlay and Ethel Murchison’s large family were daughters Jean and Dorothy. Jean married and lost her husband in the Second World War, going on to later marry Eric Michelsen of Sooke. This couple became well-known as the founders of Broom Hill Golf and Country Club.
The youngest Murchison daughter Dorothy (we always called her Doey) grew up to marry Bill Eddy, from the East Sooke pioneering Eddy family; she and her husband raised five children on Sooke River Road.
Doey’s youngest son, Danny Eddy, joins his wife, Jackie, in saying, “It was such a treat whenever we got to visit. Iona truly was special, kind of like royalty!”
After marrying in Prince Rupert, Campagnolo raised her two daughters. Despite her busy political career, she always made time for her family and was a loving and dedicated mother.
Campagnolo’s deep-rooted commitment to her community led her to radio journalism and politics.
She started her journey on the school board, then as a city councillor, and eventually as an MP for the Skeena riding. Her service in Pierre Eliot Trudeau’s cabinet and her historic presidency of the federal Liberal party marked her as a true community leader.
A helicopter pilot raised in Sooke, Michael Peterson, recalls his flying days in Prince Rupert when he provided a courtesy tour for Campagnolo while serving as an MP and how delightful she was to chat with as she familiarized herself with the coastline.
Peterson’s wife, Jill, tells us how Campagnolo chaired the ceremony when she, a Britisher, became a Canadian citizen while in Prince Rupert.
Campagnolo’s dedication to repairing relationships with First Nations and the environment was unparalleled.
In the 1990s, she became the first chancellor of the University of Northern B.C. in Prince George, a role that allowed her to further her mission. Her efforts were recognized with numerous honours, including the prestigious Order of B.C. and the Order of Canada.
Revisiting Sooke during her tenure at Government House, Campagnolo opened the 92nd Sooke Fall Fair in 2005.
Sandy Bowie, a fair volunteer, shares with us some of the lieutenant-governor’s heartfelt words: “In honour of the Year of the Veteran, the Sooke Fall Fair theme, “The Homefront” pays tribute to the many ways in which the war effort was supported here at home. Women went to work in the war industries and on the farms; the Victory Garden was borne of food rationing; friends and neighbours salvaged and recycled while helping each other to cope with the rations and restrictions forced by the ongoing war.”
Caring and charismatic, Campagnolo retained the values of her simple country background on Galiano Island, moving forward in her illustrious life and still recognizing the importance of country fairs.
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Elida Peers is the historian of the Sooke Region Museum. Email historian@sookeregionmuseum.com.
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