Barbara Roden

Learning means everything to Barbara Roden; it’s a lifelong pursuit that goes hand in hand with her love of books and writing. “People hear the word ‘learning’ and they think of sitting at desks in a classroom – very boring,” she says. “It’s a huge world with so many people and things in it. You always need to learn more.”

It’s an attitude that serves Barbara well as editor of The Ashcroft–Cache Creek Journal and mayor of the Village of Ashcroft. Every day brings new opportunities for discovering more about her fellow residents and the community. Plus the region has so much history to explore. “I’ve always loved history. I began reading about this area and the Gold Rush Trail from Hope and Yale up to Barkerville, and I came across so many stories, so many fascinating people, so many interesting things interweaving different cultures,” she says. “I grew up when it was a very Eurocentric view of history, and I came to appreciate that there were many more voices to be heard here in Ashcroft.”

Barbara, who became a Knowledge Partner because she wanted to support programming that was meaningful to her, likes that Knowledge provides a place to hear local voices and stories. “Knowledge does a great job of showing us parts of BC history that were not taught in schools, in a way that’s informative and interesting without ever sounding like a lecture. We have so many fascinating stories in BC, spanning hundreds, if not thousands of years. It makes me very happy that Knowledge is our public broadcaster, telling our stories not just to us, but to the entire world.”