In the spring of 2018 there will be an Amalgamation Referendum on the question of whether to re-unite the City of Duncan and the Municipality of North Cowichan into a single political entity.
With this Amalgamation Referendum soon to be upon us it is interesting to consider the historical fact that Duncan residents broke away from North Cowichan and created the City of Duncan in 1912 on land formerly part of the Municipality of North Cowichan, primarily because residents of Duncan were dissatisfied with the services provided, or not being provided, by the Municipality of North Cowichan.
The Incorporation of the City of Duncan in 1912 was accomplished primarily by members of Temple Lodge No. 33, including Kenneth Duncan, J. Islay Mutter, Andrew Hans Peterson, James MacLeod Campbell, Frank Brettingham, Thomas Pitt, William Gidley, Charles Herbert Dickie, James Whittome, William Mordaunt Dwyer, Thomas Pitt.
Another Temple Lodge No. 33 member, Thomas Anthony Wood, was on the other side of the issue as Reeve of North Cowichan in 1911 when these events began.
To document this history we have created a new webpage on Incorporation of the City of Duncan In 1912.
Here are photos of some of the Temple Lodge No. 33 members involved in Incorporation of the City of Duncan In 1912.
On the other side of the debate, Temple Lodge No. 33 member Alexander Chalmers Aitken was Reeve of North Cowichan in 1911, when the move to Incorporate the City of Duncan got underway.
