A Measure of Value: The Story of the D'Arcy Island Leper Colony

Between 1891 and 1924, D'Arcy Island, near Victoria, B.C., was a prison for a society of outcasts. The press called them "The Unfortunates." Why? They had leprosy and they were Chinese. Their only contact with the outside world was a supply ship that came every three months to drop off food, opium and coffins. Follow one "unfortunate," Lim Sam, on his journey from China to Victoria to Nanaimo, and finally to D'Arcy Island, where this little society cared for each other, planted their gardens, and dreamed of going home. They lived and died unquoted and unrecorded. That they lived is acknowledged only by fifteen unmarked graves on a tiny island in Haro Strait. It is the author's hope that this book returns a measure of value to their lives.