Author of 3 bestselling mysteries: Murder at the Otter Cove Market,The Sinking of Souls & Blood on the Breakwater. On Amazon. Ovarian cancer warrior #fuckcancer

Victoria, British Columbia
Joined August 2021
Jean Paetkau is the Victoria author of the bestselling Breakwater Mystery series. Blood on the Breakwater delves into deceit in an art world evocative of Emily Carr. The Sinking of Souls reveals how a 100 year old shipwreck leads to very modern murders. #yyj #bookseries #books
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Son: Dad, you're always calling things iconic from the '80s. What does that even mean? Dad: Son, it means 40 years later, a scene can still give you the exact same feeling it did the first time you watched it. This is one of those moments.
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Tonight's full moon over Gatineau, Quebec.
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On this day in 1996, the last Irish Magdalene Laundry closed its slave labour prison doors. Originally called the Gloucester Street Laundry, located on Sean MacDermott Street it was owned and exploited by the nuns of the ironically titled "Sisters of Our Lady of Charity". When it closed it was home to 40 inmates, its average capacity during its heyday was 150 women working and living there. A little-known fact is that the first laundry for "fallen women" was actually founded by the Protestant Church of Ireland in 1765. However it didn't take long for the Catholic church to combine power and penitence with profit, and they created a veritable gulag network for incarcerating and torturing vulnerable or nonconformist girls and women. Over 30,000 souls suffered in these institutions in Ireland. In 1993 land owned in Drumcondra by the aforementioned Sisters of Our Lady of Charity was bought by a property developer. Whilst it was being redeveloped the bodies of 155 women were uncovered in a mass grave. Of these victims, only 133 were identified by name in an exhumation license granted to the Sisters. And of those only 75 had a death certificate. These girls and women, and whatever babies they produced, didn't matter. They had no intrinsic value to the nuns, priests, and bishops beyond the profit they could make by their sweat and the sale of their children. Magdalene Laundries are a warning from Irish history. When you grant blind obedience and immune status to an organisation, whether it be religious, political, or economic, that power will be exploited and those most powerless will suffer most.
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Terry Fox prior to the loss of his leg while attending Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC in the 1970s. 🇨🇦
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The City of Victoria says fire and police crews are looking into "unconfirmed reports" that there were additional people in the former Travellers Inn that was destroyed in a massive fire on Saturday. cheknews.ca/early-morning-fi…
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A very big fire in Victoria this morning.
A major structure fire has engulfed a residential complex on Queens Avenue north of downtown Victoria between Douglas and Blanshard streets. The fire may have been discovered as early as prior to 4AM, according to a nearby resident. Motorists are encouraged to seek alternate routes into downtown Victoria and to expect delays along the Douglas and Blanshard thoroughfares. 📸 Greg Marsh #yyj
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I just found out my cousin who is a doctor is making a special trip to Victoria with two friends to come to the book launch. She took my panicked calls through the early days of cancer and supported me through chemo. You’re not crying! I’m crying! 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹#fuckcancer
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The Takeaway: Struggling with tiny daily tasks isn't a sign of laziness or low effort. Once you lower the friction required to start, the 90-second tasks stop taking three days of mental exhaustion.6/6
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💔 Some losses hit especially hard. Olena Sharhovska spent her life telling people’s stories. And when war came, she went to the frontlines to save lives. Since 2015, she had been there for the wounded, in places most of us can barely imagine. I keep thinking about all the people who got another chance at life because she was there. And now she’s gone💔 Rest peacefully, Olena. Ukraine will remember you🕯️🇺🇦
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After a trial separation, I’m filing the divorce papers. I must end my love affair with chocolate. I gave up choco bars a few months ago but now I’m quitting hot cocoa. Chocolate is causing migraines. I’m trying this vanilla with almond milk but it’s not the same. 😭 #fuckcancer
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In 1943, the Gestapo finally caught Raymond Aubrac, one of France’s most wanted Resistance leaders. The German secret police sentenced him to death, and his execution was only days away. At the same time, his wife Lucie was six months pregnant with their second child. Most people in her position would have gone into hiding, grieved quietly, and prayed for a miracle. Lucie Aubrac decided to do something completely different. She got her hands on forged identity papers, created a believable cover story, and walked straight into the office of Klaus Barbie. History would later remember Barbie as the brutal Butcher of Lyon, but Lucie did not let fear stop her. She looked him in the eye and successfully convinced him to grant her a final visit with her condemned husband. But Lucie did not risk her life just to say a tearful goodbye. While she was inside the prison area, she was secretly memorizing the positions of the guards, counting the minutes between patrols, and mapping out the exact route the prison truck would take. She was treating a desperate situation like a military operation. On October 21, 1943, that prison truck rolled through the streets of Lyon. It was carrying Raymond and several other prisoners toward what should have been their final destination. What the German soldiers did not know was that Lucie had spent weeks quietly assembling a dedicated team of Resistance fighters. She planned an ambush with absolute precision. When the truck finally reached the chosen ambush spot, her team struck fast, coordinated, and without a single moment of hesitation. In the middle of the sudden gunfire and chaos, Raymond Aubrac was pulled free from the truck. Lucie, who was visibly and unmistakably pregnant, had organized every single detail of his dramatic liberation. Right after the rescue, the couple had to go into deep hiding. A few weeks later, Lucie gave birth to their daughter in a secret safe house while German forces searched frantically for them across France. They managed to evade capture until the war ended. When liberation finally came, the Aubracs did not just try to sit back and recover from their trauma. Instead, they rebuilt their lives and continued to serve their country. Raymond became a celebrated engineer and entered public life to help rebuild France's infrastructure. Lucie became a respected historian, pouring decades of her life into making sure that the women of the French Resistance were never forgotten. She wanted to make sure these women, who were so often unnamed in the history books, were written permanently into the record. Together, the couple raised three children, traveled the world, argued, laughed, and grew old side by side. Years later, journalists asked Lucie what had compelled her to risk everything on that dangerous October day. She did not hesitate for a second. She looked at them and said, "He was my husband. What else would I do?" In his final years, he continued speaking publicly to young generations about the Resistance, the power of memory, and the absolute obligation to tell the truth about history. When Lucie passed away in 2007 at 94, and Raymond followed her in 2012 at 97, they left behind a 64 year marriage that was a testament to the ultimate triumph of life and family over hatred. Their love didn't just survive a war it blossomed into a lifetime of shared smiles, proving that the greatest force in the world is a heart that refuses to give up on the one it loves ♥️♥️
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My lovely friends who have read & enjoyed Murder at the Otter Cove Market, I only have 2 reviews & I’d love to get that number up to 10! You just have to click on “write a review” & put down a few words. Apologies for the bother but it would really help me!♥️ #fuckcancer #booktwt
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An important story for cancer patients in BC. Underutilized CT scanners.
WATCH: “I think they’re killing people.” Same PET scanners used for private and public cancer scans yet @BCCancer only using a fraction of its available slots. Patient who paid got a refund after complaining to his NDP MLA. #bcpoli @GlobalBC @CUrquhartGlobal
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Just in time for weekend reading!!!! I have the best of friends! ♥️
Look what came in the mail today! Just in time for the weekend. This was written by my Twitter friend @snufflewort She is a brave cancer survivor, who’s also an author. Check it out! #fuckcancer
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Replying to @snufflewort
I posted this on FB earlier this week. If you're disabled, call 1-800-661-8683 to vote by phone - it's fast and easy. Spread the word among your disabled family members, friends and colleagues. Don't forget, there are many other accessible means to vote. elections.bc.ca
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You can partly blame the British shows I started watching as a Canadian teenager for my love of language. “You’re courting indigestion, eating at that angle.” Practically Shakespearean! 🤣♥️
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If you’re disabled in BC you still may be able to vote from home! #yyj
I just voted! Thanks to a hot tip from a fellow disabled, it turns out I could qualify to vote by phone! You can call Elections BC and vote by phone if you have a legit reason you can’t vote by mail or in person. Hurrah! 🎉 #bcpoli (Criteria/# on pg 46-7: elections.bc.ca/docs/8008790…)
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