British Columbia: An Untold History

Episode 1

Change + Resistance

58 mins

Issues surrounding the incorporation of what is now known as the Province of British Columbia in 1871 is presented. It is posited that the Fraser Canyon War of 1858 is the most influential factor leading to the creation of the province, the war surrounding largely American miners who came north for the gold rush fighting against the indigenous population, and the subsequent attention that it brought to the British authorities for this outpost which up to that point in time had been largely ignored until what looked to be the American desire to annex it because of the gold. The origins of the name "British Columbia", the reason behind the merging of what were the separate British colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, both largely support for the fur trade, to form the province, and the reason for choosing what was then Fort Victoria as the capital are discussed. Further discussions surround the laying of the framework for various levels of government to assimilate into western and/or quash the indigenous culture, such later measures as the creation of the residential school system and the enactment of the Indian Act, which in its original form banned what most indigenous peoples see as the center of their culture, namely the potlatch.