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An Act to encourage the gradual Civilization of the Indian Tribes in this Province, and to amend the Laws respecting Indians, 1857
This source is an extract of a government report to produce legislation to ‘civilise’ the native peoples in Canadian provinces. The document sets out that for the natives to have equal legal distinction to other Canadian subjects (European colonists)…
The Cariboo sentinel, article on new mining laws to avoid Indian graves
This is a small article in the Cariboo sentinel discussing how the town has not received a copy of the new laws regarding mining on Indian gravesites. This article was written at a time of gold rush in the area and concerns the implementation of new…
Map of City of Vancouver Parks
A base map from the City of Vancouver Engineering Department with the City’s parks hand-coloured in green. The base map was created in 1978, with the hand drawing demarcating the City’s parks added in 1980. The map identifies city blocks, the…
Hunting for gold: reminiscences of personal experience and research in the early days of the Pacific
The book details the life of a gold rush miner as he travelled through various regions in British Columbia search of gold. The context surrounding his travels through Montreal, San Francisco and other cities, is at a time where the gold rush was in…
The Kwaktiutl village of Xumtaspi-Nawittl
The source is a photograph of the village in Vancouver Island called Xwamdasbe, translated as ‘Place where there is otter’. The photograph includes fishery housing with the house on the right featuring three painted family crests. There are also…
Correspondence relative to the Canadian Pacific Railway
Due to British Columbia agreeing to build transport links as per the agreement to join the Canadian confederation, this book of papers contain the context surrounding the “pacific scandal”. A scandal which saw a bribery of the first government of…
Letter from the Church Missionary House to an MP
This handwritten letter is written by the Church Missionary House to an MP regarding recent missionary work in Vancouver Island. It discusses the good work of missionaries in the area and suggests that missionaries could use this place as a base for…
Memorial Totem Pole
This is a memorial Totem pole created in the memory of a member of the Gitanyow house of the Kitwancool Tribe, now stored in a museum, yet the pole was only recently obtained by the museum at the end of the 20th century. This was created at a time of…
Beren to Lytton
The letter denotes the story of a violent skirmish between Native peoples and American colonial settlers. This was not uncommon due to the late 1850s seeing a rise in expansionist movements of colonial settlers. The colonists would come into direct…
Report of Native coal miners to Fort Vancouver
This is a letter to Fort Vancouver about the state of the area and issues happening there. It mentions a coal seam found on Vancouver Island and the native task force that they were using to mine it initially. Douglas mentions the little amount that…