Lenihan's report on his visit to the Indian villages on the Lower Fraser from Yale to the Gulf of Georgia together with those on the Harrison River and at the head of Harrison Lake

Lenihan's report on his visit to the Indian villages on the Lower Fraser from Yale to the Gulf of Georgia together with those on the Harrison River and at the head of Harrison Lake

British Columbia
Indigenous peoples
Colonialism
Brutality
19th century
Assimilation

This is a written report from James Lenihan, who was the Fraser Superintendent, serving the Lower Mainland area of British Columbia. The source has the feel of a merchant trip, with trade of gifts, sharing of tobacco and attempts by the indigenous people to sell a ‘halfbreed’ woman to the governor. The most important aspects of the source can be seen in Lenihan’s views regarding the ‘primitive’ state of the indigenous peoples he visited. He described their subsistence lifestyle and the destruction of their property as their apparent ‘insolence’. This is evident during a striking passage in which Lenihan described the deformed women’s skulls and accounts of those that had been accused of murder by the British in 1867. Lenihan’s report relates primarily to this historical issue, as an Indian chief requested payment for previous bombardment by the British, but his concerns were dismissed. Lenihan sees a need for assimilation.

Lenihan, James

First Nations Digital Document Source

http://gsdl.ubcic.bc.ca/cgi-bin/library.cgi?e=d-00000-00---off-0firstna1--00-2----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--10-en-50---20-about---00-3-1-00-0--4--0--0-0-01-10-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&c=firstna1&cl=CL5.78&d=HASH01b1d73029ca2734a2295f21

30 May 1877

David Cook

First Nations Digital Document Source
Indian Affairs (RG 10, Volume 3650, File 8301, Reel C-10114)

English

Textual - handwritten letter

19th century British Columbia