Canada's West Coast: An Untold Story

Uncover the Indigenous resistance to oppression in British Columbia. The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush in 1858 attracted a flood of Americans, causing tensions to explode with the First Nations and the British. Indigenous leaders like Chief Kw'eh resisted settler laws and challenged unsanctioned expansion into First Nations territories.

Explores the transformative history of labour and the fight for equality in British Columbia. The first paid workers in B.C. were local First Nations, followed by Chinese and Japanese migrants. Black Americans who crossed the border were promised freedom by Governor James Douglas, and they became farmers and entrepreneurs.

Reveals the immigrant narratives of resilience that define British Columbia's past and present. Chinese migrants were among the first non-Indigenous people to arrive in B.C. and became the principal labour force behind the Canadian Pacific Railway. Once built, the railroad brought trains of white Canadians westward.

Examines how the history of British Columbia is inseparably fused with the history of natural resources. The careful stewardship of the land by First Nations over millennia was disregarded when settlers arrived with industrial mega-projects. Indigenous peoples were among the first to fight deforestation, standing up against logging companies in Lyell and Meares Island.