BRITISH COLUMBIA JOINS CONFEDERATION How did we get here?

A Brief History of BC BC was claimed by the British back in the late 1700s by English explorers such as James Cook and George Vancouver 1849: Vancouver Island became a British colony The mainland at this time was called New Caledonia, not BC, and it was not a colony, which meant leaders didn’t have any legal authority about any situations that happened there 1858: a gold rush on the Fraser River brought over 30,000 miners from the US to New Caledonia Britain and other “New Caledonians” were worried about all these Americans coming up North because they knew about Manifest Destiny, and during the California gold rush there were riots and lawlessness; they were afraid America might “steal” Vancouver Island and the mainland 1858: New Caledonia became British Columbia, an official colony, which also meant the governor had authority to deal with anyone who broke the laws (now they felt protected)

“I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger…” 1862: another gold rush in northern BC brought more people here 1865: gold rush is winding down; Vancouver Island colony and BC colony were in major debt 1866: Britain decided to unit the 2 colonies into one, hopefully making the debt more manageable The new colony was named British Columbia, and the capital city was New Westminster

Debt is a Four Letter Word 1868: BC colony is still in debt; roads and other services that were necessary during the gold rush were built, but now there wasn’t any money left to pay for these necessities The colony also spent more money importing than they made exporting (a rookie mistake that can be seen today when people spend more money than they make, and use credit cards like debit cards) The main industries in BC (when the gold rush ended) were lumber, coal mining, and farming: none of these industries could make up for the lack of gold What to do?

Solutions… Slowly, the solution to fix the terribly economic and financial state of BC began to take shape: join Canada Why? 1. Ties with Britain would remain the same 2. There was always the threat of the US taking over (and BC was prime real estate being along the Pacific coast line)

Solutions continued Basically, there were three choices facing the people of BC colony: 1. Remain a colony, in debt, and hope for the best 2. Become a part of the US (the US would then control the whole coastline because Alaska had since become part of the US, as well). This was also considered a good plan because BC goods had a market in California, and the American trading centre was in San Francisco, which is closer to BC than Toronto and Montreal. 3. Join Canada (and have Canada pay off the debt). This choice was appealing because it offered protection from the US, who was now north and south of them. A colony wouldn’t have the manpower to defend America, but a united country would. It should be noted, once again, that First Nations peoples and Chinese people, who were a large part of the BC colony population, were not consulted for their opinions.

The British Columbia Act 1871 The Canadian govt was anxious to extend the Dominion of Canada to the Pacific Coast. Reps for BC traveled to Ottawa to negotiate BC joining Confederation. The Canadian govt agreed to: 1. A railway joining BC to Canada to be finished within 10 years 2. Pay off BC’s debt (it was more than $1,000,000) 3. Pay a yearly “allowance” to BC, plus a yearly 80cents per person until the population reached 400, Give BC control of government-owned public lands that were located in BC (this is a little more control than Manitoba got, but equal to the other provinces from 1867)

Student Assignment Read the handouts “Gold Rush” and “An Exercise in Decision-Making”. Answer the following question: 1. Decide which choice you would have made had you lived in the colony of BC in the 1860s (remain a colony, join the US, or join Canada). Explain your decision with support from the notes or the handouts. 2. Would you have consulted the wishes of ALL people living in the colony at that time? Why or why not?