1863–1866
Israel Wood Powell (April 27, 1836 – February 25, 1915) was British Columbia's first superintendent of Indian Affairs and a businessman, politician and doctor. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island from 1863 to 1866.
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Powell was born in Colborne, Norfolk County, Upper Canada (what is now the Province of Ontario), the son of politician Israel Wood Powell and Melinda Boss. His brother Walker later served in the legislative assembly for the Province of Canada. Powell was educated in Port Dover and at McGill University, where he studied medicine. He returned to Port Dover and set up practice, but relocated in 1862 to the City of Victoria, then part of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
Powell became surgeon for the Victoria Fire Department, and served in the militia. He was elected in 1863 to the House of Assembly of Vancouver Island. He was defeated when he ran for election in 1866 and the 1868 BC elections. In 1865, he married Jane "Jennie" Brank. From 1867 to 1869 he served as Chairman of the General Board of Education.
He was a supporter of union with Canada and brought the first Canadian flag to BC on June 17, 1871 [1] which he presented to the Victoria Fire Department on July 1st. [2] He had received the flag from his close friend and fellow Mason The Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada.
Powell was a founding member on October 21, 1871 of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of British Columbia, as its first Grand Master. [3]
After BC joined Canada in 1871, he was named Superintendent of Indian Affairs, a role which he held from 1872 to 1889. Powell was consistent in his expressed goal of assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Colonial society. He was a constant critic of the provincial government's resistance to providing Indigenous people with land and water rights, and fought for the establishment of Indian Reserves.
During his tenure, he oversaw the removal of Indigenous children from their homes to be sent to residential schools, and the banning of Indigenous languages and customs. [4] He was particularly known for working to subvert communal ownership and the potlatch, a ceremony at the core of west-coast Indigenous culture, and in 1884 he succeeded in having the Indian Act amended to outlaw it. When the first prosecutions under the act failed, Powell counselled the agents under him to dissuade indigenous peoples from potlatching, but not prosecute. [5]
Powell was retired from the superintendent's position in 1889 on the grounds of ill health.
Early in his career as superintendent, Powell took up the cause of what he viewed as the imperative to educate and “civilize” Indigenous children. Powell focused on the importance of establishing industrial education schools in isolated areas to turn Indigenous children into what he referred to as “useful members of society.”
He sought to establish several boarding schools across the province and particularly pushed for creating the Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1890 to address communities in the province's interior. The school became one of the largest residential schools operated by Indian Affairs. [6]
The 2778-acre parcel of land known as Lot 450, situated on traditional Tla’amin, Klahoose, and Homalco territories and encompassing several traditional villages and seasonal sites, continues to be a site of contention dating from when land speculator and Victoria politician Robert Paterson Rithet purchased the timber lease under “dubious circumstances” in 1874.
Tla’amin expressed concerns over potential logging and industrialization around their villages to Indian land commissioner Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, who agreed that the government should cease sales activities of the Tla’amin territory until official surveys could be made of their reserves, but when Sproat brought these complaints forward to Powell, the Superintendent was dismissive of Sproat and Tla’amin's concerns and dissuaded the commissioner from visiting Tla’amin to attempt a compromise. The matter was left unresolved. [7]
In 1886, Powell became the first president of the Medical Council of British Columbia. He was also the first chancellor for the University of British Columbia. Powell died in Victoria at the age of 78.
A number of geographical features of British Columbia, including the river and eponymous city of Powell River and Powell Lake, were named in his honour.
In May 2021, the Tla'amin Nation submitted a request to Powell River city council to change the city's name to replace or omit Powell's. [8] In May of 2024 a spokesperson for the joint working group for Powell River’s possible name change, an adjunct professor at UBC, stated: "three years since Tla’amin Nation’s efforts first began, and there’s not much to show for it in a way of tangible change." [9]
Vancouver Island University has since changed the name of their campus in the qathet region to tiwšɛmawtxw (tyew-shem-out), which means house of learning; the name was a gift to the institution from the Tla’amin Nation Executive Council to acknowledge VIU's "readiness and willingness to participate and engage in meaningful reconciliation." [10]
On June 10, 2021, in light of the finding of unmarked gravesites and the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, of which Powell was a leading proponent of its creation, the City of Victoria announced the cancellation of its upcoming Canada Day festivities. An alternative broadcast was proposed in collaboration with local First Nations to "[explore] what it means to be Canadian, in light of recent events." [11]
On July 25, 2022, the regional hospital serving the catchment including the City of Powell River changed its name from 'Powell River General Hospital' to 'qathet General Hospital' at the request of the Tla'amin First Nation. [12]
British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada. Situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, forests, lakes, mountains, inland deserts and grassy plains. British Columbia borders the province of Alberta to the east; the territories of Yukon and Northwest Territories to the north; the U.S. states of Washington, Idaho and Montana to the south, and Alaska to the northwest. With an estimated population of over 5.6 million as of 2024, it is Canada's third-most populous province. The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, while the province's largest city is Vancouver. Vancouver and its suburbs together make up the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, with the 2021 census recording 2.6 million people in Metro Vancouver. British Columbia is Canada's third-largest province in terms of total area, after Quebec and Ontario.
Kamloops is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, whose district offices are based here. The surrounding region is sometimes referred to as the Thompson Country.
Vancouver Island University is a Canadian public university serving Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia. Malaspina College began in 1969 and it has grown into a university which plays an important role in the educational, cultural, and economic life of the region. The main campus is located in Nanaimo; there are regional campuses in Duncan and Powell River as well as a centre in Parksville.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. With two intervening long, steep-sided fjords inhibiting the construction of a contiguous road connection with Vancouver to the south, geographical surroundings explain Powell River's remoteness as a community, despite relative proximity to Vancouver and other populous areas of the BC Coast. The city is the location of the head office of the qathet Regional District.
The qathet Regional District is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its only incorporated municipality is the City of Powell River, although it includes a number of unincorporated areas. The district encompasses a land area of 5,075.33 square kilometres (1,959.60 sq mi). The district was formerly known as the Powell River Regional District. Because of frequent confusion between the identical names of Powell River district and city, the district's name was changed in 2018 to qathet, from q̓at̓ᶿət, meaning "working together, bringing together" in the Comox language of the Tla'amin Nation.
Sir Joseph William Trutch, was an English-born Canadian civil engineer, land surveyor, and politician who served as first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
Gilbert Malcolm Sproat was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman, office holder, and author.
Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc, abbreviated TteS and previously known as the Kamloops Indian Band, is a First Nations government within the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, which represents ten of the seventeen Secwepemc band governments, all in the southern Central Interior region, spanning the Thompson and Shuswap districts. It is one of the largest of the 17 groups into which the Secwepemc (Shuswap) nation was divided when the Colony of British Columbia established an Indian reserve system in the 1860s.
Savary Island or Áyhus is an island in British Columbia, Canada. Located in the northern part of the Strait of Georgia, it is 144 kilometres (89 mi) northwest of Vancouver. It is approximately 0.8-1.5 km wide and 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) long. It has a permanent population of about 100, expanding to perhaps 2,000 or more in the summer months. Savary Island lies within the traditional territory of the Tla'amin Nation.
Lax-Kwʼalaams, previously called Port Simpson until 1986, is an Indigenous village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. It is located on Port Simpson Indian Reserve No. 1, which is shared with other residential communities of the Tsimshian Nation. The Nine Allied Tribes are: Gilutsʼaaw, Ginadoiks, Ginaxangiik, Gispaxloʼots, Gitando, Gitlaan, Gitsʼiis, Gitwilgyoots, and Gitzaxłaał.
Lund is a small craft harbour and unincorporated village on Tla'amin land in qathet Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is along the northern part of the Salish Sea on the mainland BC coast. The main landmark in the village is the Lund Hotel, established in 1905. By boat from Lund, the Copeland Islands and Desolation Sound, are nearby. Lund is home to many shops and services including a general store, a restaurant overlooking the water, kayak and adventure tourism stores, and Nancy's Bakery, a favourite of locals and tourists.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian Indian residential school system. Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, it was once the largest residential school in Canada, with its enrolment peaking at 500 in the 1950s. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, when it was taken over from the Catholic Church by the federal government to be used as a day school residence. It closed in 1978. The school building still stands today, and is located on the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.
The Powell River is a river in the northern Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, Canada that flows a short distance through the eponymous city of Powell River, British Columbia to enter the Salish Sea. It is one of the shortest rivers in the world, measuring 500 Meters in length.
The Sisters of St. Anne (SSA) is a Catholic religious institute founded in 1850 in Vaudreuil, Quebec, Canada, by Marie Anne Blondin to promote the education of the rural children of the Province of Canada. Their vision is rooted and guided by Ignatian spirituality.
The Simpcw First Nation, formerly known as the North Thompson Indian Band, is a First Nations band government based in the Thompson Country of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council. It is a First Nations government of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation, located in the Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The band's main community is at Chu Chua, British Columbia. Four of the five First Nation Reserves in Simpcw territory were designated on July 5, 1877 and the fifth was designated on February 24, 1916. The Shuswap language name for North Thompson Band's community and reserve is 'Simpcw'.
Powell Lake is a lake in the northern Sunshine Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, adjacent to the city of Powell River, which sits on the low rise of land forming a natural dam between the lake and the Strait of Georgia. The lake flows to the ocean through Powell River and features Goat Island, a large mountainous island. It serves as a reservoir for a small hydroelectric generating station which was built to serve the city's paper mill, and also as a water supply for that paper mill.
Elsie Paul is an Elder and knowledge keeper of the Tla'amin (Sliammon) Nation, located on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Paul is a residential school survivor and one of the few living people to speak the Tla'amin language fluently. Paul holds an honorary Doctorate degree from the Vancouver Island University and has co-authored a book, Written as I Remember it: Teachings From the Life of a Sliammon Elder. This work was later released in an open access, multimedia, digital edition. Paul's traditional name is Qazustala's, which translates as, "a welcoming person with a wealth of knowledge, someone who shares her culture".
The Kuper Island Indian Residential School, also known as Kuper Island Indian Industrial School, was a Canadian Indian residential school located on Kuper Island, near Chemainus, British Columbia, that operated from 1889 to 1975. The school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church, with funding from the Department of Indian Affairs.
Alfred V. Waugh is an Indigenous architect based in British Columbia. Born in Yellowknife, Waugh studied Urban and Regional Studies as an undergraduate at the University of Lethbridge, and pursued a second bachelors degree in architecture at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture. Waugh founded Formline Architecture + Urbanism in 2005, an Indigenous-owned practice. He is best known for the design of the the Indian Residential School History, and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, designed alongside Manny Trinca and Vince Knudsen. Another notable project is the First Peoples House at the University of Victoria, which he designed in collaboration with Kenneth Wong.