Subsistence and Resistance on the British Columbia Coast: Kingcome Village’s Estuarine Gardens as Contested Space ...

• Main Authors: Deur, Douglas, Turner, Nancy, Recalma-Clutesi, Kim, Dick KWAXSISTALLA, Clan Chief Adam, Sewid-Smith MAYANILTH, Daisy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly 2013
• Subjects: First Nations
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/bcs.v0i179.184182; https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/view/184182

From the earliest arrival of European peoples on the coast of what is now British Columbia, the intricate knowledge systems and traditional resource and landscape management practices of First Nations were generally overlooked. This was true, even as the landscape exhibited many signs of these traditions, such as Indigenous clam gardens, estuarine root gardens, camas prairies and many other anthropogenic sites and plant species they encompassed. As Europeans moved into the region and started acquiring land for settlement and development, many of these carefully tended landscapes were appropriated through various mechanisms, supported by colonial land policy. First Nations, especially along the BC coast, were relegated to small reserves encompassing individual village sites, fishing stations and little else, with the assumption that they did not really need a substantial land base because they were totally dependent on fishing. First Nations lost control of many key resource harvesting areas; without the ... : BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly, No 179: Ethnobotany in BC: Autumn 2013 ...