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Chapter 7 – British Columbia

Chapter 7 – British Columbia. B.C. Overview Physiography History Aboriginals Settlers & Gold-diggers Confederation Staples & Econ. Growth Discovery & Myths Equals in Confederation NAFTA or “free” trade Limitless wood supply Limitless Salmon supply Limitless investment

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Chapter 7 – British Columbia

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  1. Chapter 7 – British Columbia • B.C. Overview • Physiography • History • Aboriginals • Settlers & Gold-diggers • Confederation • Staples & Econ. Growth • Discovery & Myths • Equals in Confederation • NAFTA or “free” trade • Limitless wood supply • Limitless Salmon supply • Limitless investment • Sustainability & BC Future

  2. B.C.’s Physiography – Hills, Valleys, Seas Determinants of Regionalism Pacific Air Mass Ocean Currents Alpine environment - 10 ranges - sedimentary - alpine spp. Precipitation - amounts 80-200 cm/year - types Orographic in west - glaciers 30-1000m thick - rivers Columbia, Fraser, Peace, Athabaska

  3. Mountain Impacts 10 Mountain ranges in one province Access to Prairies, Coast, markets/goods, costs are “locational factors” for business & populations. -West coast “too” rainy -Interior “too” dry, cold -little arable land (sagebrush in southern Interior Plateau) Transportation & settlement N/S corridors Until 1794, this corridor belonged to Spain, then Britain. US claimed it was Oregon up to Russia’s Alaska. 1818 becomes Can/US free trade zone. In 1846 Britain/US agree on 49th to coast.

  4. Canadian Confederation or US State? Britain wanted Canada to unite in one large nation spanning sea-to-sea. BC was happy with commercial ties to USA along Pacific coast and, the fastest route to England was to San Francisco and by train to NY. Oregon (1859) and Washington too became states before 1867 Confederation. This was economically attractive to many BC residents. Ottawa promised to build a trans-continental railway in 10 years if BC joined Confederation (which they did in 1871). The Rail took 14 years. First BC Census 1881: 4,200 Chinese 19,000 Americans, Brits, Canadians 30,000 Aboriginals To access the interior’s mineral and forest wealth, BC built more railways and ferries and roads: - Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway 1886 (Nanaimo coal to Victoria) this allowed sawmills and logging along this Island route. - Grand Trunk (later CNR) linked Prince Rupert and Vancouver - Pacific Great Eastern (later BC Rail) laid rails between 1912-1950s this reached Prince George (1956) and Peace River (1958), then to Fort Nelson’s forested northeast (1971)

  5. Expansion of Railway System and development of BC interior Rogers Pass 1885 Revelstoke 1906

  6. History of BC - Settlement Determined by Physiography BC’s terrain required special (and costly) solutions for early development Rail was a difficult option but absolutely necessary for shipping/travel Companies demanded fed. subsidies to expand railways Top: CPR ballast train in Cisco tunnel (180m) crossing Fraser R. (160m bridge) in 1886 Left: 500 passenger “Sicamous” CPR wheeler of BC Lake & River Service, Okanagan Landing 1914

  7. Aboriginal Population and Land Claims? • BC’s aboriginal pop. 200,000 (4%) • -Very few have settled treaties. • Treaty 8 est. to allow Klondike • Gold rush access (1898) • Douglas (14) & Vanc. Is. Treaties • to provide reserves/hunt/fish rights • A series of blockades, legal action, • public protests have forced Victoria to settle • By 1994, 42 bands (70%) in process • In 1999, provincial & fed. Gov’ts had • approved Nisga’a Agreement: • Nisga’a surrender land title • Remove themselves Indian Act • Cede portion tax-free status • BC supplies the land & 30% cash • Ottawa supplies 70% of the cash settlement Traditional salmon fishing Nisga’a Bands Receive -access to fish/forest resources; -self-government powers; -Native judicial system & police -2000 km2 land -$490M cash, grants settlement

  8. The Sea & its Regional Impact BC’s Continental Shelf (CS) is smaller than the Atlantic shelf. Although BC has exploration/exploitation rights on CS to 200nm, no devel. yet Control of Fishing Rights to 200-mile EEZ limit often disputed with US/others. Canada & Us est. Pacific Salmon Treaty (1985) to limit catch but, though stocks decline, US has not reduced catch. Canada has 1/3. Sea as BC resource is less important than interior & mountain resources - fish (25,000 or more full- and part-time jobs, 4500 fishing vessels) - recreation (increasing steadily, but harvests much less than comm.) - shipping/travel very important (Vancouver second after Montreal)

  9. Canadian Coastal Waters under Oceans Act 1998 Year of the Ocean

  10. Fisheries in the BC Economy 1832- begin export lumber from Van. Island to UK, US, Mexico, China 1852- coal in Nanaimo for California 1858-1865 Gold Rush up Fraser R. 1870- est. canneries Skeena, Delta Decline of Atlantic Canada’s Cod & Salmon signaled “Tragedy of the Commons” management style

  11. Key Topic – Forestry in BC Wet Coastal Forests & Dry Interior Forests - 4 Forest Subregions differ in rainfall, soils, temperature Remote - Smaller trees Muskeg & Poorly drained soils Engelmann Spruce - Pulp Dry – Pond. Pine Dry – Pond. Pine D. Fir Capilano

  12. BC’s Forestry – Staples Production and a Hinterland Economy

  13. Pulp, Paper and Lumber Wood is processed in a number of ways depending on products desired, availability of technology: Better quality, or rarer wood is usually sawn into lumber or veneer (thin sheets): ex. Ponderosa Pine, Beech, Cherry, Walnut, Cedar, etc. Spruce, fir, poplar also used for lumber, but mainly pulp. More abundant or lower strength wood is made into pulp: Its wood fibres can be used for a number of purposes: Three processes are used to make wood fibres or pulp: 1. Groundwood pulp is made mechanically by grinding chips or sawdust into fine fibres used for high-quality newsprint. 2. Thermomechanical pulp is combination of groundwood with chemical process to give greater strength. Groundwood and Thermomechanical make effective use of 95% of wood’s cellulose content. But mechanical grinding create short fibres and pulp with less strength. Chemical pulp mills create sulphate pulp with long fibres, greater strength (only 50% cellu) used for industrial paper, cardboard, etc.

  14. Forestry and the Future Forestry is 24% of GDP of BC (cornerstone of BC economy). 95% of BC forests Crown Land long-term leased to private sector. Resource-based “staple production” characterizes hinterland economies depend on unstable markets, competition, technology. Closure of major Bowater pulp mill Gold River (V. Island) because wood fibre supply limited, Asian markets drop, larger mills have better “Economies of Scale” (i.e. unit cost lower). “Management” by short-term gain/profits, harvested by clear-cut and using up most accessible trees first. Rate of harvest (by “timberjacks”) of mature and old-growth stands exceeded regeneration rates of new growth Diversity/mix of economic activity means survival and sustainability. Provincial government imposed lower AAC Annual Allowable Cut and reduced forest leases to protect for future. Management means limiting short-term profits and product diversification in-house: build furniture, doors, struts in BC. NAFTA and self-interest US lumber production is mainly Georgia, Pacific Northwest & Maine at 15B board feet/an. Canada doubles this harvest and 50% exports to USA (Japan 25% EU 15%). US producers lobby Congress to protect their jobs/profits claiming lower Cdn costs/stumpage subsidies are unfair trade. The NAFTA dispute mechanism Bilateral Trade Panel is long/slow .

  15. Key Topic 2 – Hydroelectric Development in BC • Meltwaters from mountain glaciers and abundant snowfall rushing down deep rocky canyons are ideal conditions for construction of hydro dams. • BC has an abundance of natural conditions, in the Peace, Fraser, Columbia and Nechako rivers. • In Canada, hydro is provincial responsibility • Primarily after WWII, public and private hydro development incr. • ALCAN negotiated 50-yr rights to Nechako (jobs, impacts unknown, no enviromentalists) • Alcan’s Kenny Dam impounded a lake >2x PEI. • 1989 Alcan starts Phase 2- protests, but Ottawa refuses EIA. In 1991, work half done, protests escalate. Work stopped, EIA done, project stopped, Alcan sues: gets hydro & low rates for 27 years until 2024. • The Columbia developments created a surplus after 1997, decreased US demand. BC tried to encourage firms needing abundant, cheap hydro. • The Peace R. Bennett Dam created BC’s largest lake, Williston L. • Environmentalists have stopped further expansion.

  16. Transition from hinterland “Gastown” sawmill pop. 250k (1867) • to heartland Vancouver 2M (2001); BC 4M 13.2% pop Canada Emergence Tertiary Sector Labour Force 2001 Primary Sector: Logging (2%) Wood-Processing (10%) Tertiary Sector: Management, Computers, Advertising, Architecture, Engineering [Ballard], etc. Tourism (Asia, Canada, US, EU) Challenges: 1) Regain high economic growth rate 2) Avoid environm. deterioration 3) Reduce/Manage mounting pressure on resource sector (agricultural lands, old-growth forests, salmon stocks. • ‘With the population of British Columbia growing at twice the rate of the rest of Canada, the presence of British Columbia as an economic region of its own is more obvious as each day passes’ -Preston Manning 2002

  17. The Immigrant-Resident Faultline • There have been tensions resulting from violence on numerous occasions along racial/ethnic conflicts. • Immigrants from Hong Kong, who came to Canada when the British protectorate ended in 1997, have returned expressing that Canada did not suitably reflect the environment they had hoped for. • Canada’s aging population, including the “baby boomers” have chosen BC as the retirement region of choice – in particular, Vancouver, the Island, and the Okanagan.

  18. Canada’s Retirement Destination of Choice

  19. Acknowledgements • Photos first page, Capilano, traditional salmon fishing, fuelcell auto, falls: The Canadian CD_ROM Resource Collection, 1999, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart • CPR Photos: CPR Archives webpage: www.cprheritage.com accessed Feb. 26, 2003 • Maps: Bone, Robert. 2002. The Regional Geography of Canada (Ed. 2). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. • Tables Fishing/Forestry: from computer program, Human Activity and the Environment, 2000. Geography Department, University of Ottawa

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