INVESTIGATING INDIGENOUS
ADAPTATIONS TO BRITISH
COLUMBIA’S EXPOSED OUTER COAST
Introduction to These Outer Shores
A D. MM I MK
ARCHAEOLOGY, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES,
AND THE OUTER COAST
T
he starkly beautiful outer Pacific coast features long
sweeping stretches of sandy beaches, rocky headlands and islets,
inlets and sounds, and numerous island archipelagos (Figures
and ). In many places the mountainsides drop precipitously into the sea
along the jord-like inlets that stretch far inland. his highly convoluted
coastline ofers a variety of habitats, from protected to semi-exposed to
exposed. Each of these settings had its own suite of resources available
to those with long familiarity with their potential.
As anyone with personal experience navigating the BC coast can
attest, inding one’s way and making a living along exposed shorelines is
challenged by the geography, variable weather systems, wind and tides,
and, on the exposed coast, ocean swell. Storms that imperilled coastal
voyagers could develop with little warning, requiring practised and
decisive action. Travelling safely and provisioning are only successfully
accomplished with speciic local knowledge and a thorough familiarity
with the various states of the Paciic Ocean. he ancestors of the modern
First Nations acquired the detailed knowledge and skills essential to
thrive in this environment and transmitted these over successive generations, extending back many millennia.
hese outer shores were the homelands of many diverse First Nations
(Figure ). Although major villages tended to be politically autonomous,
they can be classiied into larger groups by their languages. he Tlingit
on the islands that make up southeast Alaska, the Haida of Haida
Gwaii, and the Nuu-chah-nulth of western Vancouver Island are the
best-known “outer coast” groups. hese are the peoples who made irst
bc studies, no. , Autumn
3
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Figure . Aerial photograph of the exposed west coast of southern Haida Gwaii in
summer. Photo by I. McKechnie.
Figure . Looking into Barkley Sound, western Vancouver Island, from near its southeastern entrance. Photo by A.D. McMillan.
Introduction
5
Figure . Map of coastal British Columbia and adjacent regions, showing study locations
for articles in this volume and First Nations traditional territories mentioned in the text.
contact with European explorers during the late eighteenth century
and participated most fully in the maritime fur trade that followed.
Other Indigenous peoples inhabited the outer mainland coast and its
numerous ofshore islands, including areas exposed to the full force of
the Paciic. hese include the Tsimshian peoples on the outer portions
of the north coast and the Heiltsuk and Wuikinuxv of the central coast,
along with some of the northern Kwakwaka’wakw communities. Some
of these groups, such as the Heiltsuk, Wuikinuxv, Kwakwaka’wakw,
and Nuu-chah-nulth, spoke related languages, potentially indicating
shared origins in the distant past. Many languages spoken along the
coast, however, were distinct and unrelated, testifying to the diversity
of Indigenous settlement over a lengthy period.
Despite being distinct peoples, the occupants of the outer coast were
connected by travel and trade. Large, elegant, ocean-going canoes made
coastal travel possible throughout much or all of the year. he Haida
and Nuu-chah-nulth, with access to abundant large cedar trees in their
outer coast territories, were particularly famed as canoe makers, often
exporting these valued craft to their neighbours. Trade networks linked
coastal communities, ensuring the movement of people and ideas, as
6
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well as goods. Major social or ceremonial events in the larger villages
could attract hundreds of people from distant locations. Intermarriage,
particularly of high status individuals, ensured kin ties between communities, often at considerable distances and across linguistic and political divisions. In addition to the cultural commonalities that emerged
through social contacts over many generations, the peoples of the outer
coast based their lives on similar ocean settings, leading to many shared
aspects of their lives that distinguish them from Indigenous groups of
the sheltered inner coast, such as those around the Salish Sea.
One theme that runs through this volume is a rejection of the
commonly held notion of the outer coast as an isolated periphery. here
remains a widespread conception that the outer coast has long been a
sparsely populated region that lies at the “outer edge” of western Canada,
an area settled relatively late in British Columbia’s history. One source
of this historically false view relates to the outer coast as a “Paciic
gateway” for international trade and transport. Another stems from its
portrayal as a rugged “wilderness” for outdoor recreation despite the area’s
long-standing Indigenous presence. Such contemporary views neglect a
wealth of archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence that shows much of
the outer coast was densely occupied, with larger populations than live
there today, prior to the devastating impact of introduced diseases and
other disruptions of the early historic period. hese circumstances belie
a much more expansive history wherein “these outer shores” were by no
means marginal but, rather, held a vital centrality for the overwhelming
majority of the lengthy human history in British Columbia.
A disproportionate amount of past archaeological research in coastal
British Columbia has been concentrated around the protected waterways
of the Salish Sea (encompassing the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the Strait
of Georgia, and Puget Sound). he rapid growth of urban centres
such as Vancouver and Victoria, along with industrial and agricultural
development, has posed continuing threats to archaeological heritage,
stimulating research and recovery efforts. Currently, more than
percent of the provincial population resides in close proximity to the
shores of the Salish Sea and over half occupy the Greater Vancouver area
(British Columbia ). Archaeological ieldwork has been facilitated
by proximity to major population centres and educational institutions.
In contrast, research teams attempting to gain access to more distant
study locations on the outer BC coast, requiring sea-worthy boats and
capable operators, have to overcome signiicant logistical challenges.
Archaeological survey eforts over the past ifty years demonstrate that
Introduction
7
Figure . Recorded coastal archaeological settlements (shell middens only) documented
in the BC provincial archaeological database as of (McKechnie , ). This
does not include many Indigenous heritage sites recorded on federal lands, including
National Park Reserves and First Nations reserves.
dense concentrations of long-occupied Indigenous settlements occur
along the entire coast of British Columbia (Figure ), although few
of these sites have witnessed sustained research eforts beyond initial
identiication and documentation. he outer coast, considered “remote”
by many today, was once home to large populations in substantial village
communities.
he eight articles included in this volume deal with the results of
archaeological research in various regions of the outer coast, from the
islands of southeast Alaska in the north to the Olympic Peninsula
of Washington State in the south (Figure ). Modern geopolitical
boundaries are superimposed on the signiicantly older Indigenous
landscape, arbitrarily separating closely related peoples. he two articles
that describe research just outside the provincial boundaries of British
Columbia, at the northern (Moss) and southern (Wessen and Huelsbeck)
entrances, bracket the six studies between. hree articles (Orchard and
Szpak; McKechnie; and McMillan) present results of research along the
outermost shores (Haida Gwaii and western Vancouver Island), while
8
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three others (Letham et al.; Menzies; and McLaren et al.) deal with
work on the islands ofshore from the BC mainland in settings exposed
to the full force of the Paciic Ocean. he contributors to this volume
present emerging archaeological insights into a human history that spans
a period of about thirteen thousand years as it unfolded throughout
dynamic changes in coastal geography and the terrestrial and marine
environments.
he photo essay, by Moore and Toov, originated through correspondence with the University of Minnesota Archives regarding use
of the cover image for this volume. he photograph of a Pacheedaht
couple by their large ocean-going canoe,1 taken at the beginning of
the twentieth century, is part of a collection of images curated by that
institution. Moore and Toov tell the story of the Minnesota Seaside
Station, operated by the University of Minnesota at Botanical Beach
near Port Renfrew from to , and their recent collaboration with
the Pacheedaht Heritage Project. he selection of images in the photo
essay brings this little-known collection to the broader attention of BC
researchers.
Over twenty years have passed since this journal’s last theme issue
on BC archaeology (Fladmark ). hat volume, along with its two
predecessors (Carlson ; Fladmark ), presents summaries of archaeological research from around the province. In contrast, our goal is to
present a more focused theme, examining long-term human adaptations
in similar environmental settings along the outer coast. In addition,
BC archaeology has seen major advances in the past several decades,
not just in terms of knowledge amassed but also in basic techniques of
ieldwork and analysis. Multi-site coring and augering programs have
allowed testing and dating at a large number of sites in a speciic region
(Letham et al., this vol.; McKechnie, this vol.; McLaren et al., this vol.;
Cannon ). Recent reinements in radiocarbon dating and calibration
allow much greater temporal precision, and project analyses are now
often chronologically secured through a substantial series of such dates
(e.g., Letham et al., this vol.; McKechnie, this vol.; and McLaren et
al., this vol.). Interpretations have also shifted from their traditional
focus on artefacts and architecture to animal and plant remains, with
zooarchaeology becoming a major contributor to the ield. Vast quantities
of faunal remains (primarily shells and the bones of ish, birds, and
mammals) make up much of the archaeological deposits at coastal sites,
1
he Pacheedaht, at modern Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, are closely related to the
Nuu-chah-nulth and Ditidaht, although they are politically autonomous.
Introduction
9
allowing examination of diet and many other aspects of past lifeways.
Many articles in this volume are heavily based on zooarchaeological
analyses, with some also employing more specialized techniques, such
as isotopic and dna studies. Examination of the past use of plants also
plays a prominent role in contemporary research, with archaeology
contributing signiicantly to a recent theme issue of BC Studies dedicated
to ethnobotany (Turner and Lepofsky ). Also, the previous broad
generalizing models that sought to explain cultural change along the
Northwest Coast have now been challenged by more localized approaches
that focus on speciic ecological settings (see Orchard and Szpak, this
vol.; Moss ).
While a variety of new scientiic techniques are employed, most coastal
archaeologists also consider Indigenous oral narratives to be important
sources of knowledge that can be integrated with other data to create
a more detailed and meaningful picture of the human past (see McKechnie, this vol.; McLaren et al., this vol.; McMillan, this vol.; Moss,
this vol.; Ames and Martindale ; Martindale and Marsden ).
As increasing numbers of First Nations scholars turn to the techniques
of archaeology to investigate their own heritage, they have enriched the
ield with local knowledge and perspectives, resulting in a new subield
termed “Indigenous Archaeology” (see papers in Nicholas ). Menzies
(this vol.), as an Indigenous scholar, maintains that he is not “doing
archaeology” but is instead appropriating the ield’s techniques to pursue
an Indigenous research strategy. Community involvement and shared
decision making characterize much of the archaeological ieldwork done
in British Columbia today.
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF COASTAL CULTURES
Indigenous peoples of the BC coast have long been recognized as playing
a foundational role in shaping the development of the discipline of anthropology in North America, beginning in the late nineteenth century.
his was most notably through the proliic pioneering work of Franz
Boas, his Indigenous collaborators, and his students (Darnell , ).
Among the latter was Edward Sapir, a gifted linguist and anthropologist,
whose work with his Nuu-chah-nulth colleagues allowed him to compile
extensive ethnographic and oral historical information, comparable
to Boas’s vast documentation on the Kwakwaka’wakw (Darnell ;
McMillan ). he transcribed texts, presenting the direct words of
traditional knowledge holders from a century ago, provide invaluable
10
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insights into the Indigenous past that can be evaluated alongside archaeological information (see McKechnie, this vol.; McMillan ; St.
Claire ). Although these early ield investigators collected detailed
information on the extent to which Indigenous peoples demonstrated a
deep familiarity with their maritime environment, the prevailing view
denied any great antiquity for Indigenous presence on the coast.
Many early studies featured speculative hypotheses linking coastal
peoples to land-based migrations from elsewhere. In his major North
American synthesis, Alfred Kroeber (, ) placed coastal origins in
the interior, claiming that “the Northwest Coast culture was originally
a river or river-mouth culture, later a beach culture, and only inally and
in part a seagoing one.” he disciplinary ixation on such movements
of people was so pervasive that anthropologist Wayne Suttles wrote in
: “For over years anthropological thinking about the Northwest
Coast has been dominated by the image of waves of immigrants coming
out onto the coast from the interior” (Suttles a, ). his underlying
concept is evident in the formative archaeological studies of Charles
Borden, in which cultural changes in the coastal archaeological record
were generally attributed to new waves of arrivals from the interior.
Borden viewed the Nuu-chah-nulth as those who have “lived longest
on the coast,” speculating that this was due to “their isolated location,
a position to which they probably withdrew under the pressure of later
intrusive groups” (Borden , ). his notion of multiple land-based
migrations to the coast by the ancestors of modern First Nations began to
lose ground rapidly in the s, when an increasing number of archaeological observations dramatically extended the documented antiquity of
Indigenous peoples in their coastal homelands. Recent research has now
accumulated a wealth of archaeological information that demonstrates
an enduring and continuous Indigenous presence along the outer coast
of British Columbia stretching back many millennia (Letham et al., this
vol.; McLaren et al., this vol.; Fedje et al. ; Mackie et al. ).
his increased pace of archaeological research on the outer coast has
provided abundant evidence of numerous large settlements in areas
that are not as intensively occupied today. Large village locations with
deep midden deposits and visible house platforms are often relatively
closely clustered, indicating a “illed landscape” (Acheson ; Marshall
, ) prior to the late-eighteenth-century arrival of European
and Euro-American explorers and traders. In the decades following,
Indigenous populations declined dramatically, primarily due to the
impact of introduced diseases such as smallpox. he Haida and Nuu-
Introduction
11
chah-nulth, who were major participants in the fur trade with outsiders,
sufered catastrophic population losses. Boyd (, ) estimates that
the Nuu-chah-nulth lost nearly three-quarters of their population during
the century following contact, and that the Haida sufered losses that
approached percent. Other coastal groups such as the Heiltsuk were
also heavily afected.
he documentation of numerous large village sites in outer coast
settings challenged earlier views of settlement that emphasized a seasonal
pattern of movement based on ethnographic accounts for the nineteenth
century (e.g., Mitchell ). On western Vancouver Island, archaeological
surveys revealed dense clusters of large village sites on the outer coast that
were interpreted as year-round locations of independent political groups
(Marshall ; McMillan ). he dramatic population decline of the
early historic period led many Nuu-chah-nulth groups to amalgamate,
greatly reducing the number of independent political units (McMillan
, ; St. Claire ). he much larger territory then held by such
polities led to the adoption of a seasonal pattern of movement after a
variety of resources, as documented by ethnographers (e.g., Drucker
), while the large “outside” villages that were once their major centres
were reduced to seasonal resource camps. A very similar pattern of late
amalgamations into large centralized villages with increased seasonal
mobility has been documented for southern Haida Gwaii (Acheson ;
see also Orchard and Szpak, this vol.). he modern Heiltsuk First Nation
also formed through the amalgamation of formerly independent groups
at a single centre (White ). hese political and settlement shifts, along
with devastating population losses, have impeded understanding of the
complexity of earlier Indigenous life on the outer coast.
THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE
In contrast to the early anthropological preoccupation with land-based
migrations to the coast, present understanding of initial settlement involves people with watercraft moving along the outer coast shortly after
(or during) glacial retreat. As Madsen (, ) states: “a Paciic coastal
model may be the most viable explanation for the initial peopling of the
Americas.” However, the landscape and climate encountered by these
early peoples difered considerably from present conditions. Huge glacial
masses along the inner coast depressed the land that they covered, raising
the outer coast and resulting in markedly diferent relative sea levels
depending on proximity to glacial ice loading (Hetherington et al. ;
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McLaren et al., this vol.; Shugar et al. ). As the glaciers retreated,
relative sea levels rose rapidly. hese substantial changes in sea levels
challenge archaeological research into the earliest human settlements
along the outer coast as the former shorelines that may contain the traces
of their presence are now underwater (Mackie et al. ).
In British Columbia, the most intensive paleoenvironmental investigations, involving researchers from a variety of disciplines, have focused
on Haida Gwaii (Fedje and Mathewes ; Scudder and Gessler
). his work shows the existing archipelago to be the remnant of
a now-drowned landmass that once extended across most of Hecate
Strait when sea levels were lower during the last glaciation (Fedje et al.
, a; Mackie et al. ). Evidence of human presence along this
former coastal landscape is now inundated. However, humans also used
inland locations at higher elevations for activities such as hunting, and
two karst caves in such settings have yielded brown bear (Ursus arctos)
bones with chipped stone points dating to about , calendar years
ago (Fedje et al. ; Mackie et al. ; McLaren et al. ). Rapid
transformation of the environment, including sea level change, would
have been evident over the course of human generations, leaving lasting
impressions on Indigenous peoples. his may be relected today in the
many Haida oral narratives that feature dramatic loods and a landscape
covered with water (Kiiiljuus and Harris ; Swanton ).
Following deglaciation, sea level changes continued to afect the
location of human settlements on the outer coast. On Haida Gwaii sea
levels rose rapidly from their late Pleistocene/early Holocene lows to
levels well above the present shoreline, then gradually dropped to their
present levels, leaving sites dating to between ten thousand and three
thousand years ago on elevated terraces that are today well inland (Fedje
et al. , b). Similarly, on western Vancouver Island post-glacial sea
level rise surpassed the modern level about six thousand years ago, then
stabilized several metres above present levels before gradually dropping
(Dallimore et al. ). As a result, archaeological sites dating from about
ive thousand to twenty-ive hundred years ago are found on elevated
landforms that are often directly inland from late Holocene and early
historic village locations (McMillan, this vol.; McMillan et al. ).
Wessen and Huelsbeck (this vol.) also report a series of elevated “paleoshoreline” sites on the Olympic Peninsula that predate the contact-era
villages.
Although dramatic sea level changes along the outermost coast present
signiicant challenges to archaeological investigations, a somewhat dif-
Introduction
13
ferent situation characterizes the islands adjacent to the BC mainland (see
Letham et al., this vol.; McLaren et al., this vol.). Sea levels have been
remarkably stable along the stretch of coast between the continental shelf
edge and the deep jords of the coastal mainland, at least compared to
areas on either side, leading McLaren et al. (; ) to describe a sea
level “hinge” extending from the central coast northwest to the Dundas
Islands (see also Shugar et al. , ). Such relatively stable landforms
could support persistent settlement throughout most of the Holocene.
Archaeological research in such areas documents a lengthy record of
human familiarity with coastal environments. Indigenous origin stories,
along with carefully maintained systems of inherited titles to the land
and ceremonial prerogatives, also cast light on the persistent occupation
of such relatively stable landforms (McLaren et al., this vol.).
Coastal peoples also had to contend with infrequent but catastrophic
seismic events. Mega-thrust earthquakes and their consequent tsunamis
destroyed villages and reconigured the shoreline, causing great loss of
life. Indigenous communities kept these events in memory through their
oral traditions and incorporated elements that referred to earthquakes
into their ceremonial practices (McMillan and Hutchinson ).
Life on this dynamic landscape required resilience to cope with such
unpredictable disasters.
CONSIDERING CULTURAL ADAPTATION
he phrase “the outer shores” was popularized by the maverick American
marine biologist and ecologist Ed Ricketts, who, in , published a
seminal book on coastal ecosystems along western North America,
Between Paciic Tides (Ricketts and Calvin ). he structure of the book
was revolutionary in that it was organized around environments rather
than taxonomies, providing a perspective that became highly inluential
in the emerging discipline of marine ecology. A revised second edition,
released in , featured a foreword by author John Steinbeck. Ricketts
and Steinbeck also published Sea of Cortez in , based on their shared
travel and research. Ricketts then turned his attention to the north,
travelling to western Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii to study coastal
environments. In , the two men were planning additional ieldwork
in British Columbia for a third book, to be titled “he Outer Shores”
(Scudder and Gessler , i-ii). Tragically, Ricketts died in a car crash
just before the expedition was to start.
14
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Ricketts’s big-picture perspective, emphasizing multiple scales of
environmental variability along the coast from southeast Alaska to the
Baja peninsula, paralleled and complemented anthropology’s increasing
recognition of the complex multi-layered regional variation in cultural
and environmental phenomena. Such ecological observations strengthen
the persistent theme in Northwest Coast anthropological scholarship of
an emphasis on the diversity of environments, languages, and cultural
traditions speciic to various areas of the coast (e.g., Suttles b). Today
it is commonplace among anthropologists and Indigenous peoples to
emphasize the role of landscape, the environment, and localized patterns
of resource availability as formative factors underlying long-term cultural
practices and identity.
“Cultural adaptation” is a commonly employed concept to describe how
Indigenous peoples oriented much of their lives in relation to their coastal
environments (Kew ; Langdon ). However, use of this phrase
tends to disproportionately weight environmental circumstances relative
to the structure of social relations and historical causality (Miller ;
Moss ). Such archaeological considerations of Indigenous societies
tend to focus on the environmental and geographic circumstances of
Indigenous history rather than on foregrounding how that history was
ultimately driven by particular human actions in given circumstances
(Cannon ; Martindale and Letham ). In addition, Northwest
Coast archaeologists increasingly recognize that earlier people did not
simply “adapt” to their coastal environment but managed and shaped
many of the biotic communities on which they depended (e.g., Deur and
Turner ; Grier ; Lepofsky et al. ; Moss ; hornton and
Deur ; White ).
he problem of discerning past human agency, as opposed to more
passive “adaptation,” is exacerbated by the coarseness of archaeological
data, sampled from a small number of archaeological localities and often
with low chronological resolution. Archaeological interpretations tend
to have an understandably materialist orientation, focusing on the most
abundant and readily preserved elements of material culture, such as
food harvesting and processing technologies (artefacts) and subsistence
remains (zooarchaeological data). Such analyses are well suited to
examining long-term economic practices, although they are less able to
achieve interpretations based on the often tenuous relationship between
speciic social actions and their material correlates.
Zooarchaeological studies can reveal difering patterns of cultural
adaptation. For example, McKechnie and Wigen () utilized faunal
Introduction
15
Figure . Relative composition of marine versus terrestrial mammal bone specimens
for excavated sites in southwestern British Columbia and adjacent Olympic Peninsula
(adapted from McKechnie and Wigen ).
collections from ifty-eight archaeological sites to demonstrate marked
geographic diferences in the relative proportions of terrestrial and
marine mammals.2 Sites along the west coast of Vancouver Island and
the adjacent Olympic Peninsula are characterized by a dominance of
marine mammal remains over terrestrial mammals (see also Wessen and
Huelsbeck, this vol.), whereas the reverse holds true for sites along eastern
Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands (Figure ). Difering environments
– the outer coast versus the protected waters of the Salish Sea – certainly
played a role in creating these patterns that span millennia of human
history. Yet attributing these diferences to environmental circumstances
alone would be deterministic and incomplete. he division shown in
this study also marks a cultural break, with the Wakashan languages of
the Nuu-chah-nulth and Makah along the outer coast and speakers of
various Coast Salish languages along the Salish Sea. Cultural traditions,
involving multi-generational transfer of complex knowledge, skills, and
preferences resulted in distinct cultural patterns that persisted through
time and can be discerned in the archaeological record. For outer coast
people such as the Nuu-chah-nulth, sustained success in hunting marine
mammals required not only detailed knowledge of animal behaviour and
an efective technology to take them but also speciic rituals and prayers
2
Whales were excluded from the marine mammal sample, which would have further ampliied
the diferences given the established whaling traditions in Nuu-chah-nulth territory (see
McMillan, this vol.).
16
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that were jealously guarded prerogatives transmitted through successive
generations (Drucker ; McMillan, this vol.).
he authors in this volume present recent archaeological research in
the important but relatively underexplored outer coast region, showcasing
the continuous human presence over the longue durée, or the broad scale
of human history that occurs beyond the history of individual events
(Braudel ). Such a perspective accommodates the extended periods
of time represented in the deep archaeological deposits of the outer coast,
while also recognizing the short-term everyday activities repeated over
many generations that formed the material record investigated archaeologically. Although in many areas of the outer coast the earliest traces of
human presence have been lost to the encroaching sea, other locations
reveal evidence of human settlement that spans about thirteen thousand
years (Fedje et al. ; McLaren et al., this vol.). Persistent long-term ties
between people and speciic places are demonstrated in the archaeological
record, in oral traditions, in systems of ownership rights to land and
resources, and in deep-seated cultural practices stemming from regular
and repeated use of the land and sea over generations. Rather than the
popular view of much of the outer coast as a “wilderness,” archaeological
research, oral traditions, and Indigenous knowledge clearly situate these
outer coast places as familiar “homelands” that sustained substantial
populations of diverse human cultures over millennia.
ACKNOWLEGMENTS
We thank each of the contributors for their time and efort in presenting their research. he editorial staf at BC Studies, particularly Leanne Coughlin and Richard
Mackie, provided generous support and encouragement in the preparation of this
special issue. We further acknowledge the many communities and institutions that
have supported the research presented in this volume.
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