History

The fur trade era in British Columbia was followed by the gold rush era, which attracted much larger numbers of Europeans, many of them fortune seekers from the south. Although the gold rush era was short-lived in the Okanagan, one of its side effects was the creation of a demand for land, primarily for agricultural purposes, among merchants, farmers and ranchers interested in supplying the relatively new and large population that had been attracted to BC.

Because of its hospitable climate and abundance of land well sited to agricultural development, the Okanagan Valley became a desirable location for settlers.

THE FUR TRADE

The Hudson’s Bay Company was interested in large profits. They had enforced a mandatory type of payment method called the ‘even swap’. This payment method ensured that the First Nations was to pay the height in fur to the height of the item they wanted to purchase. If the First Nations people wanted an item that was six or seven feet in length, such as a gun, then the skins were stacked to that standing height to that of the firearm.

FORTS

The fur trade era in British Columbia was followed by the gold rush era which attracted much larger numbers of Europeans, many of them fortune seekers from the south. Although the gold rush era was short-lived in the Okanagan, one of its side effects was the creation of a demand for land, primarily for agricultural purposes, among merchants, farmers and ranchers interested in supplying the relatively new and large population that had been attracted to BC. Because of its hospitable climate and abundance of land well sited to agricultural development, the Okanagan Valley became a desirable location for settlers.

THE GOLD RUSH

The gold rush never affected life in the Okanagan directly until gold was discovered in Rock Creek around 1859. By 1860, about 500 miners, mainly Americans who had abandoned their claims in Washington and Oregon had settled in the area. The Okanagan gold rush ended as quickly as it started. The gold rush had a significant impact on life in the Okanagan. The large influx of miners and their families resulted in a demand for goods and services that previously didn't exist. The new market for goods and services drew merchants, farmers and ranchers interested in meeting that demand and who required land and more permanent settlements in order to do so. The demand for land required for agricultural development and permanent settlements meant that the aboriginal population had to be removed from the land that was needed.

In 1826 the Catholic missionaries had spread Christianity into the Upper and Central Columbia and Okanagan Valleys by using the trails between Fort Colville and Fort Okanagan.

The Residential School Era

Residential schools became a legalized entity in 1884 with more than 100 residential schools operating in Canada 10 years later. By 1920 Federal legislation makes it mandatory for Aboriginal children to attend residential schools and in 1933 School principles are given legal guardianship over all Indian children attending residential schools where parents faced, abuse, physical injuries, death or imprisonment if they did not surrender their children to the Department of Mines and Resources. Although it is documented as the last residential school being closed in 1984, there are numerous reports by Syilx community members of being succumbed to religion and physical abuse in local schools until the late 1980s.

The majority of Syilx children were sent to attend the Kamloops Indian Industrial (later known as Residential) School or the Cranbrook (St. Eugene's) Indian Residential Schools. While these were not the only residential schools the children were sent to, these are the two most commonly attended by Okanagan children.