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Sarah Wessel, was born to John Wessel and Agnes Henry (Hamana) in New Westminster on November 13, 1881. Mr. Wessel who hailed from Amsterdam, Holland, came to Canada as a mariner travelling by way of Cape Horn. He married Agnes, daughter of Henry and Catherine Hamana, recent Hawaiian immigrants to Canada, and together they had three children: Hermina, John Jr. and Sarah, of which Sarah was the youngest.

In 1879, the Wessels moved to South Pender Island where her father was installed as a shepherd with James Alexander, brother to Richard Henry Alexander, manager of the Hastings Sawmill in Vancouver. Her mother Agnes left their family after the birth of Sarah in New Westminster. Her father soon thereafter divorced his wife and entered both Hermina and Sarah into St. Anne’s Convent in Victoria, while her brother John Jr. stayed with their father on South Pender Island. John Wessel Jr. died at the age of 10.

In 1906 Sarah made her first visit to her sister Mrs. Hermina Taylor in Hazelton, BC. In 1910, she made a second trip up to the Kispiox Valley and after experiencing the excitement of “progress” in this region brought by the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, she fell in love with this country and decided to stay. Not wanting to live with her sister and her family, Sarah Wessel decided to act upon a new law (enacted in 1911) which gave women the same right as men to pre-empt land. So in 1911 Sarah Wessel became the first single woman to pre-empt 160 acres of Crown Land in British Columbia in the Kispiox Valley. It took her a year to build her house after which she began to clear another 3 acres of land with the help of a local Gitxsan Elder.

While homesteading, Sarah met and was courted by Herbert “Bert” Glassey. It was Bert Glassey who gave Sarah a .22 rifle and her brother-in-law Hugh Taylor who taught her how to use it. Sarah Wessel became so proficient with this homesteading tool, that she was known throughout the Kispiox Valley for having shot more birds than any man in the area! Sarah Wessel, alone but for her little fox terrier, lived on her land for three years before selling it in 1914 to a local cattle rancher who had also purchased lands adjacent to hers. That same year Sarah Wessel married Bert Glassey in Hazelton and together they moved to Quesnel, BC where Bert took up a position with the Hudson’s Bay Company.

In 1918, the Glassey’s moved from Quesnel to Prince Rupert. In 1934 they again moved from Prince Rupert to Atlin only to return to Prince Rupert eight years later. A pioneering resident of Prince Rupert for 36 years, Mrs. Sarah Glassey was active in the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and the Order of the Royal Purple. She was also a member of the Women of the Moose and an honorary member of the Royal Canadian Legion. In April of 1961 Sarah Glassey was presented with a medallion from Vancouver’s 75th Anniversary Committee for having been a resident of Vancouver before the arrival of the first passenger train to Vancouver in May 23, 1887.

Herbert Glassey passed away after a prolonged illness on October 17, 1962. After his funeral on October 20, Mrs. Sarah Glassey came home, lay down and quietly passed away. Sarah and Herbert Glassey had no children.

Herbert Francis (H.F. or “Bert”) Glassey was born in St. Joseph’s Hospital in Victoria, BC on August 15, 1882 – the first child to be born at this “new” facility. He received his school and college education in Victoria and then went to San Diego, California. Upon his return to Canada, he met and married Sarah Wessel in Hazelton in 1914. That same year, the Glasseys moved to Quesnel from Hazelton where Mr. Glassey went to work for the F.G. Dawson, broker for the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1918 Bert Glassey resigned from this position and he and his wife Sarah moved to Prince Rupert where he went in to the brokerage business for himself. In 1934 Mr. Glassey was appointed Government Agent for Atlin and served there for eight years not only in this capacity, but also as Magistrate, Gold Commissioner and Coroner. Returning to Prince Rupert in 1942, Mr. Glassey worked at the Court House and was in charge of the local office of the Wartime Prices and Trade Board. He entered civic politics in 1950 and served on the City Council for four years. Upon the sudden death of Mayor George Rudderham in 1950, he was appointed to complete the duration of the two year mayoral term until the next election. Mr. Glassey also served as a Census Commissioner for the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in 1951, was a member of the Prince Rupert Liberal Association in 1953 and a member of the Society of Notaries Public in 1956. After being bedridden for four years, Mr. Glassey passed away on October 17, 1962 at the Prince Rupert General Hospital. He was survived by his wife Sarah.

Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (Git: means "people of" and Xsan: means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approximately 53,000 square kilometers of land, from the basin of the upper Skeena River from about Legate Creek to the Skeena's headwaters and its surrounding tributaries. Part of the Tsimshianic language group, their culture is considered to be part of the civilization of the Pacific Northwest Coast, although their territory lies in the Interior rather than on the Coast. They were at one time also known as the Interior Tsimshian, a term which also included the Nisga'a, the Gitxsan's neighbours to the north. Their neighbours to the west are the Tsimshian (aka the Coast Tsimshian) while to the east the Wet'suwet'en, an Athapaskan people, with whom they have a long and deep relationship and shared political and cultural community.

Elsie L. Gerdes was the Manager of the Northern Interior Health Unit in Prince George and a founding member of the Interior University Society (IUS). She became President of the IUS in November 1988 and resigned in May 1989 in order to participate on the Implementation Planning Group for the proposed new northern university established by Stan Hagen, Minister of Advanced Education and Training.

William George was father of Katheleigh George, both of Takla Lake First Nation. He lived in Takla Landing, BC. This material is held by the NBCA under MOU.

The Legislature of the Province of Canada (now parts of Ontario and Quebec) created the Geological Survey of Canada in 1842. The first director was William Logan, a Montréal citizen educated in Scotland. The headquarters for the Survey was in Montréal where Logan took on an assistant named Alexander Murray, a formal naval officer. Together, they began the task of mapping out the geology of a country that stretched from 5514 kilometres between coasts. The Geological Survey of Canada continued to expand into an organization with many employees conducting rigorous exploration, making maps, producing reports, and maintaining a public museum. Confederation in 1867 brought new challenges to the Geological Survey. The new provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island increased the area of operations. In 1871 the Survey mounted an expedition to investigate the geology and mineral resources along the proposed railroad routes. In 1870, Canada purchased Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company. This immense area stretched across the country from Ontario to the Rockies and north to the Arctic. This was the beginning of the age of Canadian exploration. The uncharted areas of the west and arctic were difficult and dangerous but exciting. The Survey collected observations on geology, botany, and zoology.

In 1931 John D. Galloway wrote “Placer-mining in British Columbia”.

Fyfe Lake Sawmill, also referred to as Fyfe Lake Fir, operated at Fyfe Lake, 32 km Southwest of Prince George near West Lake Provincial Park, during the 1950s. The lumber company was owned and operated by the Bachand Family, primarily Henri Bachand, and produced lumber for domestic sale. The sawmill closed sometime in the early 1960s and many families, who had developed a small community at Fyfe Lake, moved into Prince George and the surrounding area.

Excerpts from "Kechika Chronicler: Willard Freer's Northern BC & Yukon Diaries, 1942-1975" by Jay Sherwood (2023), pages 12-16:

Willard was born in Kamloops, British Columbia, on April 19, 1910, a few months after his parents had emigrated from the United States. Freer's ancestors had been farmers for many generations. The earliest documentation of the Freer family in North America is a ship record of Hugo Freer arriving in the city of New York in July 1675. The Freers were farmers in New York state for several generations. In the early 1830s, Jonas Elisha Freer moved to Michigan, which was still a territory, to farm. His grandson, Jonas Melville Freer, born in Michigan in 1855, continued westward to Dakota Territory in the early 1880s where his son, George Elisha Freer, was born in 1885. In early 1910, George and Edith Key left North Dakota to search for agricultural land in Canada, abetted by the fact that Edith was pregnant. On February 11, George and Edith were married in Miles City, Montana. Three days later, they entered Canada at the Coutts/Sweetgrass border crossing. They journeyed north to the Canadian Pacific Railway line and travelled by train to Kamloops where their first child, Willard Melvin, was born on April 19.

When Willard was three weeks old, his parents drove by wagon to Fort George (present day Prince George). In the 1911 census, George Freer was recorded as a rancher living on rented land near Cluculz Lake. This lake in the Central Interior region of British Columbia was near the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which was being constructed across Northern BC at that time. By fall of that year, Freer had filed for a pre-emption along the Chilako River southwest of Fort George, and a second son, Merle, was born there in October. In addition to the farm, George probably worked on construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. A daughter, Ella, was born a year later, and in the fall of 1913, Freer received a Crown grant to the land along the Chilako River.

However, George and Edith believed that the land was "not open enough and the soil burned out," and they decided to go north to the Peace River district. Edith was pregnant again, so the family temporarily split. Edith took the three children and went back to her parents' home in Missouri where the fourth child, Harold, was born on June 19, 1914. Meanwhile, George and a companion spent the late fall and winter of 1913 and 1914 trapping in the Crooked River area north of Prince George. In early spring, the two men travelled down the Crooked and Parsnip Rivers to the Peace, then proceeded down this river valley to Hudson's Hope, where they sold their furs.

George continued down the Peace River valley toward the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) post at Fort St. John. Along the way he found land that he thought would be productive at a place called Bear Flat, which was located on the north side of the Peace River adjacent to Cache Creek. During the summer of 1914, he earned money cutting wood for the D.A. Thomas, a steamboat that plied the Peace River.

In the fall, George was reunited with his family. They spent the winter in northern Alberta, and George filed for his pre-emption at the land office in Grouard. At that time, governments did not consult with Indigenous peoples regarding their connection to their traditional territories. The Freers purchased supplies and livestock and, in late winter and early spring 1915, travelled to their homestead along the Peace. Willard wrote about the last section of the trip, from Fort St. John. "My next brother and I were put on a pack horse in two boxes and rode that way for 22 miles [35 kilometres] where the parents settled down."

Willard grew up at Bear Flat. Of the seven Freer children, he was the one most influenced by the remote wilderness to the north and west. When he was about twenty, he moved to Hudson's Hope, a small community farther upstream on the Peace River that was closer to the Rocky Mountain wilderness. Around 1936, Willard moved northwest, taking up a trapline in the Ingenika River valley. (The Ingenika flows into the Finlay River, one of the headwater rivers of the Peace.) In 1942, Willard ventured north into the remote Kechika River valley, which is less than a hundred kilometres from the Yukon boundary. He worked and lived at the ranch of the famous packer Skook Davidson for several years before building his own cabin farther north along the Kechika. There Willard lived for the rest of his life, with some intervals spent working at the Fireside Inn on the Alaska Highway (near the junction of the Kechika and Liard Rivers).
...
Freer was involved in many important projects in northern BC and Yukon. He was a member of the famous 1934 Bedaux Expedition. Freer was a packer for BC and federal government survey crews for several summers; worked on the British Columbia-Yukon Boundary Survey for four years; was employed on Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) crews for several years; and spent three field seasons on the BC government's Forest Inventory program. Willard also packed for a couple of large mining exploration companies and was a hunting guide for Robin Dalziel and other guide outfitters.
...
Willard Freer died in 1981.

Fraser Companies Ltd. was a pulp, paper and lumber producer with operations in New Brunswick and Maine.

In April 1974, Noranda, through its subsidiary Northwood Mills, made a successful public offer to acquire 51% of the shares of Fraser Companies, Ltd.

After this acquisition, Fraser Inc. modernized and extended its the bisulphite plant (1976-1979), renovated its the paperboard mill (1988), and the installed high pressure steam pipelines linking the Edmundston pulp mill to Fraser Paper of Madawaska, Maine (1981-1982). The goal of these improvements was to increase production, reduce costs, conform to the new environment protection standards, and an increased ability to compete on the North American markets.

In addition to the Edmundston and Madawaska mills, Fraser Inc. owned mills in Atholville, Kedgwick, Plaster Rock and Thorold, Ontario. The company managed more than 1.8 millions acres of woodland concessions.

In May 1987, Fraser Inc. was amalgamated into Noranda Forest Inc.

Sources:
Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration, Noranda Mines Limited: A Corporate Background Report. 1976. p. 94-95.

http://www.toucherdubois.ca/tdb/result_item.php?item=6632&lang=en

The Fraser Basin Council (FBC) is a non-profit society that advances sustainability in the Fraser River Basin and across BC. Established in 1997, the Council is a collaboration of four orders of government (Federal, Provincial, Local and First Nations) and those from the private sector and civil society. FBC helps bring people together to find solutions to sustainability issues, and works on such issues as flood management, smart planning for communities, climate change action and adaptation, air quality, green fleets, sustainable watersheds and fisheries, and sustainability reporting and education.

The FHABC was formed on March 29, 1982 in Vancouver at a meeting attended by people from many backgrounds and disciplines.The purpose and objectives of the association are to promote awareness of, appreciation for, and preservation of the forest history of British Columbia.The association assumes a promotional and coordinating role, and does not collect archival material, but rather, encourages the assembly, cataloguing, and deposition of such material in the appropriate local, regional, provincial, or federal archival facilities. The FHABC has an annual general meeting and publishes a newsletter up to three times a year.

The British Columbia Forest History Newsletter, in production for over 30 years, predates the association and traces its origins to a meeting organized by the Forest History Society, then of Santa Cruz, California, and held at the University of British Columbia on April 27, 1981. When the FHABC came into being the next spring, the newsletter then became its official organ.

Howard Foot, the youngest of the four sons of Claude Foot, was born in 1939. He was raised and educated in Prince George.

Howard's father Claude arrived in Prince George in 1906. He worked for the Hudson Bay Company and came from Quesnel by a scow that was pulled up river by Indigenous people; the trip took 17 days. Claude Foot later worked for the provincial government for 33 years and married Kate Renwick.

After high school, Howard Foot went into the entertainment promotion business. He started out with the blessing of the Prince George city council with a program called Teen Town. The idea was to involve teenagers in community events. Howard Foot was contacted by a U.S. promoter and promoted entertainment concerts all around B.C. for rock and roll stars like Gene Vincent, Buddy Knox and Eddie Cochran. He also promoted car shows, boxing matches, teen dances and an aquatic show at the old outdoor pool on Watrous Street.

Howard Foot married Trudi Nelson in 1963 and had two children, Reg and Renee. Trudi passed away in 1994.

Howard worked in advertising at CKPG for eight years (one year in radio and seven years in television). He then spent 20 years working for Ron East at radio station CJCI. During that time a workmate introduced him to Jeannette DeWalt; they married in 1996.

Good Morning Prince George was a daily coffee shop newspaper that Howard bought and ran for five years.

Howard started the Nukko Lake Water Ski School in 1979. He is credited with being the first promoter of water skiing in Prince George. After 35 years, Howard left the school to his son Reg and nephew Brian to run. Howard skied competitively and won numerous medals at the Kelowna Regatta, the B.C. Provincials and the B.C. Summer Games. He was one of the first people inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame, in the sport building classification, for his contribution to the sport of water skiing both provincially and for Prince George.

Howard served on the Forest Expo board for nearly 10 years and served on the Sports Hall of Fame selection committee for many years. He also served on the board of the North Central Seniors Association.

The Department of Marine and Fisheries was created on July 1, 1867, although it did not receive legislative authority until May 22, 1868.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, frequently referred to as DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans), is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada’s scientific, ecological, social and economic interests in oceans and fresh waters. The Department’s guiding legislation includes the Oceans Act, which charges the Minister with leading oceans management and providing coast guard and hydrographic services on behalf of the Government of Canada, and the Fisheries Act, which confers responsibility to the Minister for the management of fisheries, habitat and aquaculture. The Department is also one of the three responsible authorities under the Species at Risk Act.Its mandate includes responsibility for the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources while continuing to provide safe, effective and environmentally sound marine services that are responsive to the needs of Canadians in a global economy.

DFO is responsible for several organizations, including the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Hydrographic Service.

Dr. Fish held a PhD in Sociology and joined the University of Northern British Columbia as a founding Dean in 1992 after 23 years with the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba. While at the University of Manitoba he was involved in the development of the Northern Medical Unit that provided health services to First Nations throughout Northern Manitoba and the Keewatin District of the North West Territories. He maintained his interest in the health of First Nations and in the transfer of health services to the First Nations upon his arrival in British Columbia. Dr. Fish had extensive experience in developing countries where he worked with communities to develop community-based health programs within the context of social and economic development.

William Dow Ferry (1913 - 1996) was the son of Carney Ferry and served as a judge of the County Court of the Cariboo. He was founding President of the Prince George Junior Chamber of Commerce, served on the Hospital Board from 1949 to 1961 and was elected to City Council four times between 1950 and 1955. He practiced law in Prince George from 1949 until 1961, when he was appointed judge requiring his move to Williams Lake.

Dr. John Ferry was born in the County of Durham, England in the mid-1800s. He emigrated to Canada in his twenties and became a Presbyterian minister. He served congregations in Indian Head, Qu'Appelle, Broadview and Kisbey, Saskatchewan. He became the moderator of the synod of Saskatchewan in 1916 and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Andrew's College, University of Saskatchewan in 1919.

Carney W. Ferry was probably born in Saskatchewan in the late 1800s. He served in the First World War as a Sargent Major. He moved to Prince George in 1919 and became an agent for the Canadian National Railroad. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees.

Dr. John Ferry was born in the County of Durham, England in the mid-1800s. He emigrated to Canada in his twenties and became a Presbyterian minister. He served congregations in Indian Head, Qu'Appelle, Broadview and Kisbey, Saskatchewan. He became the moderator of the synod of Saskatchewan in 1916 and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Andrew's College, University of Saskatchewan in 1919. Carney W. Ferry was probably born in Saskatchewan in the late 1800s. He served in the First World War as a Sargent Major. He moved to Prince George in 1919 and became an agent for the Canadian National Railroad. He also served as Vice Chairman of the Canadian Brotherhood of Railroad Employees. His son was William Dow Ferry (1913 - 1996) who was a judge of the County Court of the Cariboo. He was founding President of the Prince George Junior Chamber of Commerce, served on the Hospital Board from 1949 to 1961 and was elected to City Council four times between 1950 and 1955. He practiced law in Prince George from 1949 until 1961, when he was appointed judge requiring his move to Williams Lake.

Brian Fawcett was born in Prince George on May 13, 1944. He completed elementary and secondary school in Prince George before leaving at the age of 22 to attend Simon Fraser University. After graduating with a B.A. (Honours) in 1969 from SFU, Fawcett went on to complete coursework for a M.A. in English Literature at SFU in 1972. After graduation, he worked as a Community Organizer and Urban Planner for the Greater Vancouver Regional District until 1988. Mr. Fawcett is a former Editor of "Books in Canada" and a former Columnist for the "Globe Mail" newspaper. He has also written articles and reviews for many of Canada's major magazines. In addition, Fawcett has worked as a teacher of English and Creative Writing in federal maximum security penitentiaries. Brian Fawcett has written more than a dozen books including "Cambodia" (1986), "The Secret Journal of Alexander Mackenzie" (1985), "Capital Tales" (1984), "Gender Wars" (1994), "Disbeliever's Dictionary" (1997), "Virtual Clearcut" (2003), "Local Matters" (2003), "Human Happiness" (2011), and "The Last of the Lumbermen" (2013). He moved to Toronto in 1990, where he continues to live and write.

Mary Millicent Fallis was born in 1912 in the Okanagan region (possibly) of British Columbia to Mable Lavinia (née Hockin) and the Rev. George O. Fallis. Her father was a Methodist minister in Penticton until 1913 when he moved his young family to Kamloops. During the autumn of 1915, the Rev. Fallis C.B.E., B.A., B.D., D.D. left his Kamloops pastorate to go oversees with the Canadian Expeditionary Force as their Chaplain. Her mother took Mary, then three years old, to Grand Pré, Nova Scotia where they stayed with her maternal grandparents the Rev. Arthur and Mrs. Annie Marie Hockin and her aunt Hilda. While the spring of 1916 saw the birth of her brother George, the summer saw the Fallis family move once again after Mary’s grandfather accepted his last Methodist pastorate in the town of Berwick, Nova Scotia just prior to his retirement.

Following his 1920 (?) discharge as Senior Protestant Chaplain from the Chaplaincy Corps, Col. the Rev. George O. Fallis moved his family from the East Coast back West where, in 1923, he became the founder of the Canadian Memorial Chapel. Mary entered Grade 8 in Vancouver, B.C. After highschool she attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she majored in English, minored in French and was strongly involved with the Home Economics Club, the Women’s Track Club, and the Letters Club. Upon her graduation from the Faculty of Arts in 1932, Mary Fallis taught English for a number of years. As a UBC alumnus she was also actively involved with the UBC Alumni Association, the University Women’s Club and the UBC Senate.

In 1969, Mary Fallis moved to Prince George to become one of the founding members of the English Department at the College of New Caledonia. Upon her retirement in 1972 she remained in Prince George where she could further her passions for exploring the Canadian wilderness, photography, gardening, and environmental activism. In April 1985 Mary received an Award of Merit in Recreation from the City of Prince George for her tireless campaign efforts towards the preservation of parklands and wilderness areas in the Prince George region (most notably Moore’s Meadow and Cottonwood Island Park). Her hobby of nature photography assisted in these environmental campaigns as she was known to have used her beautiful images as a presentation tool to help convince City Council of the value of parks and nature preserves. Several of Mary's photos have also been used as illustrations in publications such as Wild Trees of BC by Sherman Brough (1998) and Ocean to Alpine edited by Cam and Joy Findlay (1992).

Mary Fallis joined the Vancouver Section of the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) in 1949 and remained an active member for the next 50 years. In 1999 Mary was made an ACC Life Member. Over the years she took part in14 ACC Camp outings: 13 of which being held in the Rockies, as well as, the 1967 ACC Centennial Camp beside the Steele Glacier in Kluane Park, Yukon. She also involved herself in other ACC–Vancouver Section activities such as maintaining its archives, book restoration and library development. She put in several season’s work as Photographic Chairman of the ACC-Vancouver Section photo competitions in the early 1950s, and for the ACC-National Club black & white and colour competitions, 1954-1958.

As something of a bibliophile, Mary’s extensive library grew to include many works by Canadian, and especially Western Canadian authors. Mary Fallis is perhaps best remembered, however, as a naturalist and gardener; capturing her passion for the flora and landscapes of northern British Columbia through her photographic lens. In 1994 Mary Fallis was made a Friend of the University of British Columbia: she died on 8 September 1999 after suffering heart failure and additional health complications. Following her death, the estate of Mary Fallis donated her extensive library collection to the UNBC Library. The estate also generously transferred a large portion of Mary’s photographic and textual materials to the University. This photographic collection now comprises part of the Mary Fallis fonds.

In tribute to her life, the Friends of Mary Fallis established a memorial scholarship in her name for future English students at the University of Northern British Columbia. Endowment funds for this scholarship resulted from the proceeds of a 9 April 2000 concert at Vanier Hall which saw the performance of Mary’s niece, Canadian operatic singer Mary Lou Fallis

Dr. Bob Ewert was born in Prince George in 1927 and graduated from the Prince George Junior/Senior High School. Following studies at UBC and McGill Universities and surgical training in Detroit, Dr Ewert returned to Prince George in 1961 as the city’s first consultant specialist. Dr. Ewert was a dedicated surgeon with strong ties to the community and a vision for a modern, well-equipped hospital with a full complement of specialists. His roots in the community and commitment to the development of medical services in the North stemmed from his father, Dr. Carl Ewert, who arrived in Prince George on a paddle wheeler in 1913. He came in response to the physician shortage in Prince George and the surrounding area at that time, and practised as a general practitioner in Prince George until his retirement. Bob Ewert remained in Prince George until his death in 2002 at the age of 74. Bob’s family, many of whom are still in the Prince George area, made a generous donation to the University of Northern British Columbia to dedicate and furnish the Bob Ewert lounge, which has become a revered space for students and staff working in the new medical building. The Northern Medical Society created the annual Bob Ewart Memorial Lecture in celebration of the birth of the Northern Medical Program at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Mike Evans (PhD McMaster 1996) taught at the University of Northern BC, the University of Alberta, and then joined Okanagan University College, later UBC Okanagan (2005). His primary research relationships are with people in the Métis community in Northern BC, the Métis Nation of BC, the Urban Aboriginal Community of the Okanagan Valley, and the Kingdom of Tonga (in the South Pacific). Dr. Evans has been involved in several community based research initiatives, and in particular has a long-term relationship with the Prince George Métis Elders Society. Together with Elders and community leaders in Prince George he put together a Métis Studies curriculum for UNBC and a number of publications including What it is to be a Métis (Evans et al 1999), A Brief History, of the Short Life, of the Island Cache (Evans et al 2004).

He is currently working with the Elders Society and Stephen Foster and Colleagues from UBC Okanagan, UNBC and the University of Alberta on a participatory video project. As Research Director for the Métis Nation of BC, he serves on the Métis National Council National Research Initiative, helped form the Research agenda for the Métis Nation of BC, and has worked extensively with colleagues at the MNBC on a number of research projects over the last few years. He has supervised graduate students working on urban aboriginal issues and topics related to community based Métis history and geography across Western Canada. He is currently Associate Professor and Head in Community, Culture, and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan.

Dr. Evans completed a BA (1987) in Anthropology at the University of Victoria and an MA (1989) and PhD (1996) in Anthropology from McMaster University. From 1995 to 1998, Evans was an instructor for the Anthrology and First Nations Programs at UNBC. Since then, Dr. Evans has worked at various professorial positions at the University of Alberta and UBC Okanagan. His research interests include rrban Aboriginal issues, Métis history and contemporary issues, and aboriginal communities of Oceania.

Al Elsey arrived in the Bella Coola region in 1951. An avid fisherman and hunter, he was drawn to the excitement of the teaming wildlife, and the fierceness of the steelhead. Elsey was the first guide to fish on and bring clients to the now famous Dean River to fish for steelhead salmon. He acquired a Bolex camera in the early 1960s and began filming around the Bella Coola, Dean River and Chilcotin regions during excursions with his guiding outfit. The result of these recordings are in this collection. Elsey currently resides in the Bella Coola region.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms, and head of the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations. In her specific role as the monarch of the United Kingdom, one of her 16 realms, she is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Elizabeth was born in London, and educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne as George VI in 1936 on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, in which she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. On the death of her father in 1952, she became Head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation service in 1953 was the first to be televised. Between 1956 and 1992, the number of her realms varied as territories gained independence and some realms became republics. Today, in addition to the first four aforementioned countries, Elizabeth is Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

In 1947 she married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she has four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

Her reign of 60 years is the second-longest for a British monarch; only Queen Victoria has reigned longer. Her Silver, Golden, and Diamond Jubilees were celebrated in 1977, 2002, and 2012, respectively.

Billy Edmund was born off-reserve in Bella Coola, British Columbia, 5 December 1960. He is a member of the Carrier Nation; his father is from Ulkatcho near Anahim Lake and his mother is Cheslatta. After losing some fingers in an industrial accident, his artistic training began in 1986 under Master Carver Randy Adams. He completed a carving workshop with Master Carver Ron Sebastian in Prince George, and has studied at Emily Carr College of Art & Design in Vancouver. He completed a large cedar mural depicting the flood of Cheslatta Ancestral Lands by Alcan for a private patron. He has sold other private collections to Victoria, Regina, and Europe. Some of his pieces have been commissioned for presentation to well-known Native leaders, including Elijah Harper of Manitoba, Wendy Grant of Vancouver and Mary John of Stoney Creek. In art classes he teaches in various school districts around the province, he demonstrates his craft and explains his styles and tools. Over the years he has developed his own style of design using only handmade traditional carving tools. Edmund was one of the first artists to donate art to UNBC

Norah Banbery was born on May 6, 1901 to Emma Marshall and Paul Banbery in Wolverhampton, England. In 1930 Norah Banbery left Wolverhampton, setting sail from Liverpool to Canada to follow what had become for her "a perennial obsession" since childhood - the desire to explore the Canadian West. Lured by the attractive posters from the Canadian Pacific Railway that displayed "long vistas of golden wheat…(and) range lands ... alive with grazing cattle…" Norah, along with hundreds of other Europeans, set sail to find work and a new life in a new land. Not long after she arrived in Canada she met and married an Irish immigrant farmer on the prairies, Alexander James Irwin Doherty ("Irwin" or "Jim").

In the 1930s and 1940s Norah wrote articles about farm life in Canada for the Wolverhampton Express and Star newspaper, and later began her memoir about life in the Red Rock region. Her memoir "A Man's Country" recalls her early years in Meota near North Battleford, Saskatchewan where she met her husband [alias Jim Martin in the manuscript]. It follows the Doherty's move to British Columbia to homestead on 160 acres of land in Red Rock, south of Prince George along the Fort George Canyon on the Fraser River. Norah's account of life in Red Rock recalls experiences similar to that of other farmwomen in isolated Western Canadian communities in the Depression era. These were often days spent cleaning, cooking, and most significantly rationing, penny-pinching and finding ingenious ways to create a comfortable household in a log cabin. Yet Norah's account also provides a personal view of life as a young woman in a new land. She talks about her longing for female companionship and also her attraction to the land and the people that she met. Her story provides a woman's perspective of "living off the land" in a time when many still considered the area to be, as Norah states, "A Man's Country".

Norah Doherty died at the Jubilee Lodge, a senior's home in Prince George in 1991, at the age of 90 years. Her husband, Alexander James Irwin Doherty, died many years earlier on March 25, 1960.

Louis Dixon was a Justice of the Peace.

Garvin Dezell moved to Prince George in 1946 with his wife Bea Dezell and their two children. Garvin served as Mayor of Prince George from 1950-1953, and 1960-1969. During this period, the creation of three new pulp mills led the city's population to increase from 4,000 to 30,000 people. He and Bea owned a construction contracting company with Garvin's father James Nelson called J N Dezell & Son. Garvin died in 1972.

Bea was born in North Vancouver in 1908. She married Garvin Dezell and had two children. The family moved to Williams Lake and then settled in Prince George in 1946. The family owned a construction contracting company. She very involved in the family business and in the Prince George community. Bea Dezell died in 2014 at 105.

In 1755, the British Crown established the British Indian Department, and responsibility for Indian Affairs rested on the Superintendents of Indian Affairs from 1755 to 1841. After 1843, the Governors General held control of Indian Affairs, but usually delegated much of their responsibility to a series of Civil Secretaries. In 1860, the responsibility for Indian affairs was transferred from the government of Great Britain to the Province of Canada and the responsibility for Indian Affairs was given to the Crown Lands Department Commissions Responsible for Indian Affairs.

The federal government's legislative responsibilities for Indians and Inuit derive from section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 and responsibility was given to the Secretary of State for the Provinces Responsible for Indian Affairs. In 1876, the Indian Act, which remains the major expression of federal jurisdiction in this area, was passed and a series of treaties were concluded between Canada and the various Indian bands across the country. The responsibility for Indian Affairs and Northern Development rested with various government departments between 1873 and 1966. The Minister of the Interior also held the position of Superintendent-General of Indian Affairs after the Indian Affairs Department was established in 1880. In 1939, federal jurisdiction for Indian peoples was interpreted by the courts to apply to the Inuit. A revised Indian Act was passed in 1951.

From 1950 to 1965, the Indian Affairs portfolio was carried by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. On October 1, 1966, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development was created as a result of the Government Organization Act, 1966. Effective June 13, 2011, the department was renamed the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

The Northern Development part of the department has its origins in the Department of the Interior, a body created by then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald for the purpose of administering the Dominion Lands Act of 1872. When the Department of the Interior dissolved in 1936 (with the Natural Resources Acts transferring control over natural resources to the Prairie provinces), Indian Affairs fell under the purview of the Department of Mines and Resources. However, the need for social and health-care services in the North led to the establishment of the Northern Administration and Lands branch in 1951, which led to the creation of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources in 1953. This became the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in 1966 and then the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in 2011.

Herb Daum was the webmaster of the Cassiar Community Website.