British Columbia Flashcards
What percentage of Canada’s population does BC account for?
13%
How much of Canada’s GDP does BC produce?
12.7%
How much of Canada’s landmass does BC consist of?
9.5%
What two physiographic regions are found in BC?
Cordillera
Interior Plains
Which four countries account for 85% of exports/imports which move through BC ports?
US
China
Japan
South Korea
What are BC’s four main exports?
Lumber
Pulp
Gas
Coal
What is BC’s population?
4.8 million, which is 13% of Canada’s population
What contributes to the Centralist/Decentralist fault-line that BC has with Ottawa?
Pro-environmental and anti-oil sands residents
BC residents feel more of a connection and like-mindedness with the Pacific Northwest region of the US.
BC feels isolated geographically from the rest of Canada due to the mountains
Where and how does precipitation fall in BC?
Easterly systems move upwards from the coastal mountains, creating orographic precipitation. Westerns slopes get more precipitation than eastern slopes
How much of BC’s land is considered cropland?
5%
What Land Commission Act was implemented in 1973 by the BC Government?
The Provincial Agricultural Land Commission (ALC)
What are BC’s two climactic zones?
Pacific Climate
Cordillera Climate
How many oil tankers pass through Vancouver’s port annually?
Over 400
What three tectonic plates pose a threat for a major earthquake in BC?
Pacific
North American
Juan de Fuca
Where and when did the Exxon Valdez accident occur?
1989 in Prince William Sound, Alaska
Who was the first European settler in BC, and when did he arrive?
James Cook, 1781. He sailed into Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island
What was the first profitable fur-trading animal discovered in BC?
Sea Otter pelts. They were highly valuable in China
When did the Cariboo Gold Rush attract people to the Fraser River?
It brought 25,000 prospectors from California up to the Fraser. Barkerville was a town established near Quesnel which had a peak population of 10,000 (biggest in BC at the time)
When did BC join confederation?
1871
Why did confederation not initially benefit BC?
The Canadian Pacific Railway didn’t exist yet, making the region geographically isolated from the rest of the country.
BC continued to rely on it’s trade fo goods with San Francisco and London
What percentage of British Columbians live in the Lower Mainland?
60%
What are some technical economic spearheads in BC?
Filmmaking
Seaspan Shipyard
Advanced Drilling Techniques (horizontal drilling)
Which rivers offer hydroelectric sites for the province?
Columbia, Fraser and Peace
What is BC’s main mineral resource?
Coal, with Natural Gas set to eventually surpass it
What is the wealthiest industry in BC?
Agriculture
List BC’s natural resources…
Fish, Forests, Petroleum, Minerals, Water power, Physical beauty (tourism)
Roughly how many First Nations groups live in BC?
~198
When did Britain and the US agree to set the boundary at 49 degrees parallel?
1846
What type of soil is in the Rocky Mountains?
Cryosolic soils which grow grass, moss and lichens
What type of soil and vegetation is on the coast of BC?
Huge trees in coastal rain forest grow in Podzolic soils
How many different mountain ranges exist in BC?
10; with the Rockies and Coastal Mountains being the main two.
What are the two fault-lines prevalent in BC?
Centralist/decentralist
Aboriginal/Non-Aboriginal
How much of BC is covered in forests?
Over 60%
What type of forest is the Coast Rainforest?
Coniferous.
It’s regarded as the most luxuriant forest of it’s kind in the country. Composed primarily of Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, and Western Red Hemlock
What are the two principal salmon-spawning rivers in BC?
Skeena River
Fraser River
When was the Pacific Salmon Treaty signed by the US and Canada?
1985
What makes the construction and approval of the Site C Dam controversial?
When completed, it will flood 55sq/km’s of river valley, which could affect the wildlife that local Treaty 8 First Nations harvest
Who were the next settlers to arrive in BC after Europeans?
Chinese, Japanese, and East Indian
What was the Komagata Maru?
A ship from East India, which arrived in Vancouver Harbour in 1914.
It carried 376 people, mostly from Punjab, that were technically subjects of Britain. This led them to believing that they could settle anywhere in the British Empire.
They were anchored for 60 days before being turned away by the government. This was a highly controversial act and situation that is ultimately a scar on BC’s history.
What led to the settling of many Chinese immigrants in BC?
The gold rush brought ~30,000 Chinese to BC after things settled down in California (1840s).
It was difficult for them to settle because of the predominant pre-existing European settlements already in BC. White men were in power, and had full control over them. They placed a lot of pressure on East Indians, Chinese, Japanese immigrants.
The Chinese were the ones who ended up doing more dangerous and dirty work, including the infamous construction of the CPR running through BC.
White Labour vs. Chinese Labour. Chinese were paid less than half of what whites were paid.
What did the government do to make settlement difficult for immigrants in BC?
Chinese immigration act of 1858 and 1932 In that time, it was $50/person to get in (Which is $1500/person in today’s value!) This was a huge make or break factor, government knew this, and hoped that it would turn some people away.
There were also laws preventing Chinese form doing provincial works. Disenfranchisement was also happening. This meant you couldn’t vote, be a part of democracy, or work in certain industries. Pure discrimination.
When were immigrants given the right to vote in BC?
1948
What kind of Moral Panic was experienced by the government in relation to immigration?
Boats showing up to the BC shorelines which were carrying tons of refugees
The government felt pressured to implement policy to only take limited people in, by high standards.
What was the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923?
It was passed by the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, in response to continued demands for more prohibitive regulations to limit Chinese immigration
Commonly referred to as the “Chinese Exclusion Act,” the legislation virtually restricted all Chinese immigration to Canada by narrowly defining the acceptable categories of Chinese immigrants
It was repealed in 1946
What was the Japanese “Enemy Alien” ordeal?
On 24 February 1942, Cabinet ordered Japanese Canadians to move 100 miles inland from the Pacific Coast
The order led to the expulsion of some 22,000 Japanese Canadians from their homes. Sixty-five per cent were Canadian born. Many were housed in isolated areas and had their activities severely restricted
As well, the Canadian government confiscated and later sold Japanese Canadians’ property and pressured them to accept mass deportation after the war ended
BC put many of them into immigration style camps, including some in the Kootenay’s and other parts of interior BC
