A fascinating account that links early maritime history, Indigenous
land rights, and modern environmental advocacy in the Clayoquot Sound
region by award-winning author and historian Barry Gough.
Centred on Meares Island, located near Tofino on Vancouver Island's west
coast, Possessing Meares Island weaves a unique history out of the
mists of time by connecting eighteenth century Indigenous-colonial trade
relations to more recent historical upheavals. Gough invites readers to
enter a dramatic epoch of BC's coastal history and watch the
Nuu-chah-nulth nations spearhead the maritime sea otter trade, led by
powerful chiefs like Wickaninnish and Maquinna. Eventually, Meares
Island declines into an economic backwater due to overhunting the sea
otter, the bloody Clayoquot War of 1855, and most importantly, the proxy
of empire--the Hudson's Bay Company--establishing colonial roots in
nearby Victoria. Caught up in the tides of change, the Oregon Treaty of
1846 ushers in a new era as the island is officially declared property
of the British Crown.
Gough bridges the gap between centuries as he describes how the
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council draw on this complicated history of
ownership to invoke their legal claim to the land and defend the
majestic wilderness from the indiscriminate clear-cut saw. Possessing
Meares Island will not only appeal to history buffs, but to anyone
interested in a momentous triumph for Indigenous rights and
environmental protection that echoes across the nation today.
