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On November 19, 1858, inside the “Big House”, at the Hudson's Bay Company Fort, “Fort Langley”, James Douglas proclaimed British Columbia a
Colony of Britain.

James Douglas took an oath of allegiance,
issued by Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie.
And Sir James Douglas became the first governor of the new colony



Admission of British Columbia to Canada


A convention of thirty-three representative men was held in the autumn of 1864 at which the delegates agreed to a federal union.

British Columbia, which took no part in the convention, came into the federation in 1871. For many years the mainland was separate from Vancouver Island. That island was held in 1843 by the fur-trading corporation, known as the Hudson's Bay Company, and nominally made a crown colony in 1849, or a colony without representative institutions, in which the whole power rests in a governor and appointed officials. The official authority continued practically in the hands of the trading company for some years later. In 1856 an assembly was called, despite the very small population of the island. The island was united with British Columbia in1866, and the latter name given to the united colonies.

The mainland, known as New Caledonia and Oregon previously to 1866, was also long a domain of the Hudson's Bay Company. And it was not until 1858 that it became a crown colony. In 1863 a legislative council was at first organized by the crown and was partly appointed by the governor, and partly elected by the people. By the act of 1866, uniting the island of Vancouver to the government of British Columbia, the authority of the executive government and legislature of the latter colony extended over both colonies.

Until 1871, when the province of British Columbia entered the federal union of Canada, it was governed by a lieutenant governor, appointed by the sovereign, and a legislative council, composed of heads of public departments and several elected members. Responsible government was not introduced into the province until after 1871.


Take from: How Canada was Governed. Published 1895.

By: Dr. J.G Bourinot, C.M.G., LL.D, D.C.L, D.L.
Clerk of the Canadian House of Commons, Author of a Manual of Constitutional History, Parliamentary Practice and Procedure in Canada, and other works on the Government and Constitutions of the Dominion.






































Click Here for a Canadian Map of 1895

Email:Jacob@romeyn.ca




Skip The West: The Oldest British Canada
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The West: The Oldest British Canada

We are apt to think of Western Canada as the newest part of British North America. It is, in fact, the oldest continuously British area on the continent. It was in 1613, only five years after Champlain founded Quebec, that Captain Button under a royal charter passed the winter at the mouth of the Nelson and left there an inscription claiming the country for King James of England.



This is taken from:The Story of Canada by George M Wrong, Chester Martin and Walter N. Sage.  Published by The Ryerson Press Toronto Canada  1929