Early in 2017 the BC Archives received a gift of two translations of the Vancouver Island treaties (also known as the Douglas treaties) into the local languages of Lekwungen and SENĆOŦEN. The Vancouver Island treaties, made between Sir James Douglas in his role as Hudson’s Bay Company Chief Factor and a number of Vancouver Island Indigenous communities, represent early colonial relationships and negotiation. By including the translations in our collections, we hope to invite new use of and scholarship on the treaties from an Indigenous perspective. The SENĆOŦEN translation was also re-translated back into English; this new English version includes some drastic differences from the original, as it was written to reflect the language that current W̱SÁNEĆ scholars imagine their ancestors would have used had they been the authors of the treaties.

Translations of Vancouver Island treaties: MS-3320

Vancouver Island treaties: MS-0772— - Register of land purchases from Indians