Acknowledgements

Having the opportunity to create a book is indeed a privilege and I feel truly honoured to have been able to make this journey. Along the way from this work’s inception as my doctoral dissertation through to this publication, I have made many friends and accrued many debts. I apologize in advance to those whose contribution I have neglected to recognize specifically or adequately below, but I am fully aware that this book could never have become a reality without the assistance and support of a great many people. I hope some can recognize their influence here. Many others are likely not even aware of the impact they have had. Any errors or omissions in the work that follows are of course my own.

I would first like to extend thanks to the members my Ph.D. examining committee Cora Voyageur, Alan Smart, Arthur Ray, and Doug Peers for their thorough engagement with my writing and for their perceptive and constructive suggestions. I am particularly grateful to my doctoral supervisor, Sarah Carter, who consistently offered extraordinary patience, insightful comments and suggestions, and crucial guidance and encouragement at all stages of my doctoral program.

I would also like to acknowledge the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Their doctoral fellowship made my initial research and writing, and graduate student life in general, a great deal less complicated.

My teachers, colleagues, and friends at Vancouver Island University (formerly Malaspina University-College), the University of Victoria, the University of Calgary, and Camosun College, played important roles in many stages of this work, from supplying employment to providing necessary intellectual stimulation. Special thanks to Helen Brown who introduced me to the joys of doing history.

Numerous librarians at each of these institutions helped in countless and varied ways as well, often well beyond their job descriptions, and seemed always to do so quickly, happily, and with an expertise that often startled me. Archivists at Libraries and Archives Canada, British Columbia Archives, Glenbow Museum, and Kamloops Museum and Archives patiently helped me gain access to and then navigate the collections under their jurisdiction.

My students in History and First Nations Studies over the past few years may, at no fault of their own, have slowed down the pace at which this work progressed, but their interest, their encouragement and humour, and the unselfish way they shared their own experiences were instrumental in helping me shape and reshape much of what is presented here.

Shawn Cafferky, who is sadly no longer with us, and other friends, contributed to the completion of this work in many ways that included knowing when I should take a break and understanding when I could not. Thanks to all of you.

I would further like to thank Walter Hildebrandt and everyone at AU Press for their generous support and guidance in turning my dissertation into this book. Scott Anderson and the anonymous reviewers provided useful comments and suggestions.

I would be remiss indeed if I did not mention my parents Kathleen and Bernard Smith who put up with a precocious child and an argumentative teenager, but unfortunately did not survive to see the product of their forbearance, good and bad, decades later.

Finally, I offer my love and appreciation to Leanne Schultz, my partner in life, who put up with my long shifts at the archives, eclectic hours at my computer, and who did without several years of family vacations without resentment. She constantly provided sustenance for body and spirit without restraint. I extend loving gratitude too, to my son Clayton, who was born in the middle of this project and has now embarked on an academic adventure of his own. He continues to be the most effective teacher that has ever been part of my life.