First school at Canoe, 1900
A-06880
Formal European education was introduced into British Columbia with the opening of a Hudson's Bay Company school in Fort Victoria in 1849. This company school was established to provide an education for the children of Hudson's Bay Company officers.

As more settlers who were unconnected to the Hudson's Bay Company began arriving in the Colony of Vancouver Island, it became clear that an education would have to be provided for these children as well. Governor James Douglas advocated the establishment of a school to provide:

"moral and religious training and a good sound English education".

Letter from Douglas to Barclay 8 October 1851, BC Archives, Microfilm reel A01411

AAAA0297, BC Archives, MS-0784, Public School Roll of Honour 1903

During the next ten years a number of schools were opened throughout the growing colony. However, it was not until 1865 that the Legislative Assembly passed the Common Schools Act, the first piece of legislation in the province which addressed education. Although there have been numerous changes to the structure of education in the province since that time, the basic tenets of free, non-sectarian education for all has not changed.

Education for First Nations children was originally distinct from that of other British Columbians. Schools on reserve land were established by various religious orders who were seeking to convert aboriginal peoples to Christianity. After Confederation, the education of First Nations' people became a federal responsibility.

Port Essington
Indian Day School group
B-05843
As well as day schools, the missionaries created a number of residential schools which removed First Nations' children from their families and homes and placed them in boarding schools. By the 1960's, these schools were being phased out and most First Nations' children were attending provincial public schools.

In 1871, when British Columbia became a province it became possible to establish a school anywhere in the province as long as there were at least eight pupils who would attend. This meant that many early schools in British Columbia often consisted of a single room staffed by one teacher who had responsibility for teaching all grades. Rural schools were often quite a distance from children's homes, making the trip to school difficult in an era of few roads.

Children going to school by horseback
B-08292
Joseph Brannick was a student in Chilliwack in the early part of this century and describes his trip to school in the following passage:

It was quite a common thing for youngsters to ride horses. The parents built a shed there at the school, and everybody had their stall that they put their horse in...School was about two miles from here, and we had a little buckskin pony...If you fell off, he'd stop and wait till you got on. It might take you half an hour; you had to wait till you got to a fence or a log...

Provincial Archives of British Columbia, Sound Heritage Series, Number 40, 1983, p.62,

Frank Perry's mission school bus
C-02443

Continued...





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