Daniel Marshall
A fifth-generation British Columbian, Daniel Marshall is an author, professor, curator, documentarian, and researcher focusing on British Columbia’s relatively untold but rich history. He is a recognized leader and award-winning researcher on historic Native-Newcomer relations, and their evolution and implications on Aboriginal rights today.
His award-winning documentary, Canyon War: The Untold Story, has aired on Knowledge Network, APTN, and PBS. His latest book, Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New El Dorado, is available in bookstores across B.C.
Claiming the Land has achieved a rare and possibly unique feat in BC History by winning three major book awards: the Canadian Historical Association’s 2019 CLIO PRIZE for best book on B.C.; the 2019 Basil-Stuart-Stubbs Prize for outstanding scholarly book on British Columbia, administered by UBC Library; and the 2019 New York-based Independent Publishers’ Book Award (Gold Medal for Western Canada).
‘What the hell is going on here?’
Watching the raging wildfires of the British Columbia Interior these…
Read moreThe Alexandra Bridge Controversy
In my travels through the lower Fraser River goldfields over…
Read moreThe confounding tale of a ‘phantom city’
As an historian living alongside the great Strait of Juan…
Read moreThe mysterious tale of a lost ‘Haida’ treasure
Ancient artifacts have always held my fascination, especially those accompanied…
Read more‘Dead broke, a borrowed coat, and six squashed pies.’
I remember the first time I had a good look…
Read moreBC and the California Bonanza Kings
I remember traveling years ago into the sublime landscape of…
Read more‘The colour of gold we found everywhere’
Editor’s note: Don’t miss Part 1. Gold! This was the…
Read more‘One of General Currie’s Boys!’
Remembrance Day always brings family stories to the fore. Imagine…
Read moreBritish Columbia and the pandemic of 1918
Over 100 years ago, a medical officer in the City…
Read moreCanada’s Westward Expansion to the Pacific Slope – Part 3
In Part II, I highlighted how Britain had largely negotiated…
Read moreCanada’s westward expansion to the Pacific Slope – Part 2
In Part I, we saw that Canada, in negotiating BC’s…
Read moreCanada’s westward expansion to the Pacific Slope – Part 1
How did we get here? Just how did BC, the…
Read moreWar in the New El Dorado and the birth of British Columbia: Part 2 of 2
Catch up with Part One here. Even after the Fraser…
Read moreWar in the New El Dorado and the birth of British Columbia: Part 1
It seems to me that having researched the history of…
Read moreClaiming the Land – the need for a more inclusive story
The Orca’s very own Daniel Marshall is an award-winning historian,…
Read moreMargaret A. Ormsby: British Columbia institution
Editor’s note: the following originally appeared in The Ormsby Review….
Read moreThe forgotten context of Canada’s oldest Chinatown – Part II
In my previous column, The Forgotten Context of Canada’s Oldest…
Read moreThe forgotten context of Canada’s oldest Chinatown – Part I
A couple of months ago, sitting at the bar of…
Read moreAn anthropology of belonging
Editor’s note: this originally appeared in The Ormsby Review. In…
Read moreThe return of Chief Tsulpi’multw’s ceremonial blanket
Last month, we celebrated National Indigenous Day (June 21). The…
Read moreThe strange case of the anomalous artifact that fell from the sky
A few months ago, I went to visit a friend…
Read moreBC’s first Rural/Urban split
Since its inception, British Columbia has had to contend with…
Read moreThe curious story of Yale’s Garry Oak grove
Last week I had the great pleasure to return to…
Read more‘The Peculiar Circumstances of British Columbia’
Some of history’s most crucial turning points have since fallen…
Read moreFort Rupert and the mystery of the Fort Victoria treaties
Read part one here. One of the enduring mysteries of…
Read moreFort Rupert and the forgotten coalfields of Suquash
When the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) expanded its land-based fur…
Read moreBritish Columbia’s Forgotten Governor
Some years ago, I started a mission of exploration. I…
Read moreBC, Latin America, and the Monroe Doctrine
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently accused the United States of…
Read moreThe forgotten treaty-making of Chief Maquinna
It’s easy to take for granted today, but the “British”…
Read moreBritish Columbia: refuge for political exiles?
Given the recent BC municipal elections, it seems appropriate to…
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