James Douglas
Father of British Columbia
Birth and Death
James Douglas was born on August 15, 1803, in Demerara, a Dutch Colony at the time, and died on August 2, 1877, in Victoria, British Columbia.
White-Native conflict
During his time as Governor, James had to deal with the ongoing tension between natives and settlers, even with the american gold miners who had come.
Father of B.C.
James Douglas is often credited as the Father of British Columbia, due to him being the working governor of B.C. during its development, and for founding the capital, Victoria.
Hudson's Bay Company
James Douglas started out in an apprenticeship to the North West Company, but was later employed to the Hudson's Bay Company when the two companies merged in 1821. He then made many job advancements in the HBC at Fort Vancouver starting when he served as Chief Accountant in 1834. Chief Trader: 1835, Chief Factor: 1840(Highest possible rank for field service). At this point, James Douglas was at a high enough rank that in 1841, he was asked to, and had founded Fort Victoria on the Southern tip of Vancouver Island, now it is Victoria, the Capital City of British Columbia. Finally, in 1849, he was appointed HBC agent of Vancouver Island, when Britain leased the island to HBC on the condition that a colony would be started.
Wikipedia link to James douglas
link in paragraph above is to canadian encyclopedia, take this for wikipedia version
Governor of Vancouver Island and British Columbia
In 1851, James replaced Richard Blanshard as Governor of Vancouver Island. He held this position for thirteen years, developing and nurturing the small colony. He built hospitals, churches, even an army. He also established a Legislative Assembly. The next position he was appointed for was as Governor of British Columbia. This time, he was immediately picked, but he needed to sever his ties with the HBC, as the conflict between protecting the HBC's monopoly and serving the colony had brought up many issues before. James Douglas agreed to these terms and became the Governor of British Columbia. There were two things that James needed to worry about in this position: American borders, which were difficult to defend, as the population on the other side was about ten to fifteen times more, and also to keep unlawful acts at bay. To aid him to his goal, he hired gold commissioners, which were assigned areas to reinforce the law. These commissioners prevented tension between whites and natives, squatting, licensing gold miners, and other affairs. In the years of 1863 and 1864, James was relieved of both positions