Abbotsford from Time Immemorial to the Depression
I want to first acknowledge that we are on the unceded, traditional, ancestral lands of Stó:lō Temexw, which is the shared territory of the Stó:lō (people of the river). This land has belonged to the Stó:lō since time immemorial and as such must be acknowledged. Within S’olh Temexw is the modern colonial city of Abbotsford which resides on the territories of both the Semá:th (“Sumas”) First Nation and the Mathxwi (“Matsqui”) First Nation.
Over 11,000 years ago Abbotsford took its current approximate physical form following the division of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Not considering the Sumas Lake which was drained a century ago in the 1920s.[1] This region is the territory of Semá:th and Matheqwi First Nations. These peoples thrived in their territories utilizing their lands from time immemorial.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, colonists began immigrating to the Abbotsford region. These immigrants were first the European Christians, the South Asians, and the Japanese, and later during the Great Depression the Mennonites.[2] Diverse populations were all attracted here by the wealth of natural resources that were present – trees, healthy soil, and quality clay – and by 1929 the municipalities of Sumas, Matsqui, and Abbotsford totaling just over 3000 occupants. The colonist settlement had grown steadily under the pursuits of logging – primarily at the Trethewey’s Abbotsford Lumber Company, which will be examined further here – and farming – which was undertaken by all of the incoming immigrant groups. Other industries such as the Clayburn Company est. 1905, which primarily made bricks, also contributed to the growth of Abbotsford.
Today Abbotsford still has a diverse population with many of the immigrants from the early twentieth century making up the bulk of the population. Though it is clear that many issues – including the effects of the depression – have diminished several of the diverse communities.[3]
Looking at the modern economy in comparison to that of the early twentieth century one of the two main industries remains. Farming remains the main industry in Abbotsford, and much of the Fraser Valley, with Abbotsford being considered the raspberry capital as well as producing significant amounts of blueberries and other crops. However, the logging industry primarily ended during the depression due to the economic difficulties and the exhaustion of easily accessible timber stands.[4]
What does this project aim to do?
Overall, this website shows how the Great Depression and the surrounding events of the late 1920s and 1930s affected the diverse populations of Abbotsford in different ways. There are separate pages to study the effects on the European Colonists, the Japanese, the Mennonite, the South Asian, and the people of the Semá:th Nation. Each of these populations faced different circumstances based on their primary occupations and the different facets of racism. Some groups were affected primarily by the stock market crash, others forced to immigrate from the prairie ‘dust bowl’ to Abbotsford, and others by the actions of the settler colonist governing class.
Click here for a bibliography for this page. Click here for a full website bibliography
[1] “Arts & Heritage.” City of Abbotsford, 2022. https://www.abbotsford.ca/parks-recreation-culture/culture/arts-heritage.
[2] “Arts & Heritage.” City of Abbotsford, 2022. https://www.abbotsford.ca/parks-recreation-culture/culture/arts-heritage.
[3] Anonymous. “Notes”, Immigration & Settlement Russian Immigration Profile 2006, Notes and Information. The Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford. and “Census Profile, 2016 Census Abbotsford [Population Centre], British Columbia and Ontario [Province].” Statistics Canada. Government of Canada, October 27, 2021.
[4] Couture, Lydia, and Ryan Macdonald. The Great U.S. Recession and Canadian Forest Products. Economic Insights: No. 28. Statistics Canada, Economic Analysis Division, 2013.