Decolonial Discourse: The Stó:lō Kidnapping of Indigenous People – The Runner

September 13, 2017

The Fraser River gold rush kidnappings are symptomatic of violent colonization

Stó:lō children used to be kidnapped for slave labour during the Fraser River gold rush of 1858, CBC News reported on Aug. 19. A historian named Keith Carlson found evidence that in that year an eight year-old Stó:lō Nation boy was taken by a miner named George Crum from California. The discovery sparked further research which uncovered the widespread practice of kidnapping children by white, Californian prospectors-turned-ranchers.

CBC also reported that this part of history was largely unknown, even to Stó:lō people. To commemorate this unearthing of violent history, Chief Terry Horne of Yeqwyeqwí:ws First Nation created a carving depicting the eight year-old boy reaching out to his father. It was installed near Hope in Chawathil First Nation’s Telte-Yet Campgrounds, a place that many children were stolen from. This carving is part of the Lost Stories project supported by the Government of Canada’s “Canada 150” Fund.