“It is our responsibility in Barkerville not only to celebrate the things that have happened in the past but to address the mistakes of what has come before us, so that we can build a better future.” — Stewart Cawood

Indigenous culture is seeing a resurgence and becoming more visible to travellers across Canada and around the world. As travel experiences change, some historic sites are adapting and giving visitors a more complete story. How are they integrating Indigenous perspectives with colonial history? British Columbia’s Barkerville Historic Town and Park is one of the organizations leading this effort.

For decades, Barkerville’s interpretation of history was rooted in colonial narratives, focusing on the gold rush of the 1850s and 1860s, when thousands of settlers and prospectors trekked into the region, seeking riches. But recently the site has been expanding its story to include the voices of Indigenous peoples.

Stewart Cawood, Manager of Public Programming and Media, sees this as a necessary evolution. “In some cases, [visitors] think we’re changing history,” he says. “But what we’re actually doing is addressing history that has been ignored or purposefully forgotten.” This shift has been driven by Indigenous leaders like Cheryl Chapman, who spent decades advocating for representation at the site. Today, she works alongside Mike Retasket and others to reveal the stories that have been present in Barkerville all along.

The process hasn’t been without resistance, but Barkerville is proving that heritage tourism has a greater purpose in educating the public and acknowledging historical injustices. By embracing Indigenous perspectives, the historic site is leading the way in rethinking how history is shared in British Columbia.

In this episode of Travel Beyond, you’ll learn about:

• How Barkerville is integrating Indigenous perspectives into the story of the Gold Rush era.
• Barkerville’s journey toward and commitment to working with Indigenous interpreters to ensure accurate representation of oral histories.
• The role of heritage tourism in truth and reconciliation: How tourism can better educate the public by contributing to a more inclusive historical narrative.
• The intersection of climate change and tourism: How Barkerville’s experience in disaster management can inform other tourism operations in preparing for climate-related challenges.

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Show notes

Barkerville Historic Town & Park — A National Historic Site and Provincial Heritage Property, this not-for-profit charitable organization is recognized as the largest living history museum in Western North America. 

Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association – The destination management organization representing the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region of British Columbia, Canada.

Episode transcript

This transcript was generated using AI and has been lightly reviewed for accuracy.

Stewart Cawood: In some cases, they think we’re changing history, but what we’re actually doing is addressing history that has been ignored or purposefully forgotten. I think that means it’s even more important for us to do this work, to make sure that we are including the voices of all the people who

David Archer: Welcome back to Travel Beyond. I’m David Archer from Destination Think, recording from Haida Gwaii, the territory of the Haida Nation off the north coast of British Columbia in Canada. On this show, we look at travel’s role in making a better world, and we highlight leading destinations and changemakers.

Our guests are taking local action that the world can learn from, they’re helping to regenerate ecosystems, communities, and economies, and they’re often making positive change happen from the bottom up. Many of the voices we’ve highlighted are part of the Destination Think Collective, a peer group of ambitious, forward thinking destinations working toward a better future for travel and the planet.

Members represent places like Banff and Lake Louise, Cape Breton, Seattle, Copenhagen, Queenstown Lakes, and several others. Another member destination is the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in British Columbia. And today we’re continuing our journey through that region with a trip back to the historic town of Barkerville.

Barkerville Town and Historic Park has been through a lot of transition in recent years. Some of that transition is in the way that history is being presented to visitors. Barkerville marks the site of a gold rush that began in 1862. It was named a Historic Site of Canada about a century ago, and its tourism offering has historically focused on the prospectors and settlers to the area.

But thanks to Indigenous tourism professionals like Mike Ratasket, or Cheryl Chapman, also known as Sunrise When the Salmon Come, there is a growing effort to bring Indigenous storytelling into the spotlight. You can scroll back in the feed to hear Cheryl and Mike describe how they educate visitors on the rich culture and millennia long history of local First Nations, as well as the devastating impacts of colonization on those communities.

In our previous interviews, Mike talked about how his storytelling strives to meet non Indigenous folks where they are and how it can serve as a gesture of healing on both sides. Cheryl emphasized that learning about other cultures can open up new ways of thinking about stewardship. And in this third interview from Barkerville today, We speak with Stuart Cawood.

He’s the manager of public programming and media at Barkerville Town and Historic Park. Stuart helps to shape visitor experiences here, and he provides a little advice for other operators that are looking to make a similar transition toward Indigenous storytelling. Stuart also talks about the necessity of emergency preparedness in Barkerville and how that was critical last summer in 2024, as the town was threatened by an approaching wildfire.

Thanks for listening to today’s episode. And now here are Rodney Payne and Stuart Cawood.

Stewart Cawood: I’m Stuart Cawood. I’m the manager of public programming and media at Barkerville Historic Town and Park. 

Rodney Payne: What do you love most about this part of the world? 

Stewart Cawood: I love the diversity of the landscapes. You go for a five hour drive through this part of British Columbia and you’re going to see all sorts of different places, all sorts of different types of landscapes, different mountain ranges.

You’re going to see rolling hills, you’re going to see rocky peaks, and the abundance of stories. There’s just so much to learn in every corner that you go and each little spot is rich in history. What are the people like in this part of the world? Again, very diverse. There’s a lot of different opinions.

Uh, you have people with all sorts of different political beliefs. And you have people who have been here for generations. People who have come from abroad and decided to settle in this part of the world. Again, all of them come with their different stories. And there’s definitely a sense of curiosity that pervades, uh, throughout the different parts of this region.

Rodney Payne: You’re from the Barkerville Historic Town and Park. Could you tell us a little bit about, uh, what, what that is?

Stewart Cawood: Barkerville is a gold rush town and it was the most prominent gold rush town during the great gold rushes in British Columbia’s history, um, that started in 1858 and lasted, well, even all the way up until the present day.

Barkerville’s heyday was during the 1860s and it survived as a town up until the 1940s and by 1958 the people who were left in Barkerville petitioned for it to be maintained as a historic site. So now it is a testament to that aspect of history. For the longest time it has been staunchly rooted in the colonial side of British Columbia’s history.

In recent years we are working on expanding our narrative. To include the stories of the indigenous peoples who were here before Barkerville got started as a gold rush town. The effects that it had on their lives and the contributions that they made to the gold rush. And what was happening with them through that time all the way up until the present day.

As well as other people that came from all around the world such as from China. Uh, in order to contribute to this diverse landscape.

Rodney Payne: You described Barkerville as maybe, maybe the most colonial town in British Columbia. And, uh, recognizing, you know, the, the story that isn’t being told is, is really powerful.

What’s people’s reactions to that? How do people respond?

Stewart Cawood: It is as diverse as the landscape. You have people who are very open to including the narratives of indigenous peoples, um, who are very welcoming that this is finally happening. You know, Barkerville has been open as a park, as a tourist attraction since 1962.

And there are people who are saying it’s about time. And then we’re also coming, uh, there’s a lot of people who are putting up a lot of pushback on that as well. They don’t want the stories that they grew up with to be messed with. Um, in some cases, they think we’re changing history. But what we’re actually doing is addressing history that has been ignored or purposefully forgotten.

And, of course, we’re gonna have pushback on something like that. People don’t want their worldview to be challenged. Some people don’t want their worldview to be challenged. I think that means it’s even more important. for us to do this work, to make sure that we are including the voices of all the people who were involved in that history.

Rodney Payne: Do you think that’s the ultimate power and responsibility of Heritage Tourism? 

Stewart Cawood: Absolutely. It’s not just about entertainment. A big part of what I do and my team in Barkerville is entertaining the masses. But through that entertainment, we are hoping to educate people. We want people to walk away with their view of history.

Um, it is our responsibility in Barkerville, not only to celebrate the things that had happened in the past, but to address the mistakes of what has come before us so that we can build a better future for our children.

Rodney Payne: Are you able to share the learning or journey that you went on as you sort of added the Indigenous perspectives into the tourist experience and started to broaden out the story?

Stewart Cawood: Absolutely.

2019 was when the first Indigenous historical interpretation contract started in Barkerville. And immediately, those of us who had been there telling these colonial stories, some of us for decades, started to see different ways in telling these stories. You know, it’s, it could be just a small matter of wording.

When we talk about how this place is called British Columbia, we now like to refer to it as this is, this is how we are referring to it. Now, this isn’t how it was always. referred to as. We want to take the story of somebody finding gold in a creek and stop thinking of them as pioneers and think about who might have shown them the gold in that creek.

And then we start digging into oral histories of the Indigenous people and learning that they were actually taken to that creek. by guides who took them there first, and that changes our perspective on these sorts of things. So every little story that we have been telling for years suddenly starts to have changes.

Some of them are big changes, and some of them are just small matters of wording, and I think no matter how big this change may be, they’re all important. for us to to alter our perspective.

Rodney Payne: How do you work with different Indigenous communities to make sure that that oral history is is captured and the story is told appropriately?

Stewart Cawood: Uh, the best thing to do is to ask, to go to them, and find out what the stories are. In our case, uh, we have two Indigenous interpreters working with us, Cheryl Chapman and Mike Ratasket, who have done research, uh, have their own stories that they bring with them. They talk to the different indigenous groups who lay claim to the territory that Barkerville is on to learn what these stories are.

Um, but basically the, the adage is that nothing about us without us. So if we’re going to be telling a story, we want to make sure we’re telling it as correctly as possible. So we want to get that story. From the people who it belongs to the biggest thing for us right now is to not be afraid of when we’re going to make a mistake because all of this is new and change can be difficult.

So we have to be afraid not to make mistakes and to to learn from our mistakes and try to do better.

Rodney Payne: Yeah, it can certainly be a minefield and I know that can stop you from, you know, that that that fear can stop you from wanting to try anything. And I think that. The ability to own mistakes, lets you, lets you do that.

Stewart Cawood: Absolutely.

Rodney Payne: Barkerville’s had some close calls with wildfires recently. Can you share how that’s impacting you? 

Stewart Cawood: The wildfire definitely reminded us of how precious it is. How precious everything that we have around us throughout all of British Columbia, how precious all of that is. Um, it could be lost in an instant.

Barkerville did burn down in its history. In 1868 there was a fire in the town that devastated the whole place. The gold was so rich there that within a month 20 buildings reconstructed by the next spring the whole town was fully rebuilt with a new plan in mind but it also points to how climate change and wildfires are just becoming more and more a part of our reality.

And we’re seeing examples of it all around us. Every summer we have to deal with smoke or wildfire. Um, so we have to look to how we pivot around that and how we change our practices to try and, uh, mitigate those dangers.

Rodney Payne: What lessons did you learn through the sort of close call that you’ve had and, you know, both in terms of crisis management, but also reflecting more broadly on the changing environment?

Stewart Cawood: Um, well, definitely we, we learned to be prepared, thankfully for that wildfire, for the Antler Creek wildfire. We were well prepared. We had a sprinkler system set up. The majority of the roofs in Barkerville had sprinklers on them, attached to hoses with an intricate, um, system of pumps feeding those sprinklers, creating a humidity dome around the town.

And that actually saved the town. Um, the fire was only three kilometers away. And the biggest threat to the town was the ember storm that was going to come over the mountain. Thankfully, the sprinkler system protected the whole town from that. Um, so continuing to be prepared. is very important since the fire, um, about half of the sprinklers were owned by the government.

Half of them were owned by Barkerville. So the other half that was owned by the government and went away to protect other communities from other wildfires, we have replenished. That equipment and for future seasons, all of Barkerville can be protected with equipment that belongs to us. Making sure that we have proper training with our staff is very important.

And, uh, making sure that we have good communication with BC Wildfires so that we can get people out quickly. Which thankfully, in this summer, we were able to do. By the time the evacuation order came down, the only people that we had to get out were essential staff. Animals, tourists, and non essential staff had already left the site and were at home getting ready to evacuate from Wells.

But we also need to think about you know, keeping the forest managed around us. We’ve got a lot of pine trees around us, and a lot of them are dry. A beetle kill came through in, uh, the mountain pine beetle came through in 2007 and decimated the forest and we’re still seeing the effects of that damage all around us in both Wells and Barkerville.

Um, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re looking after the forest and making sure we have a healthy diversification of trees on the hillside. So that future wildfires are kept at bay. Really, we just got to make sure that people are being responsible and that we’re communicating that properly with them.

Rodney Payne: Yeah, it’s interesting what you said, you know, being a large tourism business in a community, there’s, there’s many situations like that around the world where there’s sort of one big elephant tourism business and that business sort of having infrastructure or learning or leadership that it can use to help the community in times of crisis is a really, really powerful concept.

Stewart Cawood: Absolutely. You know, if we can be used as a poster child for other communities to show what that preparedness can look like and the benefits that it has for the community, then even so much the better. If we can save other towns from catastrophe, then that’s such a bonus for us.

Rodney Payne: Yeah, that’s, that’s very powerful.

What do you think the role of tourism businesses like, like yours? In addressing climate and sort of some of these increasing risks, what, what do you think the role is that we can play at the more macro level?

Stewart Cawood: Education is important and communicating that education to people of, uh, how to be responsible tourists.

It’s good to tell people when they can have campfires and when they can’t. And holding people accountable.

Rodney Payne: What do you think the best ways To get governments, communities, and people to work together is, what are you saying, work?

Stewart Cawood: It’s always good when we can get people into the same room and talking with each other.

And, uh, sharing their ideas and their experiences. And sharing their stories with each other. In order to, to benefit. If we all just stay sequestered away in our own little corners. We’re not going to be able to share. It was you who said today that, uh, you know, there’s something going on in this corner over here.

How can we use that to benefit the whole world? If everyone in the world was doing that, how much better would the world be? It’s really important for us to be sharing ideas and communicating and getting together and working together. It’s so easy for all of us to decide. Oh, we just don’t like that person or that organization.

So we’re not going to work together. Well, we’re all here and a lot of us aren’t going anywhere. So we might as well work together. For the benefit of all of us.

Rodney Payne: What do you ultimately hope that visitors will take away from their experience in Barkerville?

Stewart Cawood: I want people to learn about history. I want them to learn about the exciting, fun things that happened during the gold rush.

And I want them to open their eyes to how it wasn’t so good for everybody. I want them to see the negative effects that, um, the gold rush had and not necessarily. As in a doom and gloom sort of way, I want our children to be able to see how things were done and learn from that and do better in the future.

Make sure that certain things don’t happen again. The stories of the indigenous people here are so rich. Their legacy from time immemorial brings so many amazing lessons that everyone can benefit from. And what I love most about Barkerville, and I see this with my own son, is him taking part in drum circles and sitting with our Indigenous interpreters every day that he’s in Barkerville and learning so much amazing stuff that he’s going to take with him for the rest of his life.

Stuff that I wish I had when I was growing up. And when I see him taking part in a drum circle and singing songs with them, it’s, uh, an experience that, um, yeah, I just wish I had, and I’m glad he gets to have.

Rodney Payne: In the context of your role, what would you say gives you the most hope for the future of this region?

Stewart Cawood: Seeing the effects that these stories can have on our children. Thinking that, you know, maybe these kids are going to do an even better job than we are, uh, as stewards of this planet.

Rodney Payne: Perfect, uh, moment to end. And I really appreciate, uh, your time and, and taking some time out of your day to come talk to us.

Stewart Cawood: Ah, it’s my pleasure. Thank you, and thank you for letting me talk about Barkerville.

David Archer: This has been Travel Beyond presented by Destination Think. And you just heard Rodney Payne speaking with Stuart Cawood about Indigenous reconciliation and fire preparedness at Barkerville Town and Historic Site. For more resources and show notes, visit the blog at DestinationThink.com. This episode was produced and has theme music composed by me, David Archer, Sarah Raymond de Booy, my co producer, Lindsay Payne, Jamie Sterling, and Cory Price provided production support.

If you like what you hear, please take a moment to give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more people find us. And we’ll be back next time with more from the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast. Talk to you then.