The man who stole a valley

How Joseph Trutch stole land from First Nations in Abbotsford and Chilliwack and stymied their efforts to get it back. 📸 Seelkee/Wikimedia Commons

For a man who did not particularly like the colonies, Joseph Trutch has spent a long time memorialized by them. Roads are named after the infamous colonial politician in Vancouver, Victoria, Richmond—and in Chilliwack. The recent discovery of 215 dead children at Kamloops Indian Residential School has prompted cities to revisit the legacy of the Trutch name—a name that has long been associated with racism towards Indigenous people.

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