Some Avenues of British Columbia's Political History: Making a White Man's Province

I have sought to explain why white British Columbians wanted to make theirs a "white man's province" and to describe how they tried to do so. The question is bound up with the universal issue of the place of race in economic, social, and political relations. Though some reference will be made to experiences elsewhere, especially in California and Australia, this is not a study in comparative history or sociology. Rather, my aim has been to explore some avenues of British Columbia's political history and to show how concern for Asian competition evolved from being the business of a few demagogues and workingmen to a broadly held fear that became part of the provincial identity.

--Patricia E. Roy, foreword to A White Man's Province: British Columbia Politicians and Chinese and Japanese Immigrants, 1858-1914 (1989; repr., Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1990), vii-viii.