Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition

Brett McGillivray. Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition, 2nd ed. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005. 282 pages. $95.00 cloth. Regional geography, the analysis of a defined area's physical and human characteristics, has a long tradition within geography. But in the aftermath of the discipline's so-called Quantitative Revolution in the late 1950s and early '60s it fell into disrepute for being too descriptive. As a consequence, regional geography courses became relatively rare on U.S. college campuses. Other social scientists stepped into this vacuum and area studies centers were created to undertake work previously done by human geographers. Against this background it was refreshing to read Brett McGillivray's Geography of British Columbia: People and Landscapes in Transition. This introductory college-level text provides a comprehensive portrait of Canada's third most populous province. The second edition, published in fall 2005, attests to the book's popularity and to regional geography's vitality north of the 49th parallel. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce human geographic concepts and physical processes that have shaped the province. At the end of Chapter 1 McGillivray subdivides British Columbia into eight regions and provides a description of each one's physical and human geography. Chapter 3 builds upon this foundation, surveying physical threats to human settlement including flooding, wildfires, avalanches, and earthquakes. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 provide a historical context by outlining the territorial evolution of the province, British colonial policies, and the treatment of First Nations and Asian immigrants by European settlers. The confiscation of Natives' land, cultural genocide, the forced removal of Japanese Canadians from the coast during World War II, and efforts to restrict Asian immigration remain scars on the province's history. An appreciation of these events is crucial to understanding the ongoing Land Claims process and efforts to compensate Chinese Canadians for the immigration head tax. McGillivray limits his analysis of population geography to Asian and First Nations issues, but in the next edition he might wish to consider broadening his account to include other groups that have enriched the province. Chapters 7 through 10 focus on managing the province's forest, fish, and mineral resources. Globalization has provided serious challenges for each resource, including access to foreign markets (softwood lumber), falling commodity prices (coal), and foreign competition (wild salmon fishery). At the same time the sustain-ability of the resource economy is threatened. More wood is being harvested than is accommodated by natural regrowth and replanting, while habitat destruction, disease, and overfishing have almost destroyed the wild salmon fishery. The future viability of resource-based communities is dependent upon finding a balance between conserving resources, and satisfying both the demands of private capital to make a profit and government's desire to maintain a tax base. Sustainability is a major theme of Chapters 11, 12, and 13, which examine energy, agriculture, and water in the province. The need to develop renewable energy resources is essential if Canada and the province are to meet their obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. In the past, B. …

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