Coast Salish Women and Cultural Continuity in the Early Salmon Canning Industry

Abstract

Coast Salish women's participation in the salmon canning industry of the 20th century is well documented. However, most of the historical data focuses on the exploitation of these women in the context of the canning industry while the extent to which they were able to exercise cultural agency in that context has been largely ignored. This essay provides an overview of the importance of salmon in pre-contact Coast Salish cultures from the economic to the political and spiritual realms. Given this background, the essay examines what parts of this pre-contact culture were able to survive the colonial institution of capitalist labour and why, to the extent they were able to exercise agency, Coast Salish women chose to work in the canneries over other forms of employment.