When based in Vancouver, one has to travel by boat or seaplane to document very isolated communities on the central coast of BC with no access roads. The immensity of the land and the presence of humans in places so remote seem unreal. Yet before the land of what is currently the province of British Columbia was discovered and progressively occupied and exploited by settlers from Europe, First Nations had lived on its territory for more than 10,000 years.

Investing entrepreneurs saw a potential in the many BC resources, beginning with fur trade and gold rush and evolving to mining, forestry and fishing. Starting around the middle of the 19th century, investors built camps and company towns to accommodate the workers. Many of these newly-built BC communities died because of fire, flood or refusal of access to railway. The companies also closed these villages because of the decrease in the resources’ selling price or the arrival of technologies such as automation, allowing the grouping of these industries in bigger centres while displacing labour.

Ocean Falls, located on the central coast of BC, is a perfect example of the cycles of economic development of BC. It was built around 1910 to house the workers of a large pulp and paper mill fed by a dam. This company town became a vibrant community of nearly 5,000 people. The factory closing in 1973 resulted in an exodus of the majority of the population, leaving just 55 permanent residents.