Dr. Barry Gough’s podcast series The Cauldron delves into the transformative years of British Columbia’s history, spanning from the province’s entry into Confederation in 1871 to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. In this period of rapid change, British Columbia evolved from a distant colonial outpost into an industrializing province, shaped by waves of immigration, economic expansion, and political upheaval. The Cauldron explores the region’s absorption of industry, the challenges of multi-racial immigration, and the rise of scientific and technological advancements that defined its growth. Through meticulous research and compelling storytelling, Dr. Gough examines how British Columbia navigated its place within Canada while confronting the pressures of modernization and the shifting global landscape.
Small Pox and Quarintine.
Welcome to Cauldron: British Columbia, 1870–1919. In this powerful episode, historian Barry Gough examines one of the province’s most painful legacies—the recurring smallpox epidemics and their devastating impact on Indigenous communities. Focusing on the William Head Quarantine Station during the First World War, Gough explores how public health, imperial logistics, and racial politics collided as thousands of Chinese labourers passed through British Columbia on their way to the Western Front. He also tackles a controversial question: were smallpox outbreaks deliberately spread by colonial authorities? With careful research, Gough challenges this view, arguing instead that a tragic mix of neglect, fear, and systemic failure lay at the heart of the catastrophe. This is a sobering, essential story—one that reveals the human cost of empire, and the echoes that still shape our history today.
the Potlatch.
Joining us is Dr. Barry Gough, one of Canada’s foremost maritime and imperial historians. With his deep understanding of the colonial frontier and Indigenous-European relations, Dr. Gough takes us into the heart of a ceremonial world often misunderstood, repressed, and ultimately revived—a world where wealth is given, not hoarded, and where social order is reinforced through oratory, song, and ancestral rights. In this episode, we’ll explore the origins of the Potlatch, its central role among nations such as the Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and Tlingit, and the fierce cultural resistance that followed the federal Potlatch ban of 1885. We’ll hear how this institution survived, hidden or transformed, and how today, it stands not just as a cultural revival—but as a political act of identity and resilience.
Welcome to The Cauldron, a Canada History Society podcast hosted by Dr. Barry Gough. In this episode, we’re honoured to welcome Dr. Barry Gough, one of Canada’s foremost naval and imperial historians, whose deep research into British Columbia’s colonial past brings clarity to the contested stories of land, law, and Indigenous development. Together, we’ll explore the early and often uneasy relations between colonial British authorities and First Nations—why treaties were signed in some regions and not in others, the meaning of “Crown title” in Indigenous eyes, and how negotiations—or the lack of them—continue to echo through modern legal battles over land and rights. Dr. Gough will guide us through pivotal moments: This is not just history—it’s the backstory to today’s court cases, pipeline disputes, and the very definition of reconciliation. Stay with us as we dive into the cauldron of early British Columbia—where land was claimed, voices were raised, and the future of a nation took root in fragile understandings.
In this episode, we journey back to Vancouver in 1914, a city on the Pacific Rim and at the heart of a rising storm—immigration, empire, and race colliding at the water’s edge. It was the arrival of a single ship—the Komagata Maru—that laid bare the contradictions of a dominion proud of its British ideals yet bound by a growing anxiety: the fear of the other. Aboard were 376 passengers—Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus—all British subjects from India, seeking the promise of opportunity, only to be met with a wall of hostility, legal obstruction, and open racism.
Welcome to The Cauldron, the podcast that delves into the turbulent, ambitious, and transformative early years of British Columbia—from the late 19th century to the First World War. In this episode renown Historian Barry Gough turns his focus to one of the most decisive moments in the province’s history: the selection of Vancouver as the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway, a choice that would forever alter the destiny of British Columbia.
BC – Communications/Transportation
In these episodes of the Cauldron, we turn our attention to communications—the lifelines of a growing province in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As British Columbia emerged from isolation and pushed toward modernity, the arrival of telegraphs, postal routes, and eventually wireless signals reshaped how people connected across vast, rugged landscapes. Dr. Gough explores how these evolving networks influenced politics, commerce, and community—and how the struggle to communicate mirrored the struggle to define British Columbia’s place in a changing Canada.
Welcome to The Cauldron, a Canada History Society podcast hosted by Dr. Barry Gough. In this episode, we turn our gaze to the rugged, rain-swept coastline of British Columbia, where, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, missionaries—both Catholic and Protestant—ventured into Indigenous communities, seeking to spread their faith and reshape lives in the name of European civilization. Their arrival marked an era of profound cultural collision, where traditional beliefs, languages, and ways of life met the relentless tide of colonial evangelism. From the storied missions of Metlakatla and Alert Bay to the remote outposts of the Oblates and Anglican Church, we explore the figures who led these efforts, the resistance they encountered, and the enduring impact of their work on Indigenous peoples. Join us as we unravel this complex and often controversial chapter in British Columbia’s past.
Welcome to The Cauldron, a Canada History Society podcast hosted by Dr. Barry Gough. In this episode, we turn to a dramatic moment in British Columbia’s history, when Premier Richard McBride, acting with urgency and defiance, orchestrated the clandestine purchase of two submarines on the eve of the First World War. With the guns of August looming and Canada’s Pacific coast vulnerable to German naval threats, McBride took it upon himself to secure these vessels—without prior approval from Ottawa—making a bold and controversial move that underscored both his vision for British Columbia’s defense and his unyielding loyalty to the British Empire. What followed was a tale of high-stakes diplomacy, legal ambiguity, and strategic necessity, as the submarines were rushed into service under the command of the Royal Canadian Navy. Join us as we delve into this remarkable episode of wartime improvisation and political daring, exploring how a provincial leader found himself at the center of an international naval drama.
Welcome to The Cauldron, a Canada History Society podcast hosted by Dr. Barry Gough. In this episode, we step into the streets of early 20th-century Vancouver, where a rising crisis was drawing national attention—the opium trade. In 1908, a young Deputy Minister of Labour named William Lyon Mackenzie King arrived in the city to investigate the widespread use and distribution of opium, a problem deeply intertwined with race, immigration, and labour tensions. What began as an inquiry into anti-Asian riots soon expanded into a broader examination of Vancouver’s hidden underworld, revealing the extent of opium use among Chinese communities and beyond. King’s findings led to some of Canada’s earliest drug legislation, shaping federal policies for decades to come. Join us as we explore this critical moment in Canadian history—one that set the stage for the country’s evolving relationship with immigration, public health, and the law.
Welcome to The Cauldron, a Canada History Society podcast hosted by Dr. Barry Gough. In this compelling episode of The Cauldron, acclaimed historian Dr. Barry Gough delves into the powerful 19th-century American ideology of Manifest Destiny—the belief that the United States was divinely ordained to expand across the North American continent. With his trademark insight and vivid storytelling, Dr. Gough explores how this expansionist mindset fuelled American expectations that British North America—particularly the distant and resource-rich colony of British Columbia—would inevitably become part of the United States. From the tensions of the Oregon Boundary Dispute to the geopolitical shockwaves of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, this episode examines how Manifest Destiny shaped diplomatic relations, colonial policy, and the very formation of Canada’s western frontier. A fascinating look at how ideology, geography, and imperial ambition collided on the Pacific coast.