Indigenous Canadian peoples gathering during a 'Potlatch' : 'Indian Potlach [sic], at the Songish Rancherie, Victoria Harbour, Vancouver Island'

In the 19th century, Indigenous life was of great interest even to those members of the Royal Family who could not visit Canada themselves. This photograph is from an album presented to Queen Victoria in 1883 and shows a gathering at Songhees Village, Vancouver Island, in British Columbia. The group are assembling for potlach – the ceremonial distribution of gifts and titles, marked by speechmaking and feasting. Potlaches also marked community events such as marriages, birth and deaths, allowing kinship bonds to be created and asserted. In 1884, the year after this photograph was presented, the practice was banned by the Indian Act in an unsuccessful attempt to force Indigenous integration into settler life. The deeply divisive policy would remain in law until 1951.