The Central Coast Regional District has become the second B.C. government body to recognize officially that the smallpox epidemics of 1862/63 that decimated the indigenous population within its area were an instance of genocide.
Shawn Swanky’s dramatic and detailed artistic rendering of this meeting incorporates every known detail about the occasion.
In 1864, the Tsilhqot’in killed 17 settlers over artificial smallpox epidemics. Advertising a peace conference, B.C. ambushed the Tsilhqot’in delegates and hanged five.
Shawn Swanky presents dramatic new artwork from his documentary film, “The Great Darkening.”