Poplar Island (British Columbia)
{{Short description|Uninhabited island in British Columbia, Canada}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
File:Poplar Island (50207590503).jpg
Poplar Island is an uninhabited island located at the east end of the northern arm of the Fraser River in the City of New Westminster,{{BCGNIS|17738|Poplar Island}} British Columbia. It is the last large undiked island in the Fraser River's North Arm.
History
File:Construction of the War Kitimat.jpg
In 1879, the federal government allocated four reserves to people from "All Coastal Tribes", and designated the "common reserve" as the New Westminster Indian Band, which included {{convert|27|acre|m2}} on Poplar Island.{{cite web |date= June 6, 2009|url = http://www.canada.com/story_print.html?id=312de30a-2778-4a3b-a044-f1d2dc0e829b&sponsor=|title = Uncovering her roots|work=Canwest News Service |publisher = New Westminster Record| accessdate = July 26, 2009 | last= |quote=}} The reserve on Poplar Island was used as an Aboriginal smallpox victim quarantine area and a cemetery. Informants from the New Westminster Indian Band identified the reserve as a site of burials for people from the Kwantlen First Nation.{{Cite web |title=New Westminster Agency: Meeting with Indian Geo. Roberts: Page 403 |url=https://gsdl.ubcic.bc.ca/cgi-bin/library.cgi?e=d-00000-00---off-0newwestm--00-2----0-10-0---0---0direct-10---4-------0-1l--10-en-50---20-about-New+Westminster+Indian+band--00-3-1-00-0--4--0--0-0-01-10-0utfZz-8-00&a=d&cl=search&d=HASH41eb0adc8523cf1b27dfdc.42.fc |access-date=2022-07-25 |website=gsdl.ubcic.bc.ca}} For decades, the Poplar Island reserve was designated as belonging to "all coast tribes".{{cite web|date = March 2, 2006|url = https://www.straight.com/news/how-poplar-island-fell-map|title = How Poplar Island fell off the map|format = |publisher = The Georgia Straight|accessdate = July 26, 2009|last = Terry Glavin|quote = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150203054114/http://www.straight.com/news/how-poplar-island-fell-map|archive-date = February 3, 2015|url-status = dead}}
During World War I the New Westminster Construction and Engineering Company built both a massive shipyard on the island and a bridge connecting it to New Westminster. During the war years, hundreds of workers built, among other things, four warships for the government of France. Cargo vessels built in the shipyard include the War Kitimat, War Comox, War Edensaw, and the War Ewen. Ship launching ways are still visible on the island’s upriver end.{{cite web |date= 2008 |url = http://www.tourismnewwestminster.com/funfacts.html|title = Fun Facts About New Westminster|publisher = Tourism New Westminster| accessdate = July 27, 2009 | last= |quote=}}
The B.C. government included the island in its "nature legacy" program in 1995, and it was to be held by the Metro Vancouver's park department as a strictly protected nature reserve, in perpetuity.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news
| url = http://nwcoastenergynews.com/2015/08/11/7573/kitimats-unknown-role-world-war/
| title = Kitimat's unknown role in the First World War
| work = Northwest Coast Energy
| author = Robin Rowland
| date = 2015-08-11
| accessdate = 2017-10-22
| quote = The company built four ships, the War Comox, War Edensaw, War Kitimat and War Ewen. The War Comox was first launched in April, 1918, but completion was held up as the shipyard waited for equipment from suppliers.
}}
{{cite book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj5kf10gntQC&dq=%22war+kitimat%22&pg=PA201
| title = A New Westminster Album: Glimpses of the City as it was
| publisher = Dundurn Press
| author = Gavin Hainsworth, Katherine Freund-Hainsworth
| date = 2005
| page = 200
| isbn = 9781550025484
| accessdate = 2017-10-22
}}
}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline}}
{{coord|49|12|00|N|122|56|00|W|display=title}}
{{New Westminster neighbourhoods}}
Category:Uninhabited islands of British Columbia
Category:Geography of New Westminster