Puntzi Lake and the Martyrdom of “The Chilcotin Chiefs”
In October 1864 the Colony of British Columbia martyred five “Chilcotin Chiefs.” One hour before sunrise on October 26, with a crowd of 250 gathered to pay witness, the Crown hung these defenders of the Indigenous laws on a scaffold provocatively placed in a native graveyard. This event remains one of the most dramatic moments in the history of Canada’s relationship with the Indigenous Peoples.
