The situation in the Puget Sound region was similar, with newspapers encouraging settlers to get vaccinated, but with little effort towards protecting natives.
[3][4] According to historian Kiran van Rijn, "opportunistic self-interest, coupled with hollow pity, revulsion at the victims, and smug feelings of inevitability, shaped the colonial response to the epidemic among First Nations"; and that for some residents of Victoria the eviction of native people was a "long-sought opportunity" to be rid of them; and, for some, an opportunity to take over First Nation lands.
At the time, and still today, some natives say that the colonial government deliberately spread smallpox for the purpose of stealing their land.
The population of Victoria at the time was about 4,000 colonists and slightly more indigenous people from all over the Pacific Northwest coast camped nearby.
There were also Songhees villages and other natives from nearby areas, including Halkomelem and Wakashan speaking peoples, such as the Sto:lo and Nuu-chah-nulth.
[2] Governor James Douglas enlisted Hudson's Bay Company physician Dr. John Helmcken to vaccinate the Songhees.
On 28 April the Daily British Colonist called upon the government to "remove...the entire Indian population" from the Victoria area.
[1] When the Cadboro Bay camp was empty the police went to what remained of the Northern Encampment and burned all the dwellings, leaving about 200 Haidas with no canoes.
On 13 May the Daily British Colonist reported that these Haida were to be evicted "to one of the islands in the Straits—there to rot and die with the loathsome disease which is now destroying the poor wretches at the rate of six each day.
The Catholic Oblate missionary Leon Fouquet and his partner Father Pandosy vaccinated a large number Halkomelem peoples such as the Cowichan Quwutsun, as well as some members of other groups like the Squamish and Shishalh.
In August, when smallpox arrived in the Puget Sound area the Tulalip and Nooksack were mostly safe, while other native groups were devastated.
[5] Starting in May 1862, thousands of infected natives were evicted from the Victoria area and forced to return to their homes in the north, all along the coast from Nanaimo to the Stikine River in southeast Alaska.
The Nuxalk people were also decimated by smallpox, with a loss of about 58%, and a similar abandonment of villages and whole regions, with consolidation at Bella Coola.
Many historic Haida villages were abandoned in the years following the epidemic, including Ninstints, Kloo, Skedans, Cumshewa, Dadens, Haina, Hiellen, Kung, Klinkwan, and "Old" Kasaan, among others.
[1] The Tsimshian forced away from Victoria brought smallpox to Fort Simpson, whence it spread widely starting in June 1862.
By early July the native settlement outside the fort was deserted due to deaths and people fleeing the area.
Duncan also recorded news about the spread of the disease up the Skeena River, and elsewhere, as refugees sought entrance to Metlakatla.
In early September HMS Devastation visited the area and noted major population loss and the continuing spread of smallpox.
The epidemic spread north into the Alexander Archipelago but was limited due to an extensive Russian vaccination program.
[1] Other indigenous peoples who suffered major population loss include the Saanich (about 72%), Nisga'a (about 37%), Gitxsan (about 22%), Sabassas or Kitkatla Tsimshian (about 67%), Wuikinuxv (Oweekeno), as well as the interior nations of the Nlaka'pamux, Stʼatʼimc, Dakelh, Tsilhqotʼin, and Secwepemc, among others.
In 1864, after the epidemic, the colony's Chief Commissioner of Land and Works Joseph Trutch decided to stop recognizing indigenous title and abandon the treaty process.
[7] The Tsilhqotʼin people resisted when a wagon road began to be built through their territory without permission, resulting in the Chilcotin War.
In 2014, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark formally exonerated the executed chiefs and apologized for these acts, acknowledging that "there is an indication [that smallpox] was spread intentionally.