Gulf of Georgia Cannery

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a National Historic Site of Canada located in Steveston village in Richmond, British Columbia.

[2] Today it is a museum with interactive exhibits, film, and tours that demonstrate the Cannery's important role in the history of Canada's West Coast fishing industry.

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society, a non-profit community organization, operates the site on behalf of Parks Canada.

Each canning season attracted a workforce of hundreds of workers, usually of First Nations, Chinese, Japanese, and European descent.

At the time, fish canning was one of British Columbia's largest employers, and produced one of its principal export commodities.

For the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, the price to pay for these advancements would be a diminished role in the canning of salmon, as the last can of sockeye rolled off the production line in 1930.

By the 1970s, a new market emerged in Japan for British Columbia herring roe and this ensured that the reduction operation at the Cannery would run once more.

The buildings would serve as a net loft and storage for the Canadian Fishing Company's boat fleet and the era of transforming the Cannery into a museum would begin in earnest.

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society, a local not-for-profit organization, was formed in 1986 to work together with Parks Canada to develop and operate the site.