Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
British Columbia Packers Ltd fonds
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Level of description
Fonds
Repository
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Edition area
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1949- 1976 (Creation)
- Creator
- British Columbia Packers
Physical description area
Physical description
10 cm textual records
1 photograph
1 photograph
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
British Columbia Packers Limited was formed in 1928, following a series of amalgamations with predecessor companies, and rapidly evolved into a prominent fish processing company. Due to a policy of product diversification, British Columbia Packers Limited operated fishing stations, canneries, fresh fish branches, fish-curing establishments, cold storage plants, reduction plants and shipyards. The company also had a half interest in a whaling station and operated several general stores. After the Second World War, British Columbia Packers Limited rapidly began to expand its business interests outside of British Columbia. It acquired sales offices and production facilities in the United States (Certi-Fresh Foods, Los Angeles), fishing operations in Peru, and by the 1960s it had expanded to the east coast of Canada. At the peak of its operations, British Columbia Packers Limited acquired international success with markets for canned seafood ("Clover Leaf"); fresh, frozen and prepared fish products ("Rupert Brand" and "Certi-Fresh"); and for the products of reduction plants. In 1968, British Columbia Packers moved its head office from Vancouver to its final destination on Moncton Street in Steveston (Imperial Plant site.) The early 1980s introduced a period of major change and restructuring in the fishing industry as a whole, a factor which directly impacted the British Columbia Packers Limited. By 1997, its operations had dissolved and its successor company, BCPL Limited, owned by George Weston Limited, undertook the disposition of British Columbia Packers real property and other assets.
Custodial history
Susan Gerard, an artist working at North Pacific Cannery, came into possession of the documents and passed them on to Phylis Bowman who donated them to the Archives on September 9, 1998. Bill Bishop donated records on March 20, 2012 that he rescued from Sunnyside before they burned it down in 1986.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of textual records from business transactions at BC Packers Sunnyside Cannery between 1949 and 1976. These include receipts, coupon books from BC Packers Ltd., Nelson Bros. Fisheries Ltd., and J.H. Todd & Sons Ltd. Also includes packer sheets, fishermen's weekly statements, journal vouchers, invoices, forms, and correspondence of various fishermen at Sunnyside.
Notes area
Physical condition
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Script of material
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Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Sunnyside Cannery (Subject)
- Nelson Brothers Fisheries (Subject)
- J.H. Todd and Sons (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
1998-035; P982-001; 2012-013
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Created on May 13, 2014