Powell was born in
Colborne,
Norfolk County,
Upper Canada (what is now the Province of
Ontario), the son of politician
Israel Wood Powell and Melinda Boss. His brother
Walker later served in the legislative assembly for the
Province of Canada. Powell was educated in
Port Dover and at
McGill University, where he studied medicine. He returned to Port Dover and set up practice, but relocated in 1862 to the City of
Victoria, then part of the
Colony of Vancouver Island. Powell became surgeon for the
Victoria Fire Department, and served in the militia. He
was elected in 1863 to the
House of Assembly of Vancouver Island. He was defeated when he ran for election
in 1866 and the 1868 BC elections. In 1865, he married Jane "Jennie" Brank. From 1867 to 1869 he served as Chairman of the General Board of Education. He was a supporter of
union with Canada and brought the first Canadian flag to BC on June 17, 1871 which he presented to the Victoria Fire Department on July 1st. He had received the flag from his close friend and fellow Mason The Right Honourable Sir
John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister of Canada. Powell was a founding member on October 21, 1871 of The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons of British Columbia, as its first
Grand Master. After BC joined Canada in 1871, he was named Superintendent of Indian Affairs, a role which he held from 1872 to 1889. Powell was consistent in his expressed goal of assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Colonial society. He was a constant critic of the provincial government's resistance to providing Indigenous people with land and water rights, and fought for the establishment of
Indian Reserves. During his tenure, he oversaw the removal of Indigenous children from their homes to be sent to
residential schools, and the banning of Indigenous languages and customs. He was particularly known for working to subvert communal ownership and the
potlatch, a ceremony at the core of west-coast Indigenous culture, and in 1884 he succeeded in having the
Indian Act amended to outlaw it. When the first prosecutions under the act failed, Powell counselled the agents under him to dissuade indigenous peoples from potlatching, but not prosecute. Powell was retired from the superintendent's position in 1889 on the grounds of ill health.
Residential schools Early in his career as superintendent, Powell took up the cause of what he viewed as the imperative to educate and “civilize” Indigenous children. Powell focused on the importance of establishing industrial education schools in isolated areas to turn Indigenous children into what he referred to as “useful members of society.” He sought to establish several boarding schools across the province and particularly pushed for creating the
Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1890 to address communities in the province's interior. The school became one of the largest
residential schools operated by Indian Affairs.
Lot 450 and Tla'amin people The 2778-acre parcel of land known as Lot 450, situated on traditional
Tla’amin,
Klahoose, and
Homalco territories and encompassing several traditional villages and seasonal sites, continues to be a site of contention dating from when land speculator and Victoria politician
Robert Paterson Rithet purchased the timber lease under “dubious circumstances” in 1874. Tla’amin expressed concerns over potential logging and industrialization around their villages to Indian land commissioner Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, who agreed that the government should cease sales activities of the Tla’amin territory until official surveys could be made of their reserves, but when Sproat brought these complaints forward to Powell, the Superintendent was dismissive of Sproat and Tla’amin's concerns and dissuaded the commissioner from visiting Tla’amin to attempt a compromise. The matter was left unresolved.
Later life In 1886, Powell became the first president of the Medical Council of British Columbia. He was also the first chancellor for the
University of British Columbia. Powell died in Victoria at the age of 78. == Legacy ==