Unsettling the record: modelling the devastating cumulative effects of selected environmental stressors and loss of human life caused by colonization in Burrard Inlet, Canada

In this paper we present a collaborative, transdisciplinary research project that explores the cumulative ecological and human impacts of colonization on the səl̓ilwət (Tsleil-Wat, Burrard Inlet) ecosystem in what is now known as British Columbia, Canada. səl̓ilwət is at the heart of the traditional and unceded territory of səl̓ilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), a Coast Salish Indigenous Nation. This research is conducted at the request and under the leadership of səl̓ilwətaɬ. Drawing on archaeology, historical ecology, historical/archival records, and səl̓ilwətaɬ science, we use Ecopath with Ecosim to model selected environmental stressors and the devastating loss of səl̓ilwətaɬ life caused by colonization, from 1750–1980 CE. We include Europeanintroduced smallpox epidemics, the rise in the settler population and settler fishing pressure, the loss of shoreline habitat and the closure of bivalve harvesting owing to industrial and urban pollution. Our results show dramatic change in the ecosystem state following these events, with significant losses in biomass and degradation of ecosystem health during the 230 years that we assess. We demonstrate the ecological impact that smallpox had through loss of both human life and Indigenous stewardship. This research sits within the palaeoenvironmental, palaeoecological and environmental archaeological space of reconstructing past environments and human-to-environment relationships over deep time.