In his latest book, author and historian Dr. Chad Reimer, the author of the much-cited Before We Lost the Lake: A Natural and Human History of Sumas Valley returns to the Sumas prairie region to examine one of two recorded lynchings in Canadian history. Deadly Neighbours: A Tale of Colonialism, Cattle Feuds, Murder and Vigilantes in the Far West shines a spotlight on one of Canada’s most shocking and misunderstood moments of violence – the murder of Louie Sam, an Indigenous teenager. It is a timely work that “contributes meaningfully to the important work of truth-telling for a country that is taking halting steps towards the vitally important goal of building reconciliation,” writes Keith Carlson, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous and Community-Engaged History, in his foreword to the book.
On a cold night in February, 1884, a mob of mounted American vigilantes rode up from Nooksack Valley (in Washington Territory) to Sumas Prairie. They were hell-bent on avenging the killing of one of their neighbours, which they had pinned on Sam. Because of the American origins of the mob and the fact that Sam’s murder was only one of two recorded lynchings in Canadian history, historians and writers have represented it as an isolated and foreign incident.
Dr. Reimer shows that rather than being an aberration disconnected from people and events north of the border, Sam’s murder reveals a more complex and disturbing chronicle of the deadly grip the leading White settlers in Nooksack and Sumas held over the area – and most notably, over their Indigenous neighbours.
“[Reimer’s] writing so masterfully reveals that many of those who have been celebrated in Canadian society as pioneer heroes were the same men who engaged in morally indefensible actions against Indigenous people,” writes Carlson. “Deadly Neighbours is an important corrective for the colonial nostalgia that still stubbornly depicts BC pioneer settlers as mere pawns of powerful elite.”
Indeed, when placed within the historical context of late 19th-century colonial relationships in the Nooksack Valley and Sumas Prairie regions, the vigilante murder of Sam no longer appears to be an isolated and foreign incident. Rather, it emerges as the result of a series of events and causes on both sides of the border, with the active participation of locals in both BC and Washington Territory.
“The book uncovers previously unknown facts and shows how earlier events, going back many years on both sides of the border, led to the vigilante murder,” explains Dr. Reimer, who based Deadly Neighbours on primary sources, unearthing events that have yet to be described in any other historical work.
Dr. Reimer, who holds a BA in Honours History from the University of BC, along with an MA and PhD in History from York University, says that his writing is motivated by a drive to “dig into the very roots of history to uncover the stories that have gotten lost or forgotten.”
“History is far more complex and interesting that sometimes presented,” he says.