As the century progressed, other cultural icons were added, but Emily Carr has remained on top of the list of those who gave a voice to the West Coast experience. Because of her, generations of young British Columbians—and one hopes, Canadians everywhere—grew up to look at totem poles and the Haida's artfully designed and executed copper shields as prime works of art. The Haida, after all, were the only metal workers known in North America when the white man arrived. These copper works represented not only great art—as we have become to realize, in part through people like Carr—but they also represented wealth to their aboriginal owners and told stories that might have been lost if non-native artists had not come along to bring them to a wider public despite the narrow, arrogant view of the laws of the land.

Carr was the only native British Columbian of the three cultural icons. Birney, a Calgarian by birth, and later a resident of Toronto, spent only a comparatively brief time in BC. Pauline Johnson hailed from Ontario. . . .