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Gulf of Georgia Cannery

Many fishing boats and racked nets are visible in the harbour. Gulf of Georgia Cannery buildings in the background.

Boats and net racks with nets, Steveston BC. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Collection courtesy of the Canadian Fishing Company CFC 3-13-1

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery was the largest on the coast in the boom years of canning from 1895 to 1902. Because of this, it earned the nick-name “The Monster Cannery”.

1894-1930

49°07’29.0″N 123°11’12.8″W

Oswald Malcolm, Charles Windsor, and George Wilson built the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in 1894 at the end of Fourth Avenue in Steveston. It was built on the site of the Garry Point Cannery which was destroyed by flood in 1893. When a third canning line was added in 1895 the Gulf of Georgia Cannery became the largest cannery on the coast until 1902. The Canadian Fishing Co. purchased the plant in 1926 after it changed ownership several times in the prior decades.

Due to the economic slowdown of the Great Depression, the Canadian Fishing Co. combined its operations and closed the canning lines at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery in 1930. The site was used as a net loft and fresh fish processing plant during the 1930s.

In 1940, at the beginning of the Second World War, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery was used to can herring and render herring offal into fish meal and oil. The cannery was expanded during the 1940s to accommodate the herring reduction machinery. A new ice house, dryer shed, and additional housing was built. At the end of the Second World War, herring canning ended. Herring reduction continued until 1979. After the closure of the plant, the Canadian Fishing Co. used the site for gear storage and as a net loft.

The Gulf of Georgia was designated a National Historic Site in 1976, and the museum was opened to the public in 1994. Today the site welcomes thousands of visitors each year, sharing the history of the west coast fishing and canning industries.

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery with a seine boat at the dock. The boat's name, Viking Pride, is on the stern. The buildings at the cannery have Canadian Fishing Co. and Gulf of Georgia Cannery painted on them.

The Gulf of Georgia Cannery and neighbouring Canadian Fishing Company seine loft. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives G2009.024.001t

Gulf of Georgia Cannery buildings viewed from the water.

Gulf of Georgia Cannery, 1900. Note the name of the operating company, "Malcolm & Windsor Ltd" on the roof of the west wing. The west wing was demolished in a windstorm in 1932. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives G2005.046.021

Interior of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery showing a large open space with three steam cookers and other machinery in the background.

Interior of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery, 1949. Three retorts and a can tray bath are visible. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Society Archives G2004.035.003

Several men are gathered around a net. A sign on the building reads "The Canadian Fishing Company Ltd. Gulf of Georgia Plant."

Seine nets being unloaded from a boat in front of the Gulf of Georgia Cannery net loft. Gulf of Georgia Cannery Collection courtesy of the Canadian Fishing Company CFC 3-18-6