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The purpose of this study was to examine grade six and seven students' images and understanding of First Nations people. Eighteen students participated in the study out of an intact class of 21. I hypothesized, based on the students' personal experience through popular culture, family and school, that they would possess historical images and would lack a broad understanding of contemporary First Nations people. I determined what their images and understanding were prior to starting a unit of study on the subject and what, if any, changes occurred in their thinking and knowledge after the eight week unit was taught. The unit focused on the First Nations cultures of British Columbia with special attention given to the Northwest Coast cultures. Data were collected using a photo-portrait questionnaire, pre- and post- unit questionnaires, learning log entries, and pre- and post-unit interviews with six students. A photo- portrait questionnaire consisted of 15 images representing contemporary and historical First Nations people of both genders, all ages and from different professions. The students determined whether each person in the photo represented a First Nations person, and provided a brief explanation of their response. Pre- and post- unit questionnaires provided evidence of the effects teaching had on the students' knowledge. Learning logs gathered information on the students' understanding of Native peoples as they progressed through the unit of study. Prior to commencing the unit, students' possessed historical/stereotypical images, and had a good historical understanding of how the First Nations people lived on the West Coast. However, knowledge of contemporary First Nations people and issues was limited. By the end of the unit, students displayed empathy towards First Nations and demonstrated that they had a broadened understanding of contemporary issues as well as stable misconceptions and inaccurate depictions of First Nations peoples.

This thesis provides a model for understanding how social classes arose in the Gulf of Georgia area. This model distinguishes how social status in rank and a class societies are manifested and maintained in non-state, kin-based societies, drawing mainly from ethnographic descriptions. The relationship between the living and the dead for making status claims in both rank and class societies makes the archaeological study of mortuary ritual important for investigating these relationships. I propose that burial mounds and cairns, which were prominent in the region from 1500 to 1000 years ago, reflect a time when status differentiation was defined mainly through social rank. Following this period, when all forms of below-ground burials cease and above-ground graves become the dominant form of mortuary practice, I propose that the historically recorded pattern of social class emerged. Archaeological investigations of the burial mounds and cairns at the Scowlitz site have provided the first fully reported instances of mound and cairn burials in this region. Using less well reported data from over 150 additional burial mounds and cairns reported from other sites in the region, evidence for the nature of status differentiation sought out. Patterns in the burial record are investigated through discussing variation within classes of burials, demography and deposition, spatial patterning, grave goods, and temporal variation. These patterns and changes are then discussed within the context of the larger culture history of the region, suggesting that the late Marpole or Garrison sub-phase may be defined as ending around 1000 BP with the cessation of below-ground burial practices. The general patterns observed in mound and cairn burials and the changes in mortuary ritual subsequent to their being built generally support the idea of a shift from a rank to a class society. The thesis provides a basis for further investigation of questions of social status and inequality in the Gulf of Georgia region.