<P> British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada . Originally politically constituted as a pair of British colonies, British Columbia joined the Canadian Confederation on July 20, 1871 . Perhaps the most influential historian of British Columbia has been Margaret Ormsby . In British Columbia: A History (1958) she presented a structural model that has been adopted by numerous historians and teachers . Chad Reimer says, "in many aspects, it still has not been surpassed". Ormsby posited a series of propositions that provided the dynamic to the history: </P> <P> the ongoing pull between maritime and continental forces; the opposition between a "closed", hierarchical model of society represented by the Hudson's Bay Company and colonial officials, and the "open", egalitarian vision of English and Canadian settlers; and regional tensions between Vancouver Island and mainland, metropolitan Vancouver and the hinterland interior . </P>

When did british columbia became part of canada