Brian Thom

Archaeology Field Course: ANTH 343 - Archaeological Field Techniques - Summer 2026

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria is organizing a local field course this summer 2026.

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Side hustle to sustainability: 23-year-old entrepreneur gives old furniture new life At just 23 years old, Victoria's Elwyn Thom is the owner of Recertified Furniture that’s giving high-end pieces a second chance, creating affordability and keeping them out of the landfill.

Side hustle to sustainability: 23-year-old entrepreneur gives old furniture new life cheknews.ca/side-hustle-...

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#circulareconomy

The Victoria Man with a Plan for Your Old Sofa | The Tyee Meet Elwyn Thom, the 23-year-old founder of Recertified Furniture.

New feature article in the The Tyee today about Recertified Furniture!

The Victoria Man with a Plan for Your Old Sofa via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/WhatWorks/20...

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Some projects in Anthropology track across decades, subfields, and disciplines. In 1994, Brian Thom was a grad student excavating Ye'yumnuts - land then slated for development. Today, thanks to Cowichan Tribes, it is a protected Wildlife Management Area.

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Comment: B.C. archeological sites are not a ‘misfortune’ The Heritage Conservation Act is in urgent need of reform.

www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comm...

www.pressreader.com/canada/times...

Photo of op-ed published in the Saturday newspaper.

Indigenous Archaeological sites in BC are not 'misfortunes'.

My op-ed about the again-delayed reforms to the Heritage Conservation Act looks to Japan for inspiration in protecting and caring for Indigenous archaeological places.

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@uvicsocialsciences.bsky.social

The elephant in the room has always been this issue. Creative solutions are needed: Bring archaeology entirely into the public service again, run by First Nations and regional governments? Create a system of mandatory archaeology insurance run by ICBC? Create federal legislation that bears costs?

This case is going to change the footing though. Governments (provincial and Indigenous) are going to have to rethink how to approach this.

Personally I think the "security through obscurity" approach needs to end, though I do appreciate why Indigenous communities don't want to have their petroglyph, pictograph, burial, and other special places generally knowable to the public: we have a social problem as well as a legislation problem.

Canada has too few professional archeologists, and that has economic consequences Protecting heritage in Canada requires training more archeologists and equipping them with the tools and education to do so.

"Our recent study indicates there are between 419 and 713 archeologists [sic] employed in CRM in Canada. These are almost certainly underestimates. However, our study further suggests that labour market demand is outpacing supply." @b-thom.bsky.social 🏺

theconversation.com/canada-has-t...

First page of journal article with title, authors, and abstract

We looked at 10 years of archaeology tenure-track job ads (2013–2023) to see what departments actually ask for: topics, methods, regions, and application materials.

Open-access paper: doi.org/10.1017/aaq.... Data and R code used for the study are openly available here doi.org/10.5281/zeno... 🧪

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What the Quw'utsun Nation court case reveals about private land ownership and Indigenous title in B.C. – The Discourse. After an unprecedented 513-day trial, Quw'utsun Nation court case ruling sets high burden of proof First Nations need to be declared title-holders

New story in the Discourse featuring an interview with Luschiim and me on the Cowichan Title case

thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val...

@noxon.bsky.social is going to be our special in person guest speaker next week, talking about 3D imaging, with some practical tips! If you can be here, come join us!

Exchange highlights parallels between Cowichan Tribes, Japan's Jōmon peoples The Jōmon are a group of salmon-oriented peoples who lived similar lifestyles to the Coast Salish until rice farming was introduced to the Japanese archipelago.

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www.timescolonist.com/local-news/e...

Your voice is crucial. HCA transformation needs thoughtful input, not alarmism. If you care about archaeology & heritage in BC, please add your constructive ideas to the conversation thru this BC Survey open to everyone: engage.gov.bc.ca/heritagecons... (6/6) #BCPoli #PublicConsultation #GetInvolved

Countries like Japan show that a modern economy and respect for deep history can coexist. It's not an "either/or" choice. These reforms offer a path to a more efficient, predictable, and respectful future for all of BC. (5/6) #BCPoli #SharedHeritage

The current permitting system is painfully slow. Modernizing it with a single, project-based permit will help.

We also need better data standards, bringing in Indigenous cultural landscapes, & abolishing fragmented site polygons. Data is a problem in the current system! (4/6)
#BCPoli #BCHeritage

MYTH: HCA reforms would give First Nations "veto" over private property.

FACT: The HCA has applied to private land for over 60 years. The goal now is to create a predictable 'dial-before-you-dig' system to provide better information to everyone before construction starts. (3/6) #BCPoli #BCHeritage

MYTH: The HCA reforms were drafted in secret.

FACT: I've been in the consultation room over 3 years alongside planners, developers, real estate agents & First Nations. The dialogue has been open & practical. No NDAs were required. This is about finding solutions together. (2/6) #BCPoli #BCHeritage

A recent VanSun column sparked fear over BC’s Heritage Conservation Act reforms. Let's look at the facts. The current system is broken for everyone—archaeologists, developers, & First Nations alike. The proposed changes are a pragmatic fix, not a radical NDP plot. (1/6) #BCPoli #BCHeritage #UNDRIP

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In September Brian will visit Jōmon period sites in Japan (where he worked for a summer as an archaeologist back in 1992!) with colleagues from Cowichan Tribes to see what we can learn from the amazing best practices in Japanese cultural heritage for the future of sites here in BC.

Our chair, Brian Thom, has been taking Japanese classes and coordinating with colleagues from Ritsumeikan University and Cowichan Tribes for a brand new joint project on Jōmon (Japan) and Coast Salish (BC) heritage site.

@b-thom.bsky.social

In the spirit of back to school, we wanted to share that even professors are always finding excitement in learning new things!

Was great to have meetings at Ye'yumnuts today; such a powerful, welcoming, Indigenous cultural space in Cowichan territories.

Without making too much light of a serious subject (or imposing a Sapir-Whorf kind of view on the nuance of culture-language-law), the word 'permission' does not exist in the Cowichan dictionary. 😄

Good one Sharon! The biggest available Hul'q'umi'num' dictionary has a word with the same root: thuyum'iilh [√thuy-m-iilh] "stay over at someone’s
place". Not sure how the /-θət-/ works in the word, though my sense is that it means something about 'say').

ined.sd79.bc.ca/wp-content/u...

Front page, top fold of Vancouver Sun, 14 Aug 2025

To help the public better understand the Cowichan title case on the Fraser River, a Vancouver Sun reporter asked me what daily life was like at Tl'uqtinus outside of the basics of fishing and berry picking. I painted a scene of vibrant, industrious community vancouversun.com/news/cowicha...