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Until the mid-1950s, British Columbia homes were fueled by wood or coal.
In the 1920s, South Asian Canadians began selling and delivering wood fuels like sawdust and mill-ends to homes and also supplied ‘hog fuel’ to industry. Initially horses powered deliveries; later on it was trucks.
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This was innovative niche work. Sellers connected their work in the lumber industry to consumer demand. Wood fuel sellers were stratified by ethnicity and the work became known as a South Asian specialty. Beside being a source of family income, wood fuel sales defined relationships between South Asian sellers and the mainly white buyers.
Bikram (Vic) Berar recalled being asked to help sell wood fuel as a kid on Vancouver Island: