Saltery Bay, BC, Canada, history shows, was first the year round home of the Shishalh First Nations people cultivating the traditions and cultures of the land for many thousands of years. Shishalh women had gained a reputation at the time for their cedar woven baskets, using materials gathered from the roots of the cedar tree, cannery grass and birch bark.

The Shishalh people, at the time of the first European contact had a population near 26,000. As the Europeans settled in the region, the Shishalh people experienced numerous changes. Diseases (especially smallpox) became rampant, and resulted in a severe decrease of the Sechelt population at the various traditional settlements.

The shell middens found at the shores of the Saltery Bay Provincial Park is evidence that this was once the home to the First Nation Shishalh people. The first commercial project of the area was in the early 1900's with the development of a fish saltery plant.