This report traces the development of the workplace apprenticeship system and college-based pre-apprenticeship training in Canada's most western province, British Columbia. The Canadian system is mildly distinctive in an international context and within Canada, British Columbia is increasingly distinctive. Federal government influence has been significant, even though education is a provincial jurisdiction. Government involvement in apprenticeship began in the 1930s, but it was not until the 1960s that federal funding spurred the establishment of a system of public vocational and technical institutions in British Columbia. Tensions in administering trades training developed in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to the establishment of three successive organizations to oversee the system. The report begins chronologically but concludes with short discussions of a series of topics such as completion rates and curriculum development. Some institutions, private as well as public, are briefly described. Some registration statistics itemizing trades are presented but individual trades are beyond the paper's scope. The report synthesizes a wide variety of sources to provide an overview of a poorly studied and often fragmented aspect of postsecondary education. Four appendixes present: (1) Challenges Enumerated by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, 2004; (2) Registration Statistics, 1935-2010; (3) Fulltime Equivalent Enrolment, Public Institutions, 1990-2010; and (4) Trades List 2011. A bibliography is included. (Contains 3 footnotes.) [For Volume 4, see ED524626.]