G'day Peter
Yes indeed, BC stands for British Columbia. Retired wood science/dendrology prof. Lived here in BC nearly 40 years, I'm an Ottawa kid. McBride is a little mountain village of less than 500, about 2 hrs by car, west of Jasper National Park. Much the same as the park without the crowds or prices.
I think that I would have liked to learn cabinet making. The closest that I came was access to lots of window glass 1900-1915. Plenty of characteristic distortions, even some bubbles. Carefully eased it out of the fossilized putty and sold it to cabinet makers, happy to pay $1/square inch.