Beginning in the 1860s, Trutch became involved in colonial politics, serving as the Chief Commissioner of Land and Works, and became a well-known resident of Victoria. As the Chief Commissioner of Land and Works, he was a member of the Legislative Council of British Columbia in the colony. Throughout his political career, Trutch was noted for his hostility to land claims by First Nations people, and demonstrated contempt for their concerns. In a letter to his mother, Charlotte, regarding the Indians of the Oregon Territory he wrote, "I think they are the ugliest and laziest creatures I ever saw and we should as soon think of being afraid of our dogs as of them." And in a letter to the Secretary of State, "I have not yet met with a single Indian whom I consider to have attained even the most glimmering perception of the Christian creed." In 1867 Trutch refused to recognize the legitimacy of the reserves established by former Lieutenant-Governor James Douglas and had them re-surveyed, reducing their size by 91%. His memorandum of 1870 denied the existence of aboriginal title, setting the stage for the colonial assembly to prohibit aboriginal people from pre-empting unoccupied, unsurveyed, or unreserved land without special permission; this decision effectively established a maximum and denied natives the right to acquire lands held by non-natives. These policies have had lasting repercussions in modern British Columbia politicswith respect to the ongoing process of resolving native land claims.
Province of British Columbia
In 1870, Trutch's brother John married the sister of the colonial governor Anthony Musgrave. Trutch and Musgrave became close. Following the establishment of the Canadian Confederation in 1867 they worked together to negotiate British Columbia's entry, which occurred in 1871 after they secured a promise for the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Trutch was the first Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia following Confederation, a position he retained from 1871–1876. Following his tenure as lieutenant governor, Trutch was appointed a "Dominion agent for British Columbia", and helped to oversee the construction of the CPR in the province. He left this office in 1890 and returned to England. He died there in 1904 in Somerset, the county of his birth. The locality of Trutch, British Columbia along the Alaska Highway, is named after Joseph. The location is now a ghost town. Trutch Streets in Vancouver and Victoria are named after him.
