Existing structural, metamorphic and geochronological data in and close to the Shuswap Metamorphic Complex in the southern Canadian Cordillera are shown to be consistent with a channel flow model. Four general structural levels (domains) can be distinguished in the region, based on the orientation and vergence of folds. In the lowest three levels folds are mostly recumbent, whereas in the uppermost level they are upright. The lowest three levels are interpreted as a channel flow zone. NE-verging folds of the lowest level (Domain 1, e.g. the Monashee Complex) formed during top-to-the-NE detachment flow and/or in the lower part of a channel flow zone. When detachment flow changed to channel flow, the sense of shear changed in the upper part of the channel flow zone, resulting in overprinting of NE-verging folds by SW-verging folds (Domain 2, e.g. most parts of the Shuswap Metamorphic Complex to the west of the Monashee Complex). Temperature was probably increasing, weakening a progressively larger portion of the crust, and the crustal shear zone therefore widened. Thus, in the highest structural levels within the channel flow zone, SW-verging folds developed in areas where no NE-verging folds originally formed (Domain 3, e.g. the Cariboo Mountains). The channel flow model as presented here is compatible with many of the ductile structures and accommodates existing metamorphic and geochronological data in the part of the southern Canadian Cordillera described.