SEARCHING FOR TRUTH IN HISTORY

by Nate Lewis
(Click on images to enlarge)

Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and the Vancouver Park Board are collaborating on the long-term management of Stanley Park through the Stanley Park Intergovernmental Working Group (SPIWG).

**Homes at the Brockton Point settlement, pictured AROUND 1915. (City of Vancouver Archives, CVA 677-228)**

SPIWG is currently working on an inventory and analysis report. It’s a holistic knowledge base of conditions and challenges in Stanley Park, which we discussed in part one of our series (here), and sets the table for future work in the park. A major component is to consider how the park has changed over time. This includes the social conditions under which the peninsula was turned into a park, the significant impacts that decision caused First Nations, and the less-than-transparent histories of people who had lived and who continued living there.

Emily Dunlop, a senior planner with the Vancouver Park Board, sits at the Intergovernmental table on their behalf.

“A popular but misguided narrative depicts the creation of [Stanley Park] from “untouched nature”…There is a much grander scale of history involving a rich collection of important narratives and events that depict a much greater and resilient First Nations presence,” reads a 2018 Park Board report prepared by Dunlop.

While the narrative of “untouched nature” is not credible, there is also debate about the accuracy and scope of the colonial historical record of the peninsula — beginning in the mid-1800’s – specifically regarding settlement of the area.

Historian Jean Barman’s work, among other histories, are based in part on these records and have their attendant limitations. These histories shouldn’t be disregarded entirely, but should be taken with the proverbial ‘grain of salt’, given what the Nations are sharing privately about these records.

“That [historical information has] been omitted in terms of the actual families that used to live there prior to settlers being here. Part of it is because the people that were recording information didn't have it, but then there's certain parts of [those histories] that, the Nation's are advising us, doesn't quite add up,” Dunlop said.

Staff in the Treaty, Lands and Resources department of Tsleil-Waututh Nation chose not to speak with The West End Journal for this story. Musqueam representatives declined to provide any further information about the process, while the Squamish Nation did not respond to interview requests by the time of publication.

Publicly available histories of settlements on the peninsula highlight the Coast Salish village of χʷay̓χʷəy̓ or X̱wáyx̱way. The former is in the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, spoken by most Coast Salish peoples including the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh, and written in North American Phonetic Alphabet. The latter in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh language, written in a typewriter-based writing system.

The village stood in the area now known as Lumberman’s Arch. It was home to about 50 people when the British Columbia Reserve Commission took a census in 1876. However, that number belies the village’s use as a meeting place that hosted large gatherings and ceremonies. According to Barman, the last of these residents was Mariah Kulkalem, who sold her property near χʷay̓χʷəy̓ to the Park Board in 1925.

Houses at Chaythoos (Vancouver’s first archivist, J.S. Matthews’ interpretation and spelling of the Squamish word meaning “high bank,” here referring to the area now called Prospect Point) were home to Chief Khahtsahlano’s family for generations. According to Barman, his grandson, August Jack Khahtsahlano, was not paid for the land where his family had lived.

A third settlement near Brockton Point (spapəy̓əq in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ or P’ápeyeḵ’ in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) included at least half a dozen houses which were primarily home to Coast Salish-Portuguese families and their descendants. The extensive battles between these families and the Park Board, City of Vancouver, and Dominion of Canada are well-documented in the form of requests, motions, and court documents from extensive legal proceedings. Most of these houses were burned down in 1931 after the Park Board made accommodations for the families to live elsewhere, again as documented by Barman. Tim Cummings, the last of the residents, died in early 1958.

Other noted residents on and around the peninsula included several Chinese men, as well as Hawaiians at “Kanaka Ranch” on the south side of Coal Harbour.

A large mound or “midden” of clam shells, “as well as skulls and other body parts” (Barman) was found near χʷay̓χʷəy̓ in 1888 by a construction crew working in the brand-new park. These archeological remains were unceremoniously used to surface five kilometers of the new road being built. *(City of Vancouver Archives, SGN 91)*

While this information can be a useful starting place for those with little knowledge of the peninsula before it was made into a park, the Working Group has flagged these records as incomplete for various reasons.

As Dunlop describes it, when SPIWG was digging into the park’s history there was some information that was not included in the archives. “That was done, in some ways it seems like, on purpose,” she told TWEJ.

Specifically, this historical obfuscation has come up around the removal of people from the park in the late 1800’s.

“The way in which that took place, there's just more details there,” Dunlop said.

“This [history] includes the deliberate destruction of individual family property paired with the dehumanization of long standing residents in multiple village sites during the first half of the park’s history,” reads the 2018 report.

Dunlop noted that there is a process in place to protect the specific information that is being presented by the Nations until the Working Group has agreed on what those histories are and how to share them more broadly.

Dunlop emphasized the need to create a process that independently and equally explores and honors each Nations’ different histories in the area, rather than creating competition between the Nations over which history is more valid.

“What the Nations have told us and the archaeological evidence, all point to this truth, that the Nations have been living in this region for at least 10,000 years” Dunlop said.

“So they're comfortable with sharing land with each other,” Dunlop said, “it’s the colonial systems that have kind of forced them into this, at times, [position of] declaring whose history is of priority. So we didn't want to perpetuate that, we wanted to come to the table and honor the differences between those histories.”

For example, Dunlop continued, “one thing we know is that Squamish Nation members in the past have had a lot of information documented because that's who the settlers back then interviewed. And so there's that kind of record history from the colonial perspective of Squamish Nation, but that doesn't mean that Musqueam Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s history is any less.”

One example of this asymmetrical documentation is reflected in the many transcribed interviews recorded by J.S. Matthews, who served as City of Vancouver archivist between 1933 and 1970. August Jack Khahtsahlano, a prominent Squamish man, was a frequent interlocutor with Matthews, according to Barman.

This gets at a core “responsibility,” as the 2018 report puts it, for the Park Board to “share the true history of the park… [which] remains widely unknown to the average visitor.”

Sharing this could take many forms according to Dunlop, including digital media for people to watch, tours, in addition to more conventional signs or plaques.

Shore to Shore by Luke Marston is a 14 foot bronze sculpture, surrounded by Portuguese stone, that depicts Marston’s great-great-grandmother Kwahama Kwatleematt, his great-great-grandfather Joe Silvey, and Silvey’s first wife Khaltinaht. (Nate Lewis photo)

Dunlop noted the SPIWG is not at the point of deciding what histories will be communicated to visitors or where that will be done.

While not associated directly with the SPIWG, there are already some representations of First Nations’ connection to the area that have been introduced in the park over the past 15 years. Sculptures and monuments by Coast Salish artists include People Amongst the People by Musqueam artist Susan A. Point and Shore to Shore by master carver Luke Marston. Erected in 2008 and 2015 respectively, they can be found surrounding the larger totem pole display near Brockton Point.

Both these pieces and the work of the Intergovernmental Working Group are a part of recognizing the history and culture of those who lived on and around the peninsula long before, and after, it was named Stanley Park.

The inventory and analysis report is expected to be presented to Park Board Commissioners later this year.

MAPPING INVASIVE SPECIES

The Stanley Park Ecology Society (SPES) has been working with Sammy Alkhalifa, a graduate student in the Sustainability Scholars Program at the University of British Columbia, to map invasive species in Stanley Park.

The map uses point data to indicate a single instance of invasive species, such as English Holly, and polygon data to indicate patches of an invasive species, such as English Ivy. *(Map prepared by Andy Ferguson)*

The project has been using a spatial mapping software called ArcGIS. SPES volunteers use their phones to download a map layer that includes all the known invasive species in the park (there are around 30 of them). Volunteers can then input the location of new invasives they find in the field. Their data then flows back to SPES’s centralized database to create an ever-changing map of invasive species in the park.

Dacyn Holinda, the conservation projects manager with SPES, explained that the map allows SPES’s dedicated invasive removal team to set priorities and focus on clearing areas of high ecological value, like areas known as hot spots for biodiversity, or which have more native plant species. They can also use the data for analysis and to give the Ecology Society an overall view of what’s happening with invasive species in the park.

Looking at the map, it may seem like the east side of the park has more invasive species than the western side. However, that’s not the full picture.

According to Holinda, this perceived difference has more to do with ease of access, terrain, and no-go zones near cliffs and steep slopes on the west side of the park, which means the volunteers can’t access those areas as readily. Likewise, the lines of invasives in the center of the park can also be deceiving. They tell you more about where trails are located than the concentration of unwanted plants in those areas.

The program has been quite popular with SPES’s volunteers, particularly students, with large numbers of people coming out this winter to participate in the mapping sessions.

“Because GIS mapping is a skill that a lot of environmental professionals use and need, this is a nice opportunity for undergraduates and [others] to get some real world field experience,” Holinda told TWEJ.

Alkhalifa’s research with the Sustainability Scholars Program has now come to an end, but SPES aims to collaborate on projects that don’t exist in a vacuum. With that in mind, Holinda said volunteers will continue being able to input data through ArcGIS and the map will continue to update with the new information.

THE HERONS ARE BACK!

Pacific great blue herons have returned to nest in Stanley Park for the 23rd consecutive year. Last year, the colony raised approximately 90 new heron chicks, according to the Park Board.

Heron nests sit empty over the winter. *(Nate Lewis photo)*

The location of the colony is peculiar. While herons are typically sensitive to loud noise, this colony has mysteriously persisted while located directly above the tennis courts near Park Lane. Likewise, they’ve continued to return over the years despite other noisy activities, like nearby firework displays and seaplane traffic, which would presumably disturb most heron colonies.

In their first monitoring session of 2023 SPES observed 87 nests and 79 herons in the colony.

A camera installed on top of an adjacent apartment building gives the public a bird’s eye view of the colony as the herons build and repair their nests, engage in courtship and lay eggs, withstand raids from eagles in the area, and ultimately hatch their chicks!

You can check out the live stream here.

The birds are currently in the early stages of nesting season, which includes competitive behaviours between males as they try to secure sticks to plump up their nests. SPES anticipates the first eggs could be laid in the next few weeks.

IN OTHER NEWS

The Park Board has cancelled the Easter Train event for this year as the Stanley Park Railway remains closed due to a failed safety inspection in November.

“A recommissioning plan to put the train back on track for late spring or early summer has been proposed,” according to a Park Board press release, “and a comprehensive timeline for repairs and regular train operations will be shared with the public as soon as possible.”

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