2.0 Stories of the Land

STORIES OF THE LAND

STORIES OF THE LAND Figure 28: Screenshot of Double Headed Serpent, taken from ‘The Double Headed Serpent’ - An Animation of the Musqueam Origin Story by Saki Murotani, 2015. (https://vimeo.com/157540577)

Meet your Hosts: xʷməθkʷəyəm

“The name Musqueam relates back to the flowering plant, məθkʷəy, which grows in the Fraser River estuary. There is a sχʷəyem that has been passed on from generation to generation that explains how we became known as the xʷməθkʷəyəm – People of the məθkʷəy plant.

The old people spoke of a small lake called xʷməmqʷe:m (Camosun Bog) where the sʔi:ɬqəy (double-headed serpent) originated. They were warned as youth to be cautious and not go near or they would surely die. This sʔi:ɬqəy was so massive its winding path from the lake to the staləw (river) became the creek flowing through Musqueam to this day. Everything the serpent passed over died and from its droppings bloomed a new plant,

the məθkʷəy.

For this reason, the people of long ago named that place xʷməθkʷəyəm (Musqueam – place of the məθkʷəy)” (Musqueam’s Story, n.d.).

“The Musqueam people have been present in what is now Greater Vancouver for several thousands of years. Archaeological journals have recorded evidence of Musqueam’s existence in this area, particularly the Marpole midden - located at the mouth of the North Arm of the Fraser River, in excess of 4,000 years and at the Musqueam reserve in excess of 3,500 years. Over 143 heritage sites were recorded in Musqueam Traditional Territory in Musqueam’s 1984 Comprehensive Land Claims submission to Canada. In the interim eighteen sites have been documented for a total of 161.

Current Musqueam values and teachings are based on our traditional culture. A major part of these teachings and values is the kinship system. Family and relations are more closely defined in Musqueam’s teachings than in Euro-Canadian ways. Traditionally, large extended families lived close together and the children were taught the importance of family and family history. Our people lived in multi-family homes that have been called bighouses. Large extended families lived in one house (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, children, etc.) These families shared in all the tasks and chores of a household. Yet, each nuclear family was kept separate by partitions often made of bulrush mats. When it came to the teachings and the learning of the traditional ways everybody partook in this informal education process. It was very important that our customary system of authority be taught to the young people. Power was given and controlled within the families. When a problem arose in the community each house was represented by a person who was selected by the family to represent them – to be the head of the family on that particular issue. There was no formal structural level of government as there is today. There was no need to have the forms of government that came with the Indian Agent and the Indian Act. Our people did not always agree as one people, but the teachings were the same. No matter what the situation it could always be solved through our traditional and cultural form of government/authority.

Our people still practice our tradition and culture in our bighouse. The ceremonies, which happen in our big house, are very sacred and private to our people. We try and keep these ceremonies private because we feel it is one of the few things we have left that is our own and we would like to have this part of our culture and traditions kept strong in our community. Participating in bighouse gatherings can be very informal, without invitation as well as large formal gatherings; a specific ceremony or work is to be done. The small informal gatherings happen anytime and often for no reason other than to socialize with family and friends. Our people have always enjoyed spending evenings with our own community members as well as our extended families from neighbouring communities. This is a time to take advantage of telling old stories, passing on teachings, and sharing a meal with one another. Larger more formal gatherings are planned well in advance and formal invitation is given to our own community as well as numerous other native communities who practice our same culture and traditions. These gatherings are usually put on by families who wish to pass on a traditional name to a family member who has earned and has a right to that name by way of family lineage. The family may also want to have a memorial for a deceased family member. Another purpose for a large gathering would be to have a traditional marriage ceremony; this is very rarely practiced today since this form of marriage is not recognized to be legal.

Eventually, with colonization and the introduction and influence of the Indian Act, which was administered by the Indian Agent, our traditional and customary system of authority quickly became secondary without the awareness of native leadership. This imposed a different way of life upon the Musqueam people” (Our Story, n.d.).

Meet Your Hosts: Sḵwxwú7mesh

“Our Squamish Ancestors and leaders protected and preserved our knowledge systems though practice, rather than the written word. It is by our people’s tenacity, grace and collective memory, passed from generation to generation, that we maintain an intimate connection to our lands and traditions” -Sxwelhcháliya (Councillor Julie Baker), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.

“The Squamish Nation, as a government, has existed since 1923. In our language, we are called Sḵwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw. Prior to 1923, the Squamish People were socially, economically, and politically organized into several physical communities called an úxwumixw (“village; people”) in the territory of the Squamish People. The territory of the Squamish People includes the Burrard Inlet, English Bay, False Creek, and Howe Sound watersheds… The Squamish Language is spoken today by dozens of Squamish People as a second-language. It has been learned from our elders who held onto the knowledge of the language after a significant decline in the population of first-language speakers. The Sḵwxwú7mesh sníchim (Squamish language) is an independent language that belongs to the Salish language family….The whole Salish language family consists of five branches with each branch language sharing many things in common compared to other branches…. The Squamish People are the Indigenous Peoples who speak the Sḵwxwú7mesh sníchim. Today, the term “Squamish Nation” is often used to describe this group of Coast Salish people, however in the long ago there was no word for “nation” and the Squamish simply called themselves Sḵwxwú7mesh or “the Squamish People.” The Sḵwxwú7mesh sníchim, although critically endangered, is still a vital part of the Squamish culture” (Squamish Nation Website, n.d.).

“Our people’s history spans many millennia of living and governing our territory. The oldest archaeological site in the territory of the Squamish People is 8,600 years old at Porteau Cove in the Howe Sound. Our oral literature speaks to our origins as a people in our lands through the stories of first ancestors of the Squamish People….Squamish culture has been created from

our lands, waters, and people over generations. Our people continue to practice many of the traditions, customs, and ways of our ancestors and pass them onto future generations...The modern era of Squamish Nation history started in 1923 when a majority of the Squamish People who were eligible voters at the time all voted to request the Federal Department of Indian Affairs amalgamate several different Indian Bands with Squamish People into a single entity called the Squamish Nation. The amalgamation request was approved and all accounts were merged, all Indian Reserve lands were to be held by the single entity, and all Squamish People were to receive equal distribution of any revenue received from any of the 26 different Indian Reserve lands that belonged to all Squamish People” (Squamish Nation Website, n.d.).

For more information, please visit the Squamish Nation website, as well as the book Story of the Squamish Nation (2020) by Kultsia.

Figure 29: Squamish Carving, “About Our Nation”, Squamish Nation, n.d. Accessed December 6, 2021 from https://www.squamish.net/about-our-nation/

Meet Your Hosts: Səlílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh

“Our oral history tells us up to 10,000 Tsleil-Waututh members lived in our traditional territory, before contact with Europeans. Our ancestors’ survival depended on cycles of hunting, harvesting and preserving foods, and on trade with our neighbours.

Originally, our great nation was about 10,000 strong, a distinct Coast Salish nation whose territory includes Burrard Inlet and the waters draining into it.

Our people lived by a “seasonal round,” a complex cycle of food gathering and spiritual and cultural activities that formed the heart of our culture. In winter, community members congregated in large villages located in sheltered bays. Shed-roofed houses up to several hundred feet in length were divided into individual family apartments. Our people subsisted largely on stored dried foods gathered and processed throughout the rest of the year. Winter activities included wood carving, weaving blankets of mountaingoat wool, and participating in spiritual ceremonies.

In late spring, families would disperse to set up camps on virtually every beach and protected cove in TsleilWaututh territory. Our people transported planks from the winter houses by canoe to construct smaller summer structures. From these base camps, we made excursions to hunt, fish and gather food, as resources became seasonally available. Some food was consumed immediately; others were processed and stored for winter. Many of our ancestors and elders were devastated by contact with Europeans from smallpox, residential schools, and cultural suppression.

In mid-July or early August, most of the Tsleil-Waututh and other Coast Salish groups travelled to the Fraser River to catch and dry the most favoured type of salmon: sockeye. During this time, people would visit, exchange news of relatives, and form alliances. We also harvested and dried large volumes of berries during the summer.

After the Fraser River run finished in the fall, TsleilWaututh families would congregate in camps on the Indian, Capilano, Seymour and other rivers to fish for pink and chum salmon. Most of the catch was dried for winter use or trade. By December, families returned to their winter villages with the provisions collected throughout the year, and the cycle began again.

We have discovered numerous archaeological sites where our ancestors gathered, some are thousands of years old. We’ve truly been here since time out of mind.

Our Elders tell us, once Europeans arrived, a majority of our population was decimated by disease. We also hear how our people survived other difficult times-colonialism, the reserve system and residential schools. Despite this devastation, our people helped build Vancouver and North Vancouver, persevered in the stewardship of our territory, continued practicing and passing down our language and culture however we could. We found our way through the change happening in the world around us” (Our Nation & Governance, n.d.).

Figure 30: ‘Cates Park (Whey ah Whichen)’ by Damian George, 2000. (https:// kelownaartgallery.pastperfectonline.com/webobject/675E9F19-ADA04420-B167-731220488398) STORIES OF THE LAND

The Gardens of Senáḵw: It has been said the lost ecology of Skwácháys, Senáḵw, and the False Creek mudflats resembled that of present-day Boundary Bay. Using this knowledge and several recorded histories and other Indigenous resources, this visual is a speculative depiction of Lee Maracle’s Gardens of Senáḵw. It is meant to convey what respect, reciprocity, and responsibility to the land actually looks like and emphasizes the matriarchal presence in First Nations communities.

The Tale of Skwácháys: as told by T’uy’t’tanat- Cease Wyss, Skwxwú7mesh storyteller and ethnobotanist: Skwácháys is the name that was given to what was originally a massive saltwater marshland. It was a place of abundance that provided sufficient food and materials not simply for survival but for prosperity. This site was named as such for the tunnels that the Sínulhḵay made, the two-headed sea serpent. That is what Skwácháys means, “underground tunnels made by the Sínulhḵay.” Wyss says, “Our people know that this has always been an active site of the Sínulhḵay. This creature can live underground and create tunnels to get from one point to another with lightning speed. The two heads each represent the dark and light sides of life, and how they can be seen as teaching us to honour these two sides that every one of us is capable of using in our everyday lives.” Settlers transformed this invaluable wetland site into ‘developable’ land over the past 100+ years into present-day False Creek.

Figure 31: Section-Perspective Digital Drawing of the Gardens of Senáḵw by Nicole Dulong, 2021. STORIES OF THE LAND

Senáḵw is an Indigenous village located on the False Creek shore near present day Kitsilano and Granville Island. Before the Squamish settlement here in the mid 1800’s, Lee Maracle referred to it as a common garden shared by all the friendly tribes. It was also the home of Chief August Jack Khahtsahlano. Senáḵw has often been referred to as an Indigenous supermarket; an incredibly important location for catching fish along the sand bar, and is a traumatic site of forced Indigenous displacement by the BC government in 1915.

Lost Ecologies: From the same oral histories and resources used to depict the Gardens of Senáḵw, the representation on the right depicts the once vast oceanic chain that connected the intensely rich mudflat ecosystem to the coastal hemlock forest. These stories and legends spoke of giant sturgeon 4m long, smelt trapping, camas foraging, and fir trees as tall as 400 feet. The graphic emphasizes those botanical and animal species and where they might be found in such an ecosystem. It attempts to highlight the interconnectedness of these subzones and their importance in ecosystem function, health, resiliency, and general biodiversity. See “Grid of Botanical and Animal Species by Nicole Dulong, 2021.”

Figure 32: Section-Isometric Digital Drawing of Lost Ecology of Senáḵw by Nicole Dulong, 2021.

Placeholder: Forced Removal from Senáḵw

Deer Lake: In Legends of Vancouver (1911), Takehionwake (Pauline Johnson) recounts a Legend of a Great Seal King shared with her by Chief Capilano. It is known as The Legend of Deer Lake and tells the story of how the first Chief Capilano discovered an unknown waterway between False Creek and Deer Lake. The story describes how a young hunter speared a “king” harbour seal in False Creek with a magical elk-bone spear only to lose the beast to a hidden underground creek. Months later, he awoke to a forest fire—an “omen” to the east. On the shore of Deer Lake, he found the remains of the seal and recovered his magical elk-bone spear. Reunited with his spear, the man became a brave hunter and the first Chief of Capilano (Legends of Vancouver, n.d.). Read Pauline Johnson’s book Legends of Vancouver (1911) for a longer depiction of this amazing story.

Figure 33: Grid of Botanical and Animal Species by Nicole Dulong, 2021. STORIES OF THE LAND

Origin of the name False Creek: George Henry Richards

named False Creek during his survey of the coast in the mid-19th century. He thought he was going up a creek while travelling the south side of the Burrard Inlet but soon discovered his mistake, hence the name ‘False’ (Granville Island, n.d).

The Loss of the False Creek Mudflats: First contact

between European colonists and the MST First Nations occurred in June 1792, bringing along smallpox and other diseases that killed thousands of Indigenous people. Over the next 200 years, colonizers began the monumental task of clearcutting oldgrowth western red cedar and mountain hemlock forests, literally paving the way for modern development. The natural shoreline of Skwácháys was logged tree by tree, and the shoreline was fortified. With this fortification, the Indigenous Land Stewards were forcibly removed, natural cycles and purification systems became disrupted, and the water conditions edged toward deplorable. In the early to mid-1900s, False Creek was used as a dumping ground for sewage and waste from sawmills, residences, and restaurants around the city. By 1911, 22 lumber mills were in operation along the shores of False Creek (Donald Luxton and Associates 2013). It was eventually decided the land beneath False Creek was better suited to human and industrial uses than ecological ones, and by 1916, the government ordered excavated soil from the Grandview Cut to fill in the Flats, along with aggregate, garbage, and other industrial waste material (Donald Luxton and Associates 2013). The land was designated as the end of the national rail line, and shortly after the new shoreline or ‘seawall’ was constructed. Today, False Creek ‘dazzles’ as a modern global waterfront with development on the rise, but it is feared, with its low-lying position, and evident susceptibility to flooding and sea-level rise that it may not always stay this way. Refer to Section 1.6 Future Conditions.

Hobo Jungle: During the 1930s, the Heatley Avenue landfill site became one of three city ‘jungles’ providing areas of temporary shelter for the city’s unemployed men, who had been severely affected by the stock market crash of 1929. The dump at Heatley Avenue “had a population of over four hundred men who lived in board and tin shacks with a view across the remaining water of False Creek” (Donald Luxton and Associates 2013). A quote from around this time from a City official reads, “No citizen can travel over the False Creek area without feeling that the city dump there is Public Enemy No. 1 of this city... It is your job and mine to mold public opinion to demand the cleaning up of this cess-pool” (Donald Luxton and Associates 2013). Interestingly, this area is near where Strathcona Park is today and is still an area used by the housing deprived and marginalized, whereby its residents still exist under constant threat of removal from city authorities.

Figure 35: Photograph of the ‘Hobo Jungle’, 1931. (https://scoutmagazine. ca/2018/02/20/the-vancouver-park-with-the-hobo-jungle-past/) STORIES OF THE LAND

Figure 36: Photograph of Historic Chinatown, 1945. (https://zolimacitymag.com/hongkong-in-vancouver-chinatown-is-fighting-for-its-life/) Disclaimer: The authors welcome and intend for their current depiction of the history of Hogan’s Alley, Chinatown, and Strathcona to be amended and fortified by the voices and shared stories of the community, past and present.

“Hogan’s Alley was not just a Black only neighbourhood at all. It is where Italians in Vancouver traced their origins to as well, and it was right on the edge of Chinatown” - Wayde Compton (Secret Vancouver 2016).

Chinese Community: Between 1863 and 1869, over 15,000 Chinese workers helped build the TransContinental Railway. While white workers were given accommodation in train cars and fair wages, the Chinese workers slept in tents and were paid much less (Sayej, 2019). Chinese immigration boomed in the late 1890s, developing the beginnings of what is now Chinatown. Around 1890, there were over 1000 Chinese residents, but the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 quickly halted immigration to Canada. The decline of the Chinese population was accelerated during the Great Depression in the 1930s (NEFC Plan, 2018). The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947 after great efforts made by Wong Foo Sien. After the act was repealed, Chinese Canadians were granted citizenship and were allowed to vote (NEFC Plan, 2018). As a result, Chinatown became a flourishing neighbourhood. Because of Hogan’s Alley’s proximity to Chinatown and the railway, many Chinese residents naturally found themselves in the Hogan’s Alley area.

Jewish Community: The majority of Jewish folks that came to Vancouver immigrated from Victoria after leaving California. One of the Jewish men from the community, David Oppenheimer, moved to Vancouver, where he later became the city’s second mayor. Many other Jews moved north from California to Victoria and later to Vancouver after the CPR made Vancouver the Terminal City (Johnson, 2016). The first Jewish community was in Strathcona, as it was the starting point for most cultural communities. Many of the Jewish folks in Strathcona at the time were Yiddish-speaking storekeepers, tailors, shoemakers, peddlers, and artisans, practicing the skills they picked up in Eastern Europe (Ghiuzeli, n.d.). The Jewish community established itself in Strathcona by establishing the Schara Tzedek synagogue in 1948 (which later became the B’nai Yehuda synagogue in 1911) and a full-time day school called Talmud Torah in 1921 (Jewish Independent, n.d.). The synagogue hosted after-school Jewish programming, and many other programs were facilitated at the National Council of Jewish Women Neighbourhood house, which opened on Jackson Street in 1924. The NCJW helped new immigrants settle, find employment, learn English, and established the Well Baby Clinic, which helped parents care for their families and immunize their children (Jewish Independent, n.d.). In 1948, a group of Holocaust survivors arrived in Vancouver, which included 47 children. Then other Jewish refugees came from Iraq in the 1950s, Hungary in 1956, and more from other countries into the 60s and as late as the 90s. The NCJW was instrumental in welcoming and assisting these refugees (Ghiuzeli, n.d.). The hub for the Jewish community is now in Oakridge.

Figure 37: Photograph of The National Council of Jewish Women Neighbourhood House at Jackson Ave. and Union St., n.d. (https://jewishmuseum.ca/exhibit/more-than-just-mrs/ )

Figure 38: Drawing of Macaroni Joe, Neighbourhood Patron and Wine Maker by Marije Stryker, 2021. Italian Community: The Italian community has been a part of Vancouver since before the city was incorporated in 1886. Some of the first Italians in the area worked building the Canadian Pacific Railway’s extension from Port Moody to Coal Harbour. The first substantial wave of Italian immigration took place between 1896 and 1914. As Patricia Wood notes in her book Nationalism from the Margins: Italians in Alberta and British Columbia, “At the time, of a total [city] population of around 27,000 [in the 1890s] there were only about one hundred Italians” (Atkin, 2016). But by the early 1900s, that number had increased to 1,500, with many settling in today’s Strathcona, close to the City of Vancouver’s works yards at Main and Union Streets which provided employment (Atkin, 2016).

The Italian population grew large enough that in August 1900, restaurateur Agostina Ferrera was appointed to serve as the Italian consul; previously, consular services had been handled out of Halifax. Thus, in the early 20th century, Strathcona was ‘Little Italy.’ The neighbourhood was home to several pioneering Italian businesses, including Crosetti’s on Main Street, Benny’s Italian Market, Minichiello’s Grocery (later Union Market), and Giuriatti’s (Atkin, 2016). The 1911 census showed 2500 residents of Italian descent living in Vancouver (this figure includes the former municipalities of South Vancouver and Point Grey), and by 1931 that number would grow to 3590. The next and more significant wave of Italian immigration happened after the Second World War between 1947 and 1973. The population would grow from 5,095 in 1951 to 19,020 by 1971. Outgrowing the original Strathcona community and pushed out by redevelopment plans for the area, the Italian community spread out over a large area of East Vancouver (Atkin, 2016).

Hogan’s Alley: “There has been a Black community in Vancouver since before there was a Vancouver.” Wayde Compton (Vancouver Heritage Foundation, n.d.).

The Beginnings: The first Black immigrants (of African Descent) arrived in so-called British Columbia from California in 1858 on invitation from Governor James Douglas (Black Strathcona, 2021). They initially settled in Victoria and Salt Spring Island but began migrating to Vancouver in the early 1900s. Unfortunately, the Victoria experience was not as rosy as it sounded, and Vancouver Island failed to be the haven from discrimination and racism they expected. In fact, Pilton (1951) asserts that some felt they experienced more prejudice here than in the United States (Pilton, 1951). Eventually, they made their homes in Strathcona, numbering somewhere in the realm of 800 – a number that was halved after the end of the American Civil War (Black Strathcona, 2021). Even then, Strathcona was an east side, workingclass neighbourhood that was the original home to Vancouver’s Italian and Jewish communities and the southern edge of Chinatown. It was and is still, of course, home to the MST Nations before foreign settlement. Refer to the beginning of Section 2.0 Stories of the Land: Meet Your Hosts.

Figure 39: Drawing of the Sun Setting over Hogan’s Alley by Marije Stryker, 2021.

Figure 40: Photograph of Sleeping Car Porters ‘Tourist Car, Serving Tea’, n.d. (https://www. cranbrookhistorycentre.com/how-the-black-sleeping-car-porters-shaped-canada/) Canadian Pacific Railway: The decision to locate

the Canadian Pacific Railway’s western terminus in Vancouver in 1886 was an additional contributing factor to settlement in False Creek and Strathcona, as the one-block long logging outpost, known as Granville, became a city that provided a link to the rest of Canada. The CPR built its roundhouse, repair shops and tracks on the False Creek mud flats making it a labour hotspot and a popular area for settlement for the Black community. Black settlement in the Strathcona neighbourhood was then fortified by Black homesteaders from Alberta in 1908 who originally came from Oklahoma, and by Black railroad porters (Black Strathcona: Sleeping Car Porters, 2014). Other established stations in the area were the Great Northern Railway Station and the Canadian National Station that perpetuated the desire for and the role of porters.

The Railroad Porters: The legacy of the railroad porters remains a vital facet in the history of Hogan’s Alley. For an accurate recount of this commonly ‘untold story’, we present John Belshaw’s review of Cecil Foster’s They Call Me George: The Untold Story of Black Train Porters and the Birth of Modern Canada.

“From 1909 the role of railway sleeping car porter — the folks who served passengers on the once-rather-grand carriages of this country — was filled exclusively by

Black men. This situation arose (and I simplify here) from the near-monopoly held by the “Pullman service” imported from the USA. George Pullman wanted to deliver an experience that echoed the style of hospitality in grand Southern mansions. A key part of that was the male servant: Black and ubiquitously known as “George.” The Pullman Corporation franchised-out their services to railway companies across North America, including the Canadian Pacific, the Canadian National, and various other lines. So it came to pass that “George” was encountered in his hundreds from coast to coast and from decade to decade: carrying bags, serving drinks, and setting up beds while carriages swayed gently down the tracks. It was a job for Black men and only Black men need apply.” (Belshaw and Foster 2020) Further Establishment: One of the original institutions in Hogan’s Alley was the porter’s quarters, which resembled a lounge, and helped perpetuate a mix of more permanent residents with other transient folks in the area. The Vaudeville Circuits often frequented the Pacific Northwest via Vancouver due to its position as the Western terminus station. Several performers ultimately stayed in Vancouver upon arrival, while others returned after the troupe went under in Seattle, such as the Hendrix family. Housing discrimination in other parts of Vancouver (Refer to section 2.0 Stories of the Land: Discriminatory Policies) and Nora Hendrix’s establishment of the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel in 1923 further reinforced the city’s Black population in this area.

Figure 41: Archival News Article from The Vancouver Sun ‘Presenting the Return of ‘Big Time’ Vaudeville’, 1958.(https://forbiddenvancouver.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2015/03/Majestic-Vaudeville-1958-3-13-Vancouver-Sunday-Sun.jpg) STORIES OF THE LAND

Etymology of Hogan’s Alley: The name’s origin is

surrounded by ‘all sorts of weird urban myths’ of who Hogan might have been. The most widely accepted version is about a comic strip by Richard F. Outcault, racist not only to the Black community but also the Irish. It portrays a ‘comically chaotic’ Irish ghetto in Hell’s Kitchen in New York. A century ago, one might mention a ghetto and say it was a regular ‘Hogan’s Alley’; an idiom for poor neighbourhoods. It has been said the name was in use before 1914, the original name of the space was lost, and it was referred to as Hogan’s Alley (Secret Vancouver, 2016).

Form: Hogan’s Alley was the local, unofficial name for Park Lane. This alley ran through the southwestern corner of Strathcona in so-called Vancouver during the first six decades of the twentieth century. It was a T-shaped alley whose north/south axis ran parallel to Main Street between Union and Prior Streets from approximately Main Street to Jackson Avenue. This T-shaped intersection formed the nucleus of Vancouver’s vibrant Black community (Compton, 2014).

Figure 42: ‘What did they do to the dog-catcher in Hogan’s Alley’ by RF Outcault, September 20, 1896. (https://pasttensevancouver.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/theelusive-hogans-alley-part-2/)

Culture & Vibrancy: “We were Hollywood north before it was even an idea” - John Atkin (Secret Vancouver, 2016).

By the 1930s and ‘40s, so-called Vancouver was well established, and the city’s nightclubs attracted visitors far and wide. This entertainment industry played an incredible role in the city’s development, and Hogan’s Alley was no exception. Many of the women in the community, for whom rail work was not an option, sought ownership of chicken houses that often doubled as speakeasies such as Vie’s Chicken and Steak house. It was an incredibly vibrant destination for food and song. Over the years, Vie’s and establishments like it, attracted several famous customers including: the Mills Brothers, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sammy Davis Jr., who often visited in the early morning hours after their Vancouver shows had ended. Other performers from the East End Black community who achieved renown include the singer and actor Thelma Gibson-Towns and her brother Leonard Gibson, a dancer of note whose Negro Workshop Dance Group led to his work in with the Ballet of British Columbia, the Crump Twins, Ronald J. and Robert P, and their sister Honey Carlisle (Secret Vancouver, 2016 and Compton, 2014).

Figure 43: Photograph of the Crump Twins, Pulled From the YouTube Video ‘Secret Vancouver: Return to Hogan’s Alley’, February 17, 2016. (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=B-8lgpvj0Hg)

Nora Hendrix: One of Hogan’s Alley’s most famous resident is quite likely Nora Hendrix, the paternal grandmother of the musician Jimi Hendrix. Much if not all of his time, particularly during boyhood, was spent with his grandmother, Nora Hendrix. Nora lived nearby and worked as a cook at the infamous chicken house Vie’s, run and operated by Vie Moore from 1948 to 1975. Both the shrine and the chicken house share the same location, and it has been said that as a young man, Hendrix was often found busking outside the chicken shack or jamming at local clubs, even playing at the PNE in ’69 (McLachlan, 2019).

Nora was involved in the community from the 1920s to its demise, remaining nearby until the 1980s. As mentioned, Nora was responsible for the fundraising and founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel in 1923. Her name and legacy now lives on in the title of the modular social housing project on the 898 Main Street block as Nora Hendrix Place.

Figure 44: Portrait Photograph of Nora Hendrix, 1999. (http://www.jimihendrix-lifelines. net/1968jan-june/styled-265/styled-266/index.html)

Placeholder For Other Revered Residents

Figure 45: Archival Isometric Drawing of an Urban Renewal Strategy for an Area Including Hogan’s Alley. Taken from ‘Rebuilding a Neighbourhood’ by Leonard C. Marsh, University of British Columbia, 1950.

Urban Renewal: The Strathcona, Chinatown, and Hogan’s Alley neighbourhoods were considered bustling working-class immigrant enclaves, but generally speaking, poor neighbourhoods. From as early as 1929, Hogan’s Alley was subject to a long debate regarding its status as a ‘slum’. Not long after, a shift in city bylaws discouraged the area’s development as a residential neighbourhood (Compton, 2014). Historical recounts of the neighbourhood often speak of slumlike conditions of disease, blight, immorality, and crime but often fail to mention that the consistent and intentional neglect by the so-called city of Vancouver led to that decline. Along the same lines, their mention of illicit activities such as prostitution, gambling, and bootlegging are completely void of context, where a combination of necessity, survival, and discrimination perpetuated these activities.

Figure 46: Archival Drawings of an Urban Renewal Housing Typology. Taken from ‘Rebuilding a Neighbourhood’ by Leonard C. Marsh, University of British Columbia, 1950.

To ‘cure’ the city of this ‘blight’, the municipal government proposed a new urban renewal district for the entire area within Main St., Victoria, the False Creek Rail Yard and the harbour to the north. The project proposed a vast array of public housing projects, and to welcome the arrival of suburban car culture, a 12 lane freeway layered right on top. Wayde Compton explains that their justification for the building of a freeway at the site of Hogan’s Alley and half of Chinatown was “tied to the creation of two tower blocks in Strathcona: MacLean Park and the Raymur Social Housing Project, where both were meant to absorb the residents displaced by the freeway” (Compton, 2014).

Figure 47: Archival Plan Drawing of an Urban Renewal Strategy for an Area Including Hogan’s Alley. Taken from ‘Rebuilding a Neighbourhood’ by Leonard C. Marsh, University of British Columbia, 1950.

“Everywhere I go, every city I go to, has a story of what Urban Renewal did to that city. It is invariably something that happened in a Black neighbourhood or a Chinatown, and in Vancouver, it was both.” - Wayde Compton (Secret Vancouver, 2016).

After significant opposition, the city abandoned its urban renewal policy, but not before the approval and construction of a new Georgia Viaduct that ultimately destroyed parts of Hogan’s Alley, and many homes and businesses (Walling, 2011). Chinatown was saved, but few markers of the Black community that had once been there remained (Compton, 2014).

Figure 48: Archival Image of Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts, Screenshot from Secret Vancouver: Return to Hogan’s Alley. YouTube, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-8lgpvj0Hg&t=318s STORIES OF THE LAND

Figure 49: ‘Girl in Motion’ by Robert Genn, from the Expo ‘86 Collection Posters for Vancouver, 1986. (https://kerrisdalegallery.com/print/robert-genn-girl-in-motion-expo-86-signed-artist-proof/)

Discriminatory Policies

Disclaimer: The authors welcome and intend for their current depiction of discriminatory policies to be amended and fortified by the voices and shared stories of the community, past and present.

Content warning: The following section deals with some of the discriminatory policies that enabled slavery, residential schools, and many other forms of racism (with mention of racist language) that still affect the lives of BIPOC individuals to this day.

The False Narrative of False Creek: The majority

of archival information presented by the so-called city of Vancouver today was initially funnelled through a dominion agent for approval before dissemination (Sierra Tasi Baker, 2021). This approval process led to a falsified version of Vancouver’s history and origins, boasting pride in industrialization, exploration, settlement, and development. It shrouds the long endured colonial violence, erasure, and displacement under a guise of celebrated economic incentive and a ‘dazzling modern waterfront.’ Today, land and water are fractured along the seawall and creatures of the land and sea are separated through colonial design. This organization of space is in stark contrast with precolonial Senáḵw and Skwácháys in which land and sea

existed in a continuous state of flux, the gradation of which created a lush habitat for Indigenous plants and animals. The present condition is far from this state. It is currently not advisable to swim in the water due to the amount of raw sewage that is dumped into the waters of Senáḵw and Skwácháys by the so-called city of Vancouver.

Legalizing Racism

The Imperial Act was enacted in 1793 in Britain, giving legal protection to slave-holding and formally enabled slavery in Canada. This Act permitted the entry of “Negroes, household furniture, utensils of husbandry or clothing” into Canada (Roy, n.d.). By this time, slavery was already an established practice, but this legislation was a formal recognition of the practice (Roy, n.d.). Canada continued to practice slavery until early in the 19th century (Sheppard, 1997). Up until 1939, the highest court in Canada had decided that racial discrimination was legally enforceable and aided in legislation that enforced segregated schools and communities and limited property rights (Walker, 1997).

Figure 50: Photograph of People Protesting School Segregation, n.d. (https://www.bbc. com/news/world-us-canada-45875045)

Planning, Housing, etc.

American planner Harland Bartholomew was hired in 1926 to conceive the first official city plan for Vancouver. Bartholomew, being a segregationist, brought his white supremacist ideas into his zoning plans. He developed land-use classifications based on density and home quality, which allowed him to keep racialized and lowerincome communities separate from more affluent white neighbourhoods (Allen, 2002, p. 26). His plan for the city, which he produced in 1929, located the industrial land-use zones near low-income and racialized communities. This plan came to fruition with a bylaw from 1931 that designated much of Hogan’s Alley as an industrial zone rather than residential (Allen, 2002, p. 34). Individuals who required home improvement loans or mortgages found it extremely difficult to do because lending institutions did not wish to invest in residential properties in an industrial area. This ultimately led to devastating economic effects such as low-value residences and homes needing many repairs (Allen, 2002, p. 34). This is a key example of redlining.

Later in the 20th century, Bartholomew played a vital role in implementing urban renewal, which included the construction of the viaduct (Allen, 2002, p. 27-29). Urban renewal was formally implemented in the policies of the Housing Act of 1944. In this act, there were offers to provide financial aid to projects that involved “acquiring and clearing blighted residential areas” (Pickett, 1968, p. 233). The core ideology of urban renewal is described by an employee of CMHC working on urban renewal in Calgary as: “slums were the physical evidence of the urban organism’s failure to renew itself. In the popular metaphor, which completed the biological analogy, slums were cancers” (Smith, 1985, p.9). Other policies that aided in the implementation of urban renewal in Vancouver included the National Housing Act of 1956, and the Redevelopment Study of 1957, which also produced a map of ‘blight’ for redevelopment, (Allen, 2002, p.35-36).

Unsurprisingly, the policies that facilitated spatial segregation based on race in Vancouver in the 20th century are not well documented. However, a property record for an area near the Point Grey Golf & Country Club was found that stated, “no Asiatic, Negro or Indian shall have the right to be allowed to own, become a tenant or occupy any part of [the property]” (Hopper, 2014). Similar white-only property policies have existed as recently as 2014, with restrictions on selling property to “any person or persons of African or Asiatic race or African or Asiatic descent” (Hopper, 2014).

Figure 51: Digital Map Drawing of Racial Profiling and Graffiti by Noora Hijra, Chris Rothery, and Aiden Mezidor, 2021 STORIES OF THE LAND

Labour

The powers that controlled government and organized labour perpetuated racialized work by controlling what opportunities existed for Black Canadians. For example, it was made extremely difficult for railway porters to progress in their careers or move into other fields of work (Belshaw & Foster, 2020). The idea to confine these porters to their current job came from a segregationist named Aaron Mosher. Mosher was the head of the Canadian Congress of Labour and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway, Transportation and General Workers Union. He believed that Canada, “a white nation... would only need to deal with the Negro question if the Black population became comfortable or increased in number” (Belshaw & Foster, 2020).

Discrimination against Chinese Canadians

From the day Vancouver was incorporated in 1886 until 1949, Chinese residents were prohibited from voting in any municipal election in so-called Vancouver. This also barred Chinese residents from running for public office, owning properties in certain areas, or working in some professions such as law, pharmacy, medicine, retail and banking. The federal government only granted voting rights after Chinese veterans of the two world wars, and non-Chinese leaders voiced concerns about ‘recruitment without enfranchisement’ (City of Vancouver, 2017).

Vegetable peddling was of utmost importance to the Chinese population, where they conducted business and flourished as a community. In 1914, the city introduced a peddling levy of $50, which turned into $100 just 5 years later, forcing many to stop peddling (City of Vancouver, 2017).

Figure 52: Digital Map Drawing of Job Density by Noora Hijra, Chris Rothery, and Aiden Mezidor, 2021. STORIES OF THE LAND

Racism Against Indigenous Peoples

The Indian Act, enacted in 1876, was intended to ‘protect’ the rights of First Nations Peoples, but instead created a structure that controlled and still controls Indigenous People’s identity, land, resources, languages, and cultural practices (Loppie, Reading & de Leeuw, 2014). The Department of Indian Affairs was created in conjunction with the Indian Act to oversee the policies that concerned Indigenous Peoples. Unfortunately, both the DIA and the Indian Act initiated an era of racist policies and discrimination (Loppie, Reading & de Leeuw, 2014). Whatever alterations have been made to the Indian Act since it was enacted have done little to address the systematic oppression it caused and maintains. Still, these structural systems have the power to define who is and is not ‘Indian’ and control most of the lands to which they are entitled (Loppie, Reading & de Leeuw, 2014). Of course, the most notorious form of racism that the Indian Act upheld was the implementation of residential schools, which sought to “kill the Indian in the child” (Loppie, Reading & de Leeuw, 2014). Residential schools caused unimaginable intergenerational trauma, which is still being felt today. The structural racism put in place by colonial powers still exists in many forms, including but not limited to the justice system and the health care system. Among many other factors, racial profiling and over-policing uphold mistrust in the justice system and are a few reasons why Indigenous Peoples do not feel that the institution represents the genuine interests of their communities (Loppie, Reading & de Leeuw, 2014).

Take a Moment

Before moving onto the next chapter, the authors would like to encourage readers to take a moment of pause and reflect on what they have just read. Take a moment to honour the hardships, intergenerational trauma, and oppression brought on by colonization. Take a moment to mourn the loss of the thousands of murdered Indigenous children at the hands of the catholic church. Take a moment to pray for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S). Take a moment to show respect for the over 6 million Jews who were murdered for simply being Jewish. Take a moment to mourn the lives of Black individuals who have lost their lives at the hands of police. Take a moment to understand these communities are racially profiled daily and live in fear of the institutions set out to ‘protect’ them. If you or your family have not directly felt the impacts of the Stories of the Land and its discriminatory policies, take a moment to consider your privilege. Go back, and re-read the previous section again. What is your positionality in the process of decolonization?

As designers, our allyship MUST take the form of respecting boundaries, being empathetic, listening, learning, holding space, and leaving space. Think about what you need to do to decolonize your mind, and decolonize your design process.

Untold Stories of the Land

This spread has been intentionally left blank to invite community members to add their own stories of the land to this document.