{"id":28187,"date":"2016-02-01T11:00:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T19:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/?p=28187"},"modified":"2016-02-01T10:49:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-01T18:49:51","slug":"28187","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/02\/01\/28187\/","title":{"rendered":"The City Before the City: \u201cRighting History\u201d in c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A public controversy erupted in 2012 when ancestral remains were unearthed during the pre-construction of a condo development on southwest Marine Drive, near the Arthur Laing Bridge. First established around\u00a05,000 years ago, the site holds deep significance for the Musqueam First Nation as an ancestral village known as c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m<\/em> and was known to archaeologists worldwide as one of the most important archaeological sites in Canada. After leading a 200-day vigil that made national headlines, the Musqueam succeeded in halting the development.<\/p>\n

The dispute raised questions about the rights of private property holders versus Indigenous communities and became the inspiration for a joint exhibition by the Museum of Vancouver, the Museum of Anthropology and the Musqueam First Nation that opened in 2015. The exhibit\u00a0explores the long significance of c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m as a vibrant, resource-rich\u00a0community where generations of families lived, worked and buried their people.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe controversy prompted a lot of questions. Who defines heritage? Who decides what is preserved? Whose heritage is celebrated?\u201d says Viviane Gosselin, curator of contemporary culture at the Museum of Vancouver. \u201c[We] wanted to engage directly with these questions by presenting the controversy within the context of the city\u2019s early development, and Musqueam understandings of the place we now call Vancouver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, as part of the Vancouver Historical Society<\/a> Speaker Series, Gosselin shared the stage with University of Waterloo Professor Susan Roy\u2014whose doctoral research on early excavations was key to the exhibit\u2014and Musqueam Elder Larry Grant, who served on the cultural advisory committee. Together, they spoke about \u201crighting\u201d Vancouver\u2019s history by encouraging visitors to reevaluate their narrative of Vancouver as a new city and revealing how the city was built upon, and alongside, a vibrant Musqueam community that dates back thousands of years and extends into the present day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought museums only showed things that were dead,\u201d said Grant, recalling childhood trips to the Vancouver City Museum (MOV\u2019s predecessor), which celebrated Vancouver\u2019s past but represented Indigenous people as a vanishing race. Grant said the exhibit\u00a0was an opportunity to present c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m\u2019s history and continued significance from the Musqueam perspective and share his community\u2019s role in shaping Vancouver.<\/p>\n

The multi-site exhibit, which won a Governor General\u2019s History Award for Excellence in Museums last fall, was groundbreaking in its degree of community engagement and collaboration. In an email, Gosselin explained that the project involved extensive consultation, adoption of a shared language informed by Musqueam perspectives, in-depth interviews with knowledge holders and use of digital technologies to create links between Musqueam culture and the history of Vancouver.<\/p>\n

The cultural advisory committee helped the Museum of Vancouver\u00a0understand and interpret the extensive collection of bone, stone and shell artifacts that were removed from c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m without permission by MOV\u2019s precursor during the 1920s and 1930s. The committee\u2014comprised of six community leaders\u2014decided which objects\u00a0to include in the exhibition (the term “belongings” was used instead of “artifacts” to emphasize that these were personal items) and wrote the panels explaining their significance.<\/p>\n

Visitors are invited to hear from several community members through a series of video interviews and interact with digital displays revealing the context in which the belongings were used.<\/p>\n

The exhibit was also an opportunity for MOV to reflect on an uncomfortable part of its institutional history. The museum is explicit about its role in erasing connections between Indigenous peoples and the history of the city, perpetuating the notion that Indigenous people were a vanishing race.\u00a0Gosselin says the acknowledgement was couched in reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of \u201crighting history\u201d to use Larry Grant\u2019s expression when he describes the aim of the project, is to create an exhibition that engages the public in a critical history of city building, colonialism and museum practice,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are acknowledging how MOV\u2019s work was implicated in that colonial history, to take responsibility for our actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gosselin says this is the beginning of continued collaboration with Musqueam and hopes the exhibition contributes to larger conversations about reconciliation between Aboriginal and settler communities in Canada.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0Madeleine de Trenqualye<\/strong> is a historical researcher and writer who has worked for Parks Canada, the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board and multiple heritage institutions.\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A public controversy erupted in 2012 when ancestral remains were unearthed during the pre-construction of a condo development on southwest Marine Drive, near the Arthur Laing Bridge. First established around\u00a05,000 years ago, the site holds deep significance for the Musqueam First Nation as an ancestral village known as c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m and was known to archaeologists worldwideContinue reading “The City Before the City: \u201cRighting History\u201d in c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8285,"featured_media":28192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11230,15,11233,6670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-culture","category-history","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe City Before the City: \u201cRighting History\u201d in c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2016\/02\/01\/28187\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The City Before the City: \u201cRighting History\u201d in c\u0313\u0259sna\u0294\u0259m - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A public controversy erupted in 2012 when ancestral remains were unearthed during the pre-construction of a condo development on southwest Marine Drive, near the Arthur Laing Bridge. 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