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Many settlers in Vancouver had no idea that the land by the south end of the Burrard Bridge was once a village home to the Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh people.<\/p>\n
When the Squamish Nation announced its plans to develop housing on the land in 2019, CBC published a story<\/a> about its \u201clittle-known history.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1913, B.C.\u2019s attorney general forced the original residents into an illegal sale of their land, sent them away on barges, and burned the village of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w to the ground. It was a dark chapter for Vancouver at the spot where people have since enjoyed the vistas of Vanier Park.<\/p>\n The Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh people never forgot. They launched a legal challenge that lasted decades<\/a>, and the federal government eventually returned a small portion of the reserve to the nation in 2000.<\/p>\n While it might have become a \u201clittle-known history\u201d over time to settlers, there was intense media coverage of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w before, during, and after its illegal 1913 sale. The unfolding story made the front pages, sparking MPs in Ottawa to moralize and blame one another and MLAs in Victoria to eventually launch an inquiry.<\/p>\n Mayana Slobodian, a Ukrainian\/Red River M\u00e9tis guest on l\u0259k\u0313\u02b7\u0259\u014b\u0259n territory, recently earned her doctorate at the University of Toronto\u2019s criminology and socio-legal studies program. She combed through newspapers, oral histories,s and transcripts of the government inquiry to understand why the situation at Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w had upset settlers so much.<\/p>\n Slobodian\u2019s article on the subject in the journal BC Studies<\/em>, published last fall, is aptly titled \u201cThe Kitsilano Scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n To settlers of the day, the scandal wasn\u2019t that the Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh people had their land seized and were displaced. Rather, the scandal was over the process.<\/p>\n \u201cIt made me realize that what was upsetting about it was that it had been taken illegally, not necessarily that it was taken,\u201d said Slobodian. \u201cThat visible violence really seemed to upset people.\u201d<\/p>\n When settlers did their colonizing, they preferred to sanitize the effects, she argues.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see it in newspapers, people talking about \u2018Why can\u2019t we do this in a way that we can uphold the law? That we can have our land and eat it too?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Who is the city for?<\/strong><\/p>\n Long before the arrival of European settlers, Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh people established the summer<\/a> village of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w.<\/p>\n The lands and waters at the head of what is now known as False Creek offered abundant hunting and harvesting \u2014 everything from cedar to salmon, beaver to beach asparagus. It was an important place for culture, commerce and connection, where neighbouring peoples gathered together for potlatches<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1877, Indian Reserve commissioners visited Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w, surveyed it, and formally designated it as \u201cKitsilano Indian Reserve No. 6,\u201d limiting its residents to 80 acres.<\/p>\n The city continued to grow around Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w, and real estate boomed. Property in the adjacent neighbourhood of Kitsilano \u2014 which takes its name from the Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh Chief Xats\u2019al\u00e1nexw \u2014 was particularly hot. In the year of the displacement, the Vancouver Daily World proclaimed: \u201cValues in Popular Kitsilano Are Rising Very Rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n Settlers viewed the reserve as inaccessible and underdeveloped. The city did not provide services like utilities or garbage collection, considering it to be under federal jurisdiction.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s all this conversation about the unruliness of what\u2019s going to happen on this land that\u2019s right in the middle of the city,\u201d said Slobodian. \u201cThere\u2019s these incredible maps… you can see all of the houses and all of the properties filling in around Kitsilano. The reserve is like this \u2018dark continent,\u2019 this \u2018dark patch\u2019 in the middle of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Newspapers called it \u201cexceedingly valuable property\u201d while decrying it as a centre for crime and a \u201cmoral infection.\u201d Its location, surrounded by the growing metropolis, made it a target of \u201csettler attention, fear, and desire,\u201d writes Slobodian.<\/p>\n She argues that Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w is a prime example of how urban centres can be viewed as the natural home of settlers, ignoring the fact that settlers are situated on Indigenous land.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up in the \u201990s in Victoria and there was still this idea that Indigenous people live outside the city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n That notion can inadvertently produce the idea that Indigenous people don\u2019t belong in urban centres, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to push back against that and say, \u2018Hang on, Indigenous people have been in the city, but there\u2019s been a concerted effort to move them out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Shady dealings<\/strong><\/p>\n In 1903, Vancouver Mayor Thomas Neelands wanted to acquire the reserve for the city.<\/p>\n Newspapers excitedly suggested possibilities such as a courthouse, summer fairgrounds and \u201ca very large playground.\u201d The editor of the Vancouver Daily World used the newspaper to actively campaign for the city to take it over for \u201ccivic breathing space.\u201d This ramped up as the day of displacement neared. The World featured three front-page articles about visions for railway land, a drill hall and parade ground, and a harbour facility.<\/p>\n To solve such land issues, the federal government established the Indian Land Commission with the province in 1912.<\/p>\n Richard McBride might have been B.C.\u2019s premier at the time, but the Vancouver Sun reported that it was an \u201copen secret\u201d that the real \u201cmaster of government\u201d was his attorney general and former classmate, William John Bowser.<\/p>\n Bowser, nicknamed \u201cNapoleon Bowser\u201d by the press, was known for campaigning against Asian immigration, sending in provincial police to crack down on a coal miners\u2019 strike, and offering preferential contracts to his close contacts.<\/p>\n In the spring of 1913, McBride left for London, leaving Bowser in charge of the province and with the instruction to find a way to acquire Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w.<\/p>\n According to newspapers, Bowser held a meeting at the chambers of the local magistrate with some Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh members. A police officer stood guard at the door. Bowser was said to have strong-armed 20 \u201cilliterate\u201d men into accepting $11,250 each, described as a \u201cdirect violation\u201d of Dominion law.<\/p>\n Bowser reportedly said: \u201cWhen the commissioners have gone you will get nothing at all for your land, not one cent. All you will get will be a portion of land somewhere in the Squamish Valley in return for the Kitsilano reserve. Now which do you prefer, $11,250 or nothing? Here is your cheque. If you want it you can take it, and draw your money for the land, or you can leave it.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Chief Louis Miranda, who acted as a translator throughout the sale and shared an oral history of the events years later, the meeting was \u201cshady\u201d in various ways.<\/p>\n Many members of the Squamish Tribe happened to be away at the time working or visiting family. The deal excluded Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh women who had married into other groups, even though Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh law spells out their right to be involved.<\/p>\n The Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh men in attendance were indeed aware that the deal was shady and that they were not allowed to sell anything on their own, Miranda goes on to say. But they might have been afraid that if the Department of Indian Affairs were consulted, it would take the money instead.<\/p>\n A public displacement<\/strong><\/p>\n With Bowser\u2019s threatening offer accepted, the day of displacement was set for April 9. It was declared by the press as \u201cIndians Moving Day.\u201d<\/p>\n The day was a huge spectacle, with older Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w residents hiding from the reporters, photographers and members of the public who had gathered to witness. The community loaded its belongings onto barges and was displaced to nearby reserves. That night, all of the buildings of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w were burned to the ground.<\/p>\n The violence around the displacement disturbed settler residents.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have seen this entire village go up in flames would have been a really shocking image for people to carry,\u201d said Slobodian, who listened to archival tapes of Vancouverites describing how they saw the smoke rise high into the sky.<\/p>\n The fear of fire isn\u2019t surprising, considering that growing West Coast cities like Vancouver and San Francisco had been devastated by them in their early years.<\/p>\n The Vancouver Daily World published an article titled \u201cThe Passing of the Kitsilano Indians,\u201d calling on settlers to \u201cponder over the affairs of a dying race, and of course on our responsibilities as to their marring or making.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it also stated that the forced sale \u201cdoes not compare well with British justice and fair play.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Settler benevolence\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w quickly received national attention, with debate and much political grandstanding between the Liberal and Conservative MPs about how Indigenous land should be taken.<\/p>\n Slobodian describes the Conservative position this way: \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to break some laws, hurt some people, violate some rights.\u201d<\/p>\n And she describes the Liberal position: \u201cWhy can\u2019t we do this in a way that we uphold law? How much can we get and feel morally OK with what we\u2019ve done?\u201d<\/p>\n MPs and the press blamed Bowser for conducting the \u201cscandalous transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n No government did anything to the Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w land. Instead, it attracted squatters, swimmers, and the dumping of dynamite and dead bodies.<\/p>\n There were calls to investigate the sale, and the provincial government launched an inquiry in 1916, primarily a debate over potential government corruption.<\/p>\n MLAs heard mostly from government staff and lawyers from Bowser\u2019s own firm on the facts of the sale. They questioned the witnesses in detail about the dollar amounts, from the public funds used without legislative authorization to whether Bowser\u2019s close contacts pocketed the commission.<\/p>\n What was not said is perhaps more interesting than what was said, Slobodian explains. There was no mention of the Sk\u0331wx\u0331wu\u03017mesh people, from their thoughts on the sale to the cheques they were issued.<\/p>\n One committee member during the inquiry even said, \u201cI don\u2019t suppose there is a question in anybody\u2019s mind about the desirability of getting the Indians off.\u201d<\/p>\n Bowser, who had been elected premier by the time of the inquiry, defended his actions, saying that he had fought for a \u201cgood bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n The inquiry concluded that neither Bowser nor his firm had directly benefited and that the sale was fair, at a reasonable price, and of great public benefit.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the inquiry was about \u201csettler benevolence,\u201d says Slobodian.<\/p>\n \u201cThe historian Paulette Regan highlights how the myth of benevolence perpetuates a narrative of colonialism as a benign force,\u201d she writes, \u201cobscuring the violence and dispossession inherent in the colonial project.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We never forgot\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Last year, the Squamish Nation published a history book, tin\u00e17 cht ti temi\u0301xw (We Come From This Land)<\/em>.<\/p>\n In it, there is a chapter titled \u201cHaw k\u2019at M\u00e1ynexw Sen\u00e1kw: We Never Forgot Sen\u00e1kw.\u201d<\/p>\n It opens with Chepxi\u0301miya Siya\u0301m (Chief Janice George) sharing how when she was a child in the 1960s, her father would drive her and her sister in his truck to see the Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w site.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Squamish,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is Squamish land. This is where your ancestors lived. We\u2019re working on getting this place back; we\u2019re going to court for this.\u201d<\/p>\n The nation launched its legal challenge in 1977, arguing that the federal government neglected its fiduciary duty to act in its best interest when their lands were illegally seized. In 2000, the settlement was reached, and they finally regained control over about 10.5 acres of the original 80-acre government-designated reserve.<\/p>\n Steph Wood, Kwet\u00e1sel\u2019wet, the lead writer of the book in conjunction with her S\u1e35wx\u0331w\u00fa7mesh community, found Slobodian\u2019s article a fascinating study of \u201csettler psychology.\u201d She shared her thoughts with The Tyee as the researcher, not as a representative of the S\u1e35wx\u0331w\u00fa7mesh nation.<\/p>\n \u201cI was interested in the way people were OK with shaking their heads and saying, \u2018I\u2019m so sad, that was so terrible.\u2019 But not letting go of what was stolen and reaching a true remedy on the matter,\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n \u201cSen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w wasn\u2019t necessarily an exception. It was just a very public example of what was happening over and over again to communities, how business is connected, and how people were being deposed and forced out of their homes all over the country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018True\u2019 land back?<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2019, the Squamish Nation announced that it was planning to develop 6,000 rental homes on the property, 1,200 of which would be below-market.<\/p>\n Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w has garnered a lot of attention among settlers. Those in support have said it is a bolder vision than what cities have come up with, as the reserve land is subject to the nation\u2019s planning regulations, not the City of Vancouver\u2019s.<\/p>\n Those opposed are mostly against the scale of the development. The Kits Point Residents Association took the city to court over what it claimed was an unlawful agreement with the nation for services. Its case was dismissed<\/a> by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.<\/p>\n Slobodian notes that the piece of land is once again being viewed by settlers as an anomaly in the city. This time, however, it\u2019s being viewed as overdeveloped rather than underdeveloped.<\/p>\n In her research on land dispossession, Slobodian notes that settlers tend to like to turn reserves into parks. Part of the original Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w reserve is home to Vanier Park.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s almost something \u2018purifying\u2019 about having it be a park. That\u2019s the most comfortable way to rid Indigenous land of Indigenous people: turn it into a park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There have been arguments<\/a> about how concrete towers are not an \u201cIndigenous way of building,\u201d which Slobodian says goes back to the idea that Indigenous people don\u2019t belong in cities.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still a bit like saying if an Indigenous person is in the city, they\u2019re no longer properly Indigenous,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Slobodian\u2019s article reminds readers that cities like Vancouver are places of dispossession.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s an idea that\u2019s still challenging to many people,\u201d said Wood. \u201cBecause of the coercion we see in the story of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w, that\u2019s the reason why we don\u2019t see more reserves in cities.\u201d<\/p>\n This is evident in how some settlers view the Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w development.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a very young age, people were told this narrative that Indigenous people were conquered… and that\u2019s the end of it,\u201d said Wood.<\/p>\n The Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w development \u201cdoesn\u2019t fit in that narrative, right? This idea that we aren\u2019t even supposed to be there, we definitely aren\u2019t supposed to be building this huge project in the city…. It does reflect a fear of the idea of true \u2018land back<\/a>,\u2019 and what it looks like to see Indigenous rights and jurisdiction being exercised.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w\u2019s first tower is expected<\/a> to be completed by November.<\/p>\n To Wood, reckoning with what Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w represents means reckoning with Vancouver\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cIt does tie into that whole \u2018benevolent settler\u2019 idea: benefiting from the domination and the oppression that the city is built on, and not wanting to give anything up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be a member of this city means you are witness and you are part of the ongoing story of Sen\u0313\u00e1\u1e35w.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n Christopher Cheung is a reporter at The Tyee<\/a>, where this story originally appeared.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/02\/KitsilanoReserveClippings-600x415.jpg\")
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