- NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best kopy available ONE OF MANY HOMES, STOrUES of DISPOSSESSION from "STANLEY PM" bu Susan Mather B.A., Queen's University, 1992 B.A.H., La Trobe University, Australia, 1993 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History O Susan Mather 1998 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY January 1998 Al1 nghts reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. National Library Bibliothèque nationale B+I of,, du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. nie Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 OttawaON K1AON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thése. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Stanley Park was, and arguably still is, Native land. It was one of many homes to Central Coast Salish peoples; site of an aacient village cailed xw'ay xway, a resource site, and a place for ceremony. When the space became "Stanley Park" in 1888, most of the Coast Salish people who lived there were removed fkom their homes and forced to relocate onto Indian reserves. Other people also considered the space now known as Stanley Park to be their home. Several Chinese men lived in the park until 1890 when they were forcibly removed and their homes burnt to the ground without compensation. Another group, mostly Native women who partnered with European men, settled at what became Brockton Point during the 1860s and 1870s. The children and grandchildren of these couples were evicted fiom their homes after a legal battle that went aIl the way to the Supreme Court of Canada during the 1920s. The history of Stanley Park can be understood as a story of land as a human construct -- how various people have ascribed dinerent meanings to a paaicular space over time. The understanding of the space as Stanley Park was imposed upon land that already had meaning, that was part of the Coast Salish world and home to Chinese, miced-heritage, and European working-class peoples. Yet, the understanding of the space as a park has become so widely accepted that most people do not sense that it has been and continues to be contested. This is the story of the people whose relationships and uses of the space competed with, but were displaced by, the making of Stanley Park. To understand Stanley Park is to diink of it not only as a place but as a process, of power, smggle and negotiation, of making and remaking of space, a process that persists to the present day. It is almost 1998. The fist seed for this thesis was planted in 1995. 1have received over two years worth of support and encouragement nom many people. Thank you to Abi -- the woman who showed me the heart in history and who Uispired this degree, and to Michelle for our sea-wall wak. Dr. Tina Loo has been an extraordinary supervisor. Her remarkable ability to understand my personal, as well as my academic, needs, her gentle intellectual guidace, outstanding editorial skills, and reliability have been deeply appreciated 1 extend my gratitude to Dr. Robert A.J. McDonald for his consistent support, for his wondeMy thought provoking teaching style, and pdcularly for his sense of humour. The critiques of my work offered by the late Dr. Douglas Cole, as well as those given by Dr. Mark Leier, have been challenging and helpful for their rigour. An enormous thank you to Susan Roy, an exceptiondy thoughtfid and well-informed historian of Native peoples in Burrard Inlet, who led me to important primary sources and to a deeper understanding of the motivation for my work. This thesis has been made possible through the hancial support of the History Department of SFU, particularly by a Graduate Fellowship which was awarded during 1996, and two Cook Conference Scholarships awarded during 1996 and 1997. Thank you to Dr. Jack Little for helping facilitate this funding and to Mary Ann Pope for her kind and enthusiastic assistance through the tangles of bureaucracy. Thank you to Dr. Michael Kew and Dr. Jean Barman for reading early drafts and for giwig vduable feedback and ideas. Anselmo and Theresa have been remarkable editors. 1 would also like to thank the historians who have corne before me, whose research on Stanley Park provided some of the groundwork fiom which 1 was able to commence my own study, particularly Richard M. Steele and Dr. Robert A.J. McDonald. Thank you to Professor Cole Harris, whose thoughâul approach to the history of this province has quietly but profoundly influenced the way 1 see the past. A good deal of this thesis was written on the road -- Campbell River, Toronto, the cottage in northern Ontario, Tadoussac, Quebec City, and even the train to Halifax. Thank you to Le Groupe de Recherche et Éducation Sur le Milieu Marin for your understanding (and to those beautifid whales!) and for everyone along the way who put me up and put up with me and this project. Finally, 1 have been blessed by the deep love and support given fiom my parents, my family, ,-A ,--C.LLC.I LÏA-A- VA-.La-rs naam -a +hreixrrh Q ~-ma+~hl~iniirnpv~ Thnnk ynn- QLlU llly lQLUULU JLILLIUJ. A VU LLU vtabbrr rrrb uuvuerA u AWAAA~~~----- -----,- ---- CONTENTS Title Page Approval Page Abstract Table of Contents List of Maps and Figures Figure 1 Figure 2% 2b Introduction 1 One of Many Homes: "Stanley Park" as part of the Coast Salish World 2 37 Continuity and Change: Coast Salish Land, A Govemment Reserve and a New Sense of Home, 1863-1 887. 3 65 The Making of "Stanley Park": The Years of Dispossession, 1888- 193 1. Conclusion Bibliography Maps and Photographs Figure 1 Photograph, "BurrardlsInlet, 1867 or 1868 &ost Lagoon)" vii Figure 2a Photograph, "Indian Shanties, Cod Harbour, 1886" viii Figure 2b Photograph, "Indian Shaaties, Cod Harbour, 1886" viii Figure 3 George Vancouver's Chart, 1792 11 Figure 4 Survey of Coast Line fiom Cod Harbour to Fdse Creek 12 Surveyed by G. Turner, 19 March 1863 Figure 5a Census of Native peoples living on the "Government Reserve" 48b Prepared by George Blenkinsop with the Joint Reserve Commission, 1876 Figure 5b Sketch of Native settlements on the "Governent Reserve" 48a Prepared by George Blenkinsop with the Joint Reserve Commissiony 1876 Figure 6 Plan showing Lands Occupied near Brockton Point 58 Prepared for Attorney General of Canada and the City of Vancouver v Gonzalves, 1925 Figure 7 Map of "Stanley Park" 73b fiom the Standard Tourist's Guide to the park, 1923 Figure 8 Map of "Indian Narnes for Familiar Places" 74 Prepared by Major J.S. Matthews with August Jack Khahtsahlano, 1932 Figure 9 Photograph of park road workers collecting materials fiom the xw'ay xway midden for the fust park road, 1888" 78 viia Figure 1 "Burrard's Idet (Lost Lagoon), 1867 or 1868" City of Vancouver Archives, St.Pk. P. 112, N.4 The text beneath the photograph was written by Vancouver Archivist Major J.S. Matthews. viib Figure 2.a Yizdim Shanties, Cod Harbour, 1886". Pho tographed by Edouard Gaston Deville. National Archives of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada Collection, Box 21 02, Album, p. 39. Figure 2b 'Tndian Shanties, CoaZ Harbour, 1886" Photographed by Edouard Gaston Deville. National Archives of Canada, Geological Survey of Canada Collection, Box 2102, AIL.., nn CUuLLLIl, y.- TV. "To the use and enjoyment of people of all colours, creeds, and customs for al1 tirne, 1 name thee Stanley Park." Lord Stanley, Govemor General of Canada, Dedication, October 30,1889 In an increasingly complicated world parks seem to be one of our remaining sanclmries of simplicity and goodness. Among parks, Stanley Park is exceptional -- perhaps the most beautifid urban park in NofhAmerica It is remarkable that there is such a large and beautifid expanse of green space at the heart of a densely populated uban environment. Sitting so peacefully as it does at the tip of the downtown core, arching into Burrard Met, Stanley Park is a Vancouver landmark - symbolic of what so many Vancouverites cherish about their city. Vancouver is one of the fastest growing cities in North America, but still, at its residents' fingertips are mountains, ancient trees, wildlife, and the Pacific Ocean. To some, Stanley Park stands as a monument to the foresight of the city's "founding fathers," as well as to the residents' collective desire, both past and present, to preserve this natural beauty. But not everyone has understood Stanley Park in the same way. Stanley Park was, and arguably still is, Native land. As part of the Central Coast Salish world it was the location of an ancient village cded xw'ay xwayl, a resource site, and a place for ceremony. Shortly before Lord Stanley declared Stanley Park to be a place for "people of al1 colours, creeds, and customs for al1 time", most of the Coast Salish people who kedthere were removed from their homes and forced to relocate onto Indian reserves.