Curated Guide
Indigenous Spaces In The Eastside
We appreciate community input and understand that not all historical and current locations are fully represented in this guide. We’re working to expand the information and welcome your feedback and contributions!
The cultural richness and diversity of Vancouver’s Eastside has long been its defining strength.
This area includes several established districts such as Chinatown, Gastown, Strathcona, False Creek Flats, Downtown Eastside, Grandview Woodlands, and Hastings Sunrise.
All these districts are situated on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. The Eastside Arts District (EAD) has completed an Indigenous mapping project of the proposed EAD area, adding an important layer to the district boundary map. This project highlights the significance of the area to Indigenous communities, ensuring that Indigenous land rights and histories are integral to the EAD project.
Shared Cultural History
Before the development of the city presently known as Vancouver with its current place names and boundaries, the lands in these areas were shared and stewarded since time immemorial by the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh (MST) nations. While some spaces and cultural assets within the boundaries of the EAD are interconnected with the histories and cultural heritage of specific nations, others carry significance to all three MST nations as shared spaces.
Skwácháy̓s
False Creek Flats
Skwácháy̓s [Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim] also known as “False Creek Flats” and before the inlet and tidal flats were filled with garbage in 1917-21, “False Creek East”.
Skwácháy̓s means “place where water is drawn down into a hole; whirlpool (LM); water spring, or water coming up from ground beneath (AJ)”. Source: Squamish Atlas
Shared space between the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Photo Credit: Public Domain Image Courtesy of Vancouver Archives
Lek’lekí
CRAB Park
June 13, 1886, the newly incorporated city of Vancouver burned to the ground in less than thirty minutes, and Squamish first responders were essential to the rescue efforts, which the City of Vancouver formally acknowledged in 2017. Today, an area once ravaged by the Great Fire is home to CRAB Park, which was tirelessly fought for by a community group.
The park contains several monuments including the Downtown Eastside Missing Women Memorial Stone, the Urban Indian Y2K rock, a mosaic pertaining to the Komagata Maru, a dedication garden from Vancouver’s sister city Yokohama, Japan, and a pavilion featuring a mosaic by Richard Pooley.
Shared space between the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) Nations.
Photo Credit: CRAB Park at Portside by MIKOFOX
X̱áywá7esks / Creekside Park
1455 Quebec St. Vancouver BC V6A 3Z7
Gateway to Science World and a popular venue for summer events and festivals.
X̱áywá7esks means “narrow passage (LM); two points exactly opposite (AJ)”. Source: Squamish Atlas
Shared space between the Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Photo Credit: False Creek sunrise panorama 2014 by Gord McKenna
xwməθkwəy̓ əm - Musqueam Indian Band
The Musqueam Indian Band (Musqueam) have been living since time immemorial around “Vancouver.” They have worked, travelled, traded, and partnered with nations in present day “British Columbia” (BC), “Vancouver Island”, and “Washington State.” Musqueam are traditional hən̓ q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking people and define themselves as “fishing people whose rhythms, stories and culture are closely aligned with the Fraser River along whose banks we still live today.” Musqueam is a strong, growing community with over 1,300 registered members. Currently, the Musqueam Indian Band has three reserves as established by the Canadian Government, even though the territory has never been ceded to any foreign government. The reserves make up just 0.2% of their territory.
Learn more about xwməθkwəy̓ əm
Photo Credit: Musqueam Indian Band
Əmə́mələɬp / Old Hastings Mill”
Vancouver Waterfront
Hastings Mill was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet and was the first commercial operation around which the settlement that would become Vancouver developed in British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1865 by Edward Stamp, the sawmill operated until its closure in 1928. After Hastings Mill closed, the building that housed the Hastings Mill store was transported by barge to the foot of Alma Street in 1930. The building was officially reopened in 1931, and was dedicated as the Museum of B.C. Historical Relics in Memory of the Pioneers, or the Old Hastings Mill Store Museum in 1932.
Operated by the Native Daughters of British Columbia, the museum houses artifacts and curiosities from Vancouver’s past, and First Nations art.
Photo Credit: Public Domain Image Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh - Squamish Nation
Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh) Nation is also located around Metro Vancouver with territory spanning from the Burrard Inlet, English Bay, False Creek, and Howe Sound watersheds. The vast territory includes parts of present-day cities such as Vancouver, Burnaby, and New Westminster, as well as all of North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Port Moody, the District of Squamish, and the Municipality of Whistler. The 4000 members are spread across 26 reserves with the majority living in the North Shore of Vancouver. The Squamish Nation is known as Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw in their language (hən̓ q̓ əmin̓əm̓). Squamish history spans millennia with archeological evidence dating back 8,600 years. Sḵwx̱wú7mesh traditional territory is 6,732 square kilometres (673,200 hectares), encompassing 23 villages totaling 28.28 square kilometres (2,828 hectares).
Learn more about Sḵwx̱wú7mesh
Photo Credit: Squamish Nation
Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓
Oppenheimer Park
Parts of the DTES and Strathcona area, called Ḵ’emḵ’emel̓áy̓ (Ḵ’em•ḵ’em•el̓•áy̓), meaning maple trees in the Squamish language, was an Indigenous summer settlement site for many generations.
Photo Credit: Vancouver Oppenheimer Park 2022 Sakura by Ted’s photos
Salish North Star in Maple Leaf
Olympic Village
This artwork combines a contemporary Coast Salish north star design within a Canadian maple leaf.
Photo Credit: Squamish Nation
səlilwətaɬ -Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Tsleil-Waututh Nation are “People of the Inlet ” that have inhabited the lands and waters of our traditional territory surrounding the Burrard Inlet in British Columbia since time immemorial. The Burrard Inlet sustains the Nation with food, a place to live, and spectacular natural beauty. The traditional territory encompasses wilderness watersheds northwards to Mount Garibaldi, Coquitlam Lake in the east, and Howe Sound to the west. The Nation has over 600 people with population increasing more than 200% in the past 30 years.
Photo Credit: Tsleil-Waututh Nation
səlilwət
Burrard Inlet
səl̓ilw̓ət is the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (Hun’qumyi’num) name for Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm, and is the place from which the səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) people derive their name. The commonly used term Tsleil-Waututh is an anglicised version of səl̓ilw̓ət with a possessive suffix. The literal translation of Tsleil-Waututh is “The People of the Inlet”.
Photo Credit: Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Əmə́mələɬp / Old Hastings Mill”
Vancouver Waterfront
Colonial development has severely altered landscapes throughout Canada, including in Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s (TWN) territory, centred on present-day Burrard Inlet, BC, where urban and industrial expansion has modified the inlet’s shoreline for well over a century. These shoreline changes have degraded the ecosystem and affect TWN in innumerable ways, but non-Indigenous communities have not considered the impacts of total shoreline change in detail, and generally accept shoreline changes that have occurred since European contact as the “baseline” condition of Burrard Inlet.
This outline of the Vancouver Shoreline prior to contact with European Settlers in 1792 is based on a study by the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia.
Photo Credit: Public Domain Image Courtesy of Vancouver Archives
Loading map...
Other Resources
The Eastside Arts District spans an area linking the living histories of three Host Nations, yet this district only covers a small piece of the broader lands stewarded and cared for by these Nations. The following links present projects by Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations mapping their territories, as well as resources compiled by other Indigenous-led initiatives to map the world.
Explore Maps and other resources on Indigenous culture and history:
-
- Musqueam Online Mapping Portal – Place Names – placenamemap.musqueam.bc.ca
- Squamish Nation Traditional Territory Map – squamish.net/about-our-nation/our-land
- Interactive map of Burrard inlet Tsleil-Waututh Nation – twnation.ca/new-interactive-map-of-burrard-inlet
- Squamish Nation map – squamishatlas.com
- First People’s Map of BC – maps.fpcc.ca/splashscreen
- Native Land Digital Map – native-land.ca