THIS DAY IN HISTORY: MARCH 13, 1913

In 1869, the colonial government of British Columbia set aside 37 acres on the southwest shore of False Creek for an Indian reserve. In 1877, the federal government expanded it to 80 acres. The land included today’s Vanier Park, as well as the land the Burrard Bridge sits on.

Then the provincial government talked some members of the Squamish nation into selling it. And The Vancouver Sun was aghast. “False Creek Reserve is Sold For a Song!” declared a front- page story on March 13, 1913. “Trickery is Charge of Squamish Indians.”

Squamish leaders stated that the land had an estimated value of $ 4 million, but through “trickery and unfair tactics,” the province bought it for only $ 225,000.

The crux of their complaint was that the province signed the deal with only 20 male Squamish who lived on the reserve, rather than the greater Squamish around the Lower Mainland. “There are 20- odd families on the reserve, and practically every member of each is illiterate,” reported The Sun. “On several occasions educated members of the tribe have intervened and prevented the sale of the reserve for ridiculous figures. In an underhanded manner, so it is alleged, the deal was finally put through.”

Twenty men on the reserve were to receive $ 11,200 each in the settlement, while two members received $ 5,000 each. The provincial representatives posted a “husky guard” at the building where the deal was signed so the North Shore Squamish couldn’t intervene. According to UBC’s Indigenous Foundations website, the Kitsilano Reserve residents dispersed to other reserves in Howe Sound, Musqueam and Coquitlam. The land officially remained a reserve, however, because the sale “didn’t follow the provisions of the ( federal) Indian act.”

The federal government wound up paying the province $ 350,000 for the land in 1928. In 1942, part of the reserve was leased out to the Department of Defence, which used it during the Second World War. In 1966, the federal government gave the land to the City of Vancouver, and a year later Vanier Park was opened.

In 1977, the Squamish sued to get the Kitsilano reserve back. In 2002, they received part of the land in a settlement, but most of it remains a park.

The Kitsilano Reserve was purchased by B. C. from the Squamish nation a century ago. Part of it was later turned into Vanier Park.