Park board chair issues apology to First Nations over Stanley Park remark
The chairman of the Vancouver park board has issued an apology to local First Nations for comments he made concerning the historical significance of Stanley Park.
In a Sept. 18 Vancouver Sun article, Stuart Mackinnon was quoted as saying that there was no plan to rebrand Stanley Park with a traditional Indigenous place name because “the response we had from the Squamish people was that there was no reason to rename it because it never had a name. It was a forest.”
The comments came as the park board unanimously approved McKinnon’s motion to recognize the Indigenous names of parks and beaches in the city as the next step toward reconciliation. Areas inhabited by First Nations that are within park board boundaries include the west-side beaches of Spanish Banks, Jericho, Locarno and Kitsilano, as well as communities around the edges of Stanley Park.
Mackinnon now says his comments about Stanley Park were both inaccurate and insulting to local First Nations.
“I would like to apologize to the Musqueam, Squamish and TsleilWaututh peoples for my remarks. I understand that the area we now call Stanley Park was never ‘just a forest’; that since time immemorial the local Indigenous peoples stewarded and inhabited the entire area, and that there are several places there that have hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh names. My remarks regarding the renaming of Stanley Park run counter to the spirit of the motion I submitted, which was to acknowledge and honour the place names throughout the region known to local First Nations,” said Mackinnon.
“Further, I hope that my misinformed statements do not hinder efforts to move forward with the motion, which was conceived as a means to rectify the injustice of the erasure of traditional place names in hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ and Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh and to restore and normalize the use of these languages throughout both Indigenous and nonIndigenous communities. I regret that this misinformation was spread due to the emphasis on my perspective over those of the Musqueam, Squamish and TsleilWaututh people. They have long been available to speak with authority about their own languages, place names and history, and yet it is often my voice that is given prominence. I recognize that this is unfair, and in future I will strive to defer to voices from within the three nations.”
I hope that my misinformed statements do not hinder efforts to move forward with the motion. STUART MACKINNON, park board chairman
MacKinnon, who represents the Green party, was re-elected to the park board Saturday, receiving the highest number of votes (73,549) on the City of Vancouver’s 158name ballot.