The name “Vancouver” is world-renowned. Unsurprisingly, you don’t need to look far to find out who Captain George Vancouver was. However, the full narrative of Vancouver’s history shouldn’t begin with his arrival to these unceded lands.
Let’s talk about who welcomed this foreign visitor. This is a story that is not as widely known, but is one that should inform the ways we carry out our lives on the lands that belong to the Musqueam people.
As an alumni and staff member of UBC, I’ve had the honour of getting to know and work with Elder Howard E. Grant of the Musqueam Nation. He carries the traditional name qiyəplenəxʷ (anglicized as Capilano), the Musqueam warrior who welcomed the first English and Spanish explorers to the shores of what we now call “Vancouver” today in 1791 and 1792 respectively. This name was gifted to Howard by his relatives in the late 1970’s, along with a great deal of responsibility for being the type of leader and knowledge keeper his great-great-great grandfather qiyəplenəxʷ was.
In 2011, the Musqueam community gifted two names of significant places within their lands – həm̓ləsəm̓ and q̓ələχən – to be used for the newest student houses at Totem Park Residence in their language, hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓. The fortification site and village where qiyəplenəxʷ lived with other warriors and their families is called q̓ələχən. It’s located within the area called the “University of British Columbia.”
It’s 2016 and UBC has just celebrated its centennial, yet it was only five years ago that həm̓ləsəm̓ and q̓ələχən became the first buildings on campus to be named in the language of this land and of the Musqueam people who have taken care of these lands for thousands of years. The following year, in 2012, a house post of qiyəplenəxʷ (anglicized as Capilano) was raised by UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.
As many of my colleagues like to say, “it’s about time.”
As much as we love our campus and the city many of us call or soon will call home, let’s learn to love the land that we stand on, and the language that it speaks. For those of us who are visitors like Captain Vancouver once was, let’s learn to build a relationship with our hosts.
As you watch this video about the name of q̓ələχən House at UBC, think about the power that names carry:
Reflection Questions:
- What is the significance of gifting the names həm̓ləsəm̓ and q̓ələχən for the Totem Park residence houses?
- What comes to mind when you see Elder Larry Grant welcoming you in the Musqueam language hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, standing in front of UBC’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the beginning of the film?
- How can learning more about the names in this film shape your experiences at UBC while learning, living, and working on Indigenous territories within and around Vancouver?
Photo credit Alejandro Yoshizawa
