People Amongst The People

Susan Point, O.C. · Brockton Point Totem Site, Stanley Park · Vancouver, BC

xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) · Medium: Carving · Commissioned by the City of Vancouver · Installed: 2008

Millions of visitors come to Stanley Park to see the totem poles at Brockton Point. Most don't know that until 2008, the people whose territory they were standing on had never been represented there.

The Work

The totem poles at Brockton Point are one of Vancouver's most photographed landmarks. What visitors are rarely told is that the poles are not local — they originate from Kwakwaka'wakw, Haida, Nisga'a, and Nuu-chah-nulth communities to the north, installed as a tourist attraction beginning in 1924. The Coast Salish peoples — the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ Nations — were absent from their own most visited landmark for nearly a century.

People Amongst the People changes that. Three monumental gateways by Susan Point stand at spapəy̓əq — the Musqueam place name for the area near Brockton Point, once a village inhabited by xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ancestors. The Park was declared a British military reserve in 1863 and remade as a public park in 1888, facilitating the removal and eviction of its inhabitants in 1931.

Installed in 2008, Susan Point's gateways are the first representation of Coast Salish art at this site. They are, as Point herself has described them, "reinstating the Salish footprint upon our traditional lands."

The gateways are not totem poles. They represent the internal structure of Coast Salish architecture — carved house posts inside longhouses, connected by supporting crossbeams. The exterior planks of these houses were removable, enabling seasonal movement across territories. These gateways are that essential structure — a home in its most fundamental state, ready to be rebuilt.

The imagery speaks directly to the land around them. Weaving motifs gesture toward nearby st'it'əwəq̓ʷ (Second Beach), where women once gathered diatomaceous earth to prepare mountain goat and woolly dog wool. A mask dancer alludes to χʷay̓χʷəy̓ (Lumberman's Arch). Herring and orcas are depicted together. Human and beyond-human beings appear in an interconnected, non-hierarchical manner — distinctly Coast Salish, and distinctly different from the northern styles that have long dominated this site.

In the words of Musqueam curator Jordan Wilson: "Perhaps they are the footprint of an ancestral home, ready to be rebuilt and made whole."

Know Before You Go

Outdoors at the Brockton Point totem site in Stanley Park. Accessible year-round, free of charge. Look for the distinctly Coast Salish gateway forms among the northern totem poles. Allow time to move around all three posts and take in the imagery on each face.

Best time to visit: Early morning before tour groups arrive. The totem site is busy year-round — weekday mornings are significantly quieter.

Getting There

By Transit — Bus 19 (Stanley Park) from Pender Street downtown to Brockton Oval stop, 5-minute walk to the totem site. Or Bus 135 from Burrard Station.

On Foot — 25 minutes along the seawall from Canada Place. 20 minutes from the Coal Harbour waterfront. Well signposted from the park entrance.

By Bike — The Stanley Park seawall cycling path passes Brockton Point directly.

By Vehicle — Enter Stanley Park via the Georgia Street causeway. Follow signs to Brockton Point. Pay parking at the Brockton Oval lot.

From the VCC: 25-minute walk along the seawall, or 10 minutes by transit. One of the closest major Trail sites to the downtown anchor point.

From YVR: Canada Line to Waterfront, then Bus 19 to Stanley Park. Approximately 45 minutes.

CONTINUE THE TRAIL

→  Human Spirit · Susan Point · Vancouver Convention Centre · 2.5 km

→  Blanketing the City — Granville Island · Debra Sparrow · Granville Street Bridge · 5 km

→  Female Welcome Figure · 1580 W Broadway · 5.5 km