Vancouver: Unceded Land Tour

west end 1880s

Before the West End was a neighbourhood, it was still very much a forest with some of the tallest old growth trees in North America. It is also the ancestral hunting grounds of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Coast Salish people and has been for thousands of years. In 2014, the City of Vancouver made a motion to acknowledge that the entire City is on unceded Coast Salish Territory. Unceded Land means that the land was never formally and respectfully yielded and surrendered by its original inhabitants. In the case of Roedde House, these original inhabitants are the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh People of BC. Their traditional territory covers the Sunshine Coast and Howe Sound, including land past Whistler, Indian Arm along Burrard Inlet, through False Creek and the West End and English Bay all the way to Point Grey. This includes the land which Roedde House stands on. Therefore, as part of situating the House and the City’s history, we acknowledge that we are on the Territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including those of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. We are grateful to Indigenous People who have cared for this land long before we called it home and we honour their resilience, wisdom and strength.