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Through images and activities, students come to know səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Chief Dan George and understand his historical significance. They discover how his acting career helped change the image of Indigenous people in the media and how his activism raised awareness of Indigenous rights in Canada. This Kit includes lesson plans to encourage discussion and critical thinking.

Chief Dan George Story Kit 2021-22

Your students will:

• View primary source evidence and develop photo and artifact analysis skills.
• Assess the historical significance of Chief Dan George.
• Read and discuss poetry by Chief Dan George, including his ‘Lament to Confederation’.
• Watch a unique video about Chief Dan George produced by the MONOVA.

Pretty much everyone in Metro Vancouver knows about Stanley Park. It’s world famous for its dense forest, spectacular views, seawall, beaches, and fabulous trails. The park even won the title of “World’s Greatest Park” in a TripAdvisor contest. But while the park hosts millions of people every year, very few come away from their visit with any knowledge of the park’s remarkable social history.

Stanley Park is not an untouched rainforest. It was home to local Coast Salish people for thousands of years before it became a park, and even for decades afterwards. Numerous villages dotted the shoreline, including Whoi Whoi, which hosted large potlaches and from where a delegation sailed to meet Captain George Vancouver as he explored the area in 1792.

The story of the forced eviction of indigenous people from the land that would become Stanley Park is a shocking background to the park’s creation. Some mixed race indigenous and European families were able to fight back against the City’s onslaught of lawsuits, and keep their homes in the park near Brockton Point until the 1950s. Today their memory and resilience is honoured by the statue Shore to Shore, by Salish artist Luke Marston, which we visit on the tour.

The creation of the park was also about more than creating a space for Vancouverites to enjoy afternoon strolls and picnics. The land was originally intended as a military reserve, established to protect the city should the Americans decide to invade. After it became clear that wouldn’t happen, real estate developers, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the City of Vancouver, and the Federal Government all battled for control of the land. The fact it became a park illustrates the colossal power the CPR once had in Vancouver. 

Throw into the mix the tale of Deadman’s Island, stories of true crime, smallpox pest houses, buried treasure, public art, crow shoots and poetry and you’ll find that despite its beauty, there’s a lot more to Stanley Park than meets the eye!

A unique field trip for students from Grade 5 – University:

• Duration – 2 hours
• Start and end point – Outside the Vancouver Aquarium entrance by the whale fountain at 845 Avison Way

On the Forbidden Vancouver Tour you’ll explore Gastown, our city’s oldest neighbourhood. In the late 1910s our Province experimented with prohibition, meaning the sale of alcohol was banned. Enterprising criminals began to make money “bootlegging,” making and selling liquor illegally to a thirsty population. Even some government officials couldn’t resist the temptation to make a quick buck trafficking liquor.

As illegal drinking dens started to pop up throughout the city, the VPD formed a “Dry Squad” to hunt down bootleggers. Eventually mob boss Joe Celona had risen to the top of the city’s underworld, with even the Chief of Police on his payroll. Fighting for prohibition were the temperance union, a patchwork social movement formed by religious leaders, suffragists who wanted the vote for women, business owners, and many in the general population worried about the huge extent of alcohol abuse in Canada in the years leading up to prohibition, and particularly in Vancouver.

Many people of colour and particularly indigenous communities were brutally targeted under prohibition law, which was used by authorities to exert control over marginalized people. While prohibition was eventually repealed, it sadly remained in place for decades in the case of indigenous people. 

Once prohibition came into force south of the border, enterprising sailors made a fortune smuggling liquor down the West Coast in a practice known as “rum-running.” Vancouver’s Reifel family ran the largest rum running operation and would end up one of the country’s richest families. The Canadian government was even in on the act, charging an “export duty” on every case of liquor that left the country.

Discover all this and more on the Forbidden Vancouver Tour! A unique field trip for students from Grade 7 – University.

• Duration – 2 hours
• Start point – Outside Monaco Cafe at 356 Water Street
• End point – Maple Tree Square, Gastown

(Grades 4-7) Explore the economic and technological exchanges between local Indigenous people and early European settlers during the fur trade and become archaeologists as they dig for artifacts that represent key events in the development of BC.

This program is divided into:

• Introduction: PowerPoint Presentation (20 minutes)
• Stations (20 minute stations)
  • Archeology Dig (dig in our archeology sandbox for artifacts and explore what those artifacts mean for BC)
  • Archaeologist’s Journal (sketch artifacts and make inquiries into their purposes based on archeological data)
  • FRDC Trading Post Game (consider value of objects for explorers and Indigenous people in developing BC in a Deal or No Deal inspired competition)
• Conclusion (10 minutes)

For more information, visit our website or email us. 

Online booking form here.