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Stanley Park's Secret
Finalist for 2006 BC Book Prize - Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize
Shortlisted for George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in B.C. Writing and Publishing
Each year, over eight million people visit Stanley Park, a 400-hectare (1000-acre) haven of beauty that offers a backdrop of majestic cedars and firs and an environment teeming with wildlife just steps from the sidewalks and skyscrapers of Vancouver. But few visitors stop to contemplate the secret past of British Columbia's most popular tourist destination.
Officially opened in 1888, Stanley Park was born alongside the city of Vancouver, so it is easy to assume that the park was a pristine wilderness when it was first created. But much of it had been logged and it was home to a number of settlements. Aboriginal people lived at the villages of Whoi Whoi, now Lumberman's Arch, and nearby Chaythoos. Some of the immigrant Hawaiians earlier employed in the fur trade took jobs at the lumber mills that dotted Burrard Inlet from the 1860s and settled at "Kanaka Ranch," which was located just outside the park's southeast boundary. Others resided at Brockton Point on the peninsula's eastern tip. Only in 1958 was the last of the many families forced out of their homes and the park returned to its supposed "pristine" character.
Working in collaboration with descendants of the families who once lived in the park area, historian Jean Barman skilfully weaves together the families' stories with archival documents, Vancouver Parks Board records and court proceedings to reveal a troubling, yet deeply important facet of BC's history.
Shortlisted for George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in B.C. Writing and Publishing
Each year, over eight million people visit Stanley Park, a 400-hectare (1000-acre) haven of beauty that offers a backdrop of majestic cedars and firs and an environment teeming with wildlife just steps from the sidewalks and skyscrapers of Vancouver. But few visitors stop to contemplate the secret past of British Columbia's most popular tourist destination.
Officially opened in 1888, Stanley Park was born alongside the city of Vancouver, so it is easy to assume that the park was a pristine wilderness when it was first created. But much of it had been logged and it was home to a number of settlements. Aboriginal people lived at the villages of Whoi Whoi, now Lumberman's Arch, and nearby Chaythoos. Some of the immigrant Hawaiians earlier employed in the fur trade took jobs at the lumber mills that dotted Burrard Inlet from the 1860s and settled at "Kanaka Ranch," which was located just outside the park's southeast boundary. Others resided at Brockton Point on the peninsula's eastern tip. Only in 1958 was the last of the many families forced out of their homes and the park returned to its supposed "pristine" character.
Working in collaboration with descendants of the families who once lived in the park area, historian Jean Barman skilfully weaves together the families' stories with archival documents, Vancouver Parks Board records and court proceedings to reveal a troubling, yet deeply important facet of BC's history.
- GenresNonfictionCanadaHistory
Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 29, 2018
Pretty good book, I learned a lot. Made me angry though, after finishing I ran into Stanley Park and kicked a rose bush.
March 5, 2010
As a newcomer to Vancouver with an avid interest in all things historical I found this book a fabulous insight.
Nothing surprising in that the newly settled white man evicts the natives who have lived here for centuries from their own lands but its an inslightful look at how these people lived and how they were treated.
Great book.
Inspired me to take a walk around Stanley Park.
Nothing surprising in that the newly settled white man evicts the natives who have lived here for centuries from their own lands but its an inslightful look at how these people lived and how they were treated.
Great book.
Inspired me to take a walk around Stanley Park.
March 30, 2015
Such a good read about a little known and even less discussed topic. While it is an academic book, it’s not overly dense one, and unlike the other books I've read for school this semester, this one was something I looked forward to every time I picked it up. Highly recommended for those with an interest in history in general and first nations history as well as urban park history/development.
July 21, 2025
I was lucky enough to borrow this book for a few hours from a friend. I was truly shocked to read so much disgusting fear and anger towards not only the people who lived in the villages, but to the Hawaiian "indentured" slaves.
I'm not ignorant to the depth of human depravity, but a lot still sat unswallowed in the back of my throat. I still can't imagine that I would live past the first boats landing as the sailors tried and some succeeded in treating indigenous women/girls as prostitutes. No different than what others would have acted when they came aground in Africa as well as later places.
Trying to talk about this book with indigenous friends I was amazed at one gentleman who broke into one of my attempts to pass on a crumb of the information I'd read. To his amazement I had just explained a mystery in his family. You see his family had acknowledged having Hawaiian ancestors, but no one understood how it could be. Even though it was passed down that his ancestors had lived where Stanley park is, the slaves from Hawaii weren't brought up as they had tried to escape and many were killed for it.
There are so many shadows hiding the unacceptable way North American people were, and still are treated, sometimes it feels like Reconciliation is almost impossible. When I listen to conversation around the subject I do hear people on both sides making a real effort to change the way we treat each other. Books like this help to air out those dark shadows and allow a healing breeze through.
I'm not ignorant to the depth of human depravity, but a lot still sat unswallowed in the back of my throat. I still can't imagine that I would live past the first boats landing as the sailors tried and some succeeded in treating indigenous women/girls as prostitutes. No different than what others would have acted when they came aground in Africa as well as later places.
Trying to talk about this book with indigenous friends I was amazed at one gentleman who broke into one of my attempts to pass on a crumb of the information I'd read. To his amazement I had just explained a mystery in his family. You see his family had acknowledged having Hawaiian ancestors, but no one understood how it could be. Even though it was passed down that his ancestors had lived where Stanley park is, the slaves from Hawaii weren't brought up as they had tried to escape and many were killed for it.
There are so many shadows hiding the unacceptable way North American people were, and still are treated, sometimes it feels like Reconciliation is almost impossible. When I listen to conversation around the subject I do hear people on both sides making a real effort to change the way we treat each other. Books like this help to air out those dark shadows and allow a healing breeze through.
September 27, 2020
What a revelation! I became more interested in the early settlements in the West End. Eihu Lane is between Alberni and Robson, commemorating the Hawaiian families who once lived here. Now I know that I live on the eastern edge of Kanaka Ranch, where the Hawaiian families lived (now Devonian Park, and the Bayshore developments). I also now know that the only remaining vestige of the families that lived on "the peninsula", Brockton Point, is the lilac bush that Martha Smith planted in the late 1890s. At Prospect Point was the family of Chief Khahtsahlano, and between was the indigenous village of Whoi Whoi, now known as Lumberman's Arch. This was the only settlement I knew of before reading Jean Barman's book. As I take my afternoon walk to the bottom of Cardero I shall tip my hat to Angelo Sarcia, who anchored his houseboat at the foot of the street in the 30s after eviction from Deadman's Island. Thanks, Jean, for this story of the far from pristine Stanley
Park.
Park.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews