News and Features
The Rise of the Squamish Nation
By Megan Stewart published Mar 1, 2010
This was once a village,” says Ian Campbell, with a sweep of his arm, “a major village of the Squamish people.” We’re standing under the Burrard Bridge, on the south side of False Creek near the Molson brewery; 10.3 acres of land down here constitute Kitsilano Indian Reserve No. 6. “This was a very rich area for resources. False Creek had an abundance of sturgeon, salmon, seals, bog cranberries and wild rice, big stands of timber, particularly red cedar trees. Shellfish, oolichan, heron, rockfish. Because of the location of this village, it became a major trade centre for many of the Coast Salish people who were travelling through this region.”
No one lives here today, but I see dog walkers, a city maintenance vehicle, a discarded sleeping bag in the patch of poplar trees, and I hear the hum of vehicles overhead. The paved seawall curves between the marina and a thicket of brambles where a totem pole stands. A fleet of white SUVs is parked out of the rain on several acres behind chain-link fencing, their Vanoc branding spotless.
Campbell, 36, sees something else beneath this bridge. A past, certainly. His great-great-great-grandfather, Khatsahlano, inspired the name of this neighbourhood. “We’re in a part of the Squamish territory known as Senakw.” (It’s pronounced “snock.”) But a future, too. A hereditary chief of the Squamish First Nation, Campbell was elected in December to the band council for a second four-year term. Dressed in a wool coat, the capitalist, entrepreneur, and cultural ambassador wears leather gloves and clasps his hands in front of him. He smiles at passersby.
Behind us, an 18-metre post of rolled steel supports two digital billboards reaching above the bridge deck so that vehicles entering and exiting downtown can’t miss them. Similar billboards stand in three other locations on Squamish reserve land on the North Shore. They went up in November, when the Squamish Nation told local media they had signed a 30-year contract with Astral Media Outdoor for $30 million.
Campbell said the annual income of the Squamish is about $60 million. He’s proud that the band generates 80 cents of every dollar, with the federal government contributing the balance. Challenges like limited housing have not been solved, but the Squamish are finding ways to generate more income. The revenue from the billboards is an opportunity that comes with living adjacent to a major city and finding “ways of adapting to this modern environment,” Campbell says. “The billboards are just one more tool for us.” At three by 10 metres, the face of the billboard is a third bigger than most in Vancouver. Every 10 seconds, its 112,649 LED diodes flash a static, illuminated advertisement. (In January, VANOC announced they purchased control of the ad space to prevent ambush marketing during the Games.)
