For this week’s research, I tried to learn more about the Lekwungen people (made up of the Songhees and Esquimalt), whose territory I am currently living on. With the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation having just passed, I found myself spending hours researching online trying to get a grasp on the Lekwungen history and culture. I’m frustrated that this was not part of my education; when I learned about Indigenous nations in Canada, it was always as though these nations no longer existed. Furthermore, there was no emphasis on the local nations. Instead they were lumped all together and I would be more likely to learn about Indigenous nations in the Prairies than in my hometown. I hope as an educator I can help make this information more accessible for my students, to help give them a better grasp of the land they’re on, and its caretakers.

Traditionally, Lekwungen people would gather berries, and seaweed, as well as catch herring and migratory ducks using nets. They would hunt deer and elk, and dig for clams. Their villages dotted the lower island, including a thriving village at what is now Willows Beach in Oak Bay.

Lekwungen, like other Indigenous nations, traditionally saw a spiritual dimension in all living things. Dance and ceremony accompanied important events such as the gathering of camas. Camas was traditionally an important food source that the Lekwungen women would cultivate. Through controlled burning, the Lekwungen women transformed densely forested areas into open meadows where the camas could thrive. This impact of this controlled burning can be seen in places such as Beacon Hill Park, and Uplands Park today. James Douglas and the British were actually attracted to settle in Victoria because of these open fields, which they mistakenly viewed as wasted land that could be cultivated; in fact, the land was currently being actively cultivated (Lutz, 2008).

Camas is still being cultivated by Lekwungen women and I found this great video about Cheryl Bryce from 2010 speaking to that. I used H5P to make the video a bit more interactive, to try to put into practice what we learned in class on Friday.

When Douglas and the British did settle in Victoria on behalf of the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1843, the Lekwungen people welcomed them openly. Hundreds of them supported with building the fort, and there was a vibrant trade relationship between them. The center of the Lekwungen’s economy was blankets, and so these were often what was given in return for labour or land. The Douglas Treaties (written about in more detail here), were signed as ways for the British to secure land, but the Lekwungen’s different understandings of property rights, ways of living,  and the need for continuing renewals meant they had a much different understanding of the agreements than the British.

As years progressed and more migrants came to Victoria, they brought with them deadly diseases as well as challenging social changes. In conjunction with oppressive and sometimes genocidal government policies, the Lekwungen population declined (Lutz, 2008). I found this interesting piece by CBC that investigates the question: “Can a city rooted in colonial history be a progressive site for reconciliation?” It examines the way Victoria sells its tourism through its colonial identity, and the tensions with the goals of reconciliation.

Of course one of the dark chapters of the colonial history were residential schools, something we’re often taught generally but not specific to our location. Chek News wrote up a 5 part series on the history of residential schools on Vancouver Island here that I would recommend reading. Much of this challenging history was the center of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As I was in the crowd last Thursday at Centennial Square, I was moved by the elders speaking on stage about the importance of moving forward with love and compassion. The crowd in the square was huge and it gave me hope that meaningful change has begun to happen. Next week, I hope to explore some examples of resurgence and reconciliation amongst the Indigenous nations in the area.

If you’re interested in learning more about the history of the Lekwungen people, I found the most comprehensive resource for my research was University of Victoria’s History Professor John Lutz’s book “Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations“, which has a chapter entitled “The Lekwungen.” It is available for online reading through the University of Victoria. If anyone has any other resources to share (particularly if written by a someone who identifies as Lekwungen or WSANEC), I would love to know!