For my week as guest editor of Price Tags, I intend to view Vancouver from an architectural perspective. To this effect, I will be releasing an interview with an architect, planner, or academic each day. Each person has been selected for his/her unique and timely perspectives on the city. Our discussions will highlight each person’s practice along with their notions of city building and form in Vancouver.
I’m sitting in Prado Café with architect Patrick Reid Stewart. Patrick, whose hereditary name is Luugigyoo (which means Fish Already in the Creek) is a member of Nisga’a Nation and practices as an architect with his office Patrick Stewart Architect situated on Tzeachten First Nation within Stó:lō Traditional Territory. Patrick is an exceptional architect, scholar, and one of a very few licensed First Nations architects in Canada. He was kind enough to join me for a candid interview about his work and opinions on architecture in Vancouver and at large.
Patrick Reid Stewart
JB: What is the work you are doing with the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC)?
PS: I chair the Indigenous Communities Sustainable Design Task Force, an initiative of the RAIC. The impetus for this Task Force began with Allan Teramura, President of the RAIC. He recently went north to a First Nations community and the permanent housing he found there reminded him of photos he had seen of the Canadian internment camp his family lived in during World War II. This Task Force is going to advocate for a much better housing stock for First Nations communities. Our first steps include developing a work plan to conduct an analysis of the on-reserve housing stock. We hope to present some preliminary findings at the RAIC June 2016 Festival of Architecture, held in Nanaimo.
JB: Can you tell me about the footwear company, creenisgaa clothing, that you run with your wife Linda Lavallee?
PS: It began very organically; my wife developed the skills of beading and sewing out of necessity. The original footwear Linda made were in the style of a Cree wraparound which her family had made for generations. We experimented with the design and have developed the boot we now make. We have found an appetite for authentically made indigenous footwear that is crafted and sourced locally. Linda makes the boots; our son provides the Cree designs and I provide the Nisga’a artwork for the boots. Many prominent Aboriginal actors and musicians have been wearing our footwear which has been wonderful publicity.
We are heading to fashion shows in Melbourne Australia in March and Saskatoon and Hollywood this Fall. We have also been invited as feature designers to Cambrian College in Sudbury in April. We are also currently finishing a pair of boots that have been acquired by the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton for their Grand Opening in 2017. You can view our boots at www.creenisgaa.com
JB: Your recent Dissertation, Indigenous Architecture through Indigenous Knowledge : Together we will build a village investigated how the culture of an Indigenous architect informs their practice of architecture. Further, you identified the need for support for Indigenous knowledge and students in schools of architecture. The work has received a lot of media attention. How has the reception been?
PS: The media attention has been awesome. It has provided me with opportunities to speak to different audiences. I have spoken at the School of Community Planning and the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, the Summer Indian Festival in Vancouver and Laurentian University School of Architecture.
I have now been asked to write chapters for a few books: three chapters on Indigenous Architecture and one on Alternative Dissertations.
I recently participated in a gratitude project which allowed me to reflect on just how many people influenced my life, focusing on my life as a foster child. I am also working with a colleague on a book about our lives as foster children crossing paths in the same house and how startled we were when introduced decades later at university, now in the same room, both working on PhD’s.
JB: Can you describe what the results of your thesis would look like if realized in the practice of today’s firms? What does indigenous knowledge look like in city building?
PS: We operate in a colonial system, in which our ideas themselves are colonized. I begin a project with a conversation about this with my clients, and introduce ideas to investigate what is best for their community at this time. I try to act as a facilitator of a community’s shared history. In a city like Vancouver, people come from all over. I try to recognize that there is a local First Nations culture which hosts those who come from elsewhere and share the history they have salvaged from brutal colonial interventions such as the school system.
Indigenous knowledge involves the acknowledgement of indigenous culture in design. This may seem difficult, especially for practitioners who are not members of a First Nations community. It is important to approach each project with respect. You cannot bulldoze your way in using indigenous knowledge or you will appropriate the culture you wish to support.
A modern city designed and built on Indigenous Knowledges would grow organically respecting the cultural markers that inhabits the relationship with the landscape and the natural environment. It would grow from the millennia of knowledge concerning the reciprocity, responsibility, reflection, relevance and redistribution between the inhabitants and the environment.
JB: Reconciliation in Vancouver has resulted in such change as the use of the statement that we are on the unceded territory of the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. What does reconciliation look like in city building?
PS: This phrase is a sign of respect, but not reconciliation. The statement establishes western culture as a visitor on these territories, however a visitor must respect their host. It concept recognizes the situation but does not fix Nations that have been wreaked by colonization.
People in my Nisga’a community have roles, which results in a stronger sense of community. Generally, people in Vancouver do not have roles. The whole idea of reconciliation is founded upon a construction of Western Canada to reconcile its own guilt. It is impossible to make up for past wrongs, however we need to get on with our own Nation building despite ongoing colonization. If there can be meaningful reconciliation it will be a process that will require strong attention to what has to happen from now on and more participation from our Indigenous Nations. There are 94 calls to action contained in the final report of the Truth and reconciliation Commission that currently sit on shelves gathering dust. What does that say about the process?
JB: Defining Vancouver’s heritage architecture has been a recent topic of discussion. What does heritage architecture mean to you?
PS: Many people consider Vancouver’s heritage architecture to be limited to the remainder of Neoclassical and Victorian architecture that has survived today. This type of construction reaches barely more than 100 years ago, while human habitation has been documented within Metro Vancouver for example as at Xá:ytem east of the City of Mission as far as 9000 years ago. Most people are unaware of its existence.
Hatzic Rock, found at Xá:ytem, has seen human habitation as far as 9000 years ago
JB: Do you have any particular soapboxes when it comes to architecture in Vancouver?
PS: Vancouver has a lack of affordable housing. We have over 2000 homeless and one of the least affordable housing stocks in the world. This problem has been virtually ignored and has not been dealt with the seriousness it deserves. We need more federal and provincial government political will to build more affordable housing; there has not been subsidized housing since 1993. We need to let our politicians know this is a priority.
JB: If you could make any intervention in Vancouver’s built form what would it be?
PS: I would reconstitute old First Nations village sites. There were villages in Stanley Park and throughout Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. There is no recognition of the destruction and theft that occurred here. Returning place names such as renaming The Juan de Fuca as the Salish Sea is a beginning and something that should continue. Not that names will make up for what has been lost. A recognition and education of what has been lost needs to happen, much like what the holocaust museums signify for Jewish losses, I would introduce a genocide museum for the loss of Indigenous culture. There is no such facility at this time in Vancouver.
JB: Do you have anything exciting in process at your office you can share with us?
PS: Respecting the privacy of my clients, I can say we are currently working on a number of exciting projects for a number of Aboriginal organizations in Metro Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. They range from multi-unit residential to commercial to community-based assets.
Patrick Stewart can be reached at info@patrickstewartarchitect.com and you can view his office website at http://www.patrickstewartarchitect.com/.
A very timely post. Thank you.
There are those designers and urbanists who claim Vancouver doesn’t have a history, then promptly refer to the deep cultures and urbanism of Europe. It is painfully obvious with the views and information pieces like this contain, how colonial and patriarchal that perception is, especially in light of the fact the Sto:lo and other Coast Salish cultures and genealogy predate everything about the Europe and Asia we know. 9,000 years … think about that in relation to your own ancestry.
Further, regarding the expression of West Coast indigenous culture through art, architecture, dance and iconography, there is nothing else in the world that compares to it. The Spirit of Haida Gwaii and the exquisite craftsmanship of Charles Edenshaw, and the naturally-evolved community urbanism of massive aboriginal village longhouses oriented in the arc of a curving beach (now seen only in old photographs and illustrations) are very powerful indeed.
Where are the references to ancient indigenous art and culture in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s architectural aspirations for a high level art museum? Will the deep Native history here be relegated to a box-gallery on an upper floor where their power will be contained and forgotten? Why can’t the VAG and other public (and also private) buildings pull these powerful references and forms boldly to the forefront and embed them into the architecture to sit proud on the street? What can’t our streets and other urban infrastructure not reflect the history of the land they rest on?
It may be difficult to envision how Vancouver’s city building can be influenced by Native history beyond the museumification of indigenous culture, but I believe Patrick Reid Stewart has provided some clues, notably to never stop the process of reconciliation, to foster a deeper respect for historic indigenous sites and culture, and to fully embed the involvement, and elevate the influence, of First Nations in building our cities and economies for the future.
Correction in the absence of an EDIT button:
Why can’t our streets and common urban infrastructure reflect the history of the land they rest on?
Respect is a two way street, is it not ? With indigenous people making up less and less of the population, and more and more immigrants not caring even about the British-French history of Canada, let alone its history before that, can we truly assume that we need more reconciliation, attention and money spent on activities 100+ years ago ?
When does the money grab end ? Are we a nation actually ? Or just a collection of mini-“nations” ? Or are some races (or “nations”) more relevant than others ? Many folks are sick and tired of the endless bickering and handout seeking of unsustainable “nations” in remote territories especially when blocking vital infrastructure of national interest !
What is the end goal here actually ? Certainly it cannot be perpetual dependency. What then is the goal ?
History is not static. It moves on. We now have 2.5M+ people in MetroVan. How much attention shall we give to 1000 or so people that may have lived here 200+ or 2000+ years ago ?
People have lost their land elsewhere (Jews, Mennonites, Japanese farmers, ..). Yes it may have been unjust, or through wars, but was a sign of the times then.Time to move on. Native history has its place, but it is a question of degree and cost. Is history of original immigrants more important than those that came 250 years ago or those that can 100 years ago or those that came 25 years ago or those that continue to arrive ?
Actually Thomas, Indiginous population trend is exactly the opposite of what you suggest:
http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&A1=All&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1
And 100 years ago, are you serious? How about 1996? (just to take the first thing that popped up in google, there are so many)
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-church-school-scandal/
That which happened when I was a teenager CERTAINLY isn’t so ‘ago’ that it can be discounted.
I know you are a fan of everyone standing entirely on their own against the world … but that assumes that everyone has someplace to stand.
“People have lost their land elsewhere (Jews, Mennonites, Japanese farmers, ..). Yes it may have been unjust, or through wars, but was a sign of the times then.Time to move on.”
I’m just going to ask you to re-read this … and ask yourself if you REALLY mean it. Because if you do, I’ve got your pick of genocides to sell you, which use exactly the same justification.
Finally:
“Is history of original immigrants more important than those that came 250 years ago or those that can 100 years ago or those that came 25 years ago or those that continue to arrive?”
Not necessarily, but it also can’t be discounted … its ALL important, its ALL relevant, and if we discount/discard the past we certainly aren’t going to be able to do very well at planning for the future. Suggesting that the Jew’s time (to pick just one) had passed is the suggestion of one who has NOT learned from the past, and, if one relies on the aphorism, is therefore doomed to repeat it. Don’t you think?
10,000 years, up to 300,000 people.
Respect is a two way street.
http://www.hellobc.com/british-columbia/about-bc/culture-history.aspx
Respect should be a two-way street, but it has been historically and notoriously one-sided in Canada. As the result, we now have a late-in-coming Constitution that embeds indigenous rights, a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects minorities from the tyranny of the majority, and at least two Supreme Court decisions that acknowledge aboriginal territory was never ceded.
Then you’ve got the social legacy of a half-century of inexcusable state and religious abuse in the residential school system, the psychological effects of which have multiplied to three generations now at great cost to both aboriginal people and our society as a whole. Neither you or I have any realistic conception of the damage. The cycle needs to be broken, and we need to get on with reconciliation.
To cite these and other unresolved tragedies and imply they / we should just “move on” is very dangerous ground, Thomas, legally and morally. It’s also impossible because the common denominator in our society isn’t money, as you simplistically imply. The effects are still continuing today. Be careful.
Some abuse, yes. Grossly excaggerated. Most priests and teachers were honest men or women trying the educate the savages [ as they used to call them]. The main attempt was to educate and integrate them into the modern world, including math and English skills of essentially illiterate people. The British could have decided to slaughter them all, as many other conquering forces did elsewhere. Where is the thank you by the indigenous people that the British let them live ?
The Canadian Charter is seriously flawed. It is racist in fact. The Indian Act should be abolished. The British took the land. They won the war. There were no nations, or none with sufficient skills and weapons to defend themselves. History is written and shaped by the winners, not the losers. Losers asking for handouts now, 200 or more years later is what we want to perpetuate with no end in sight ?
“History is written and shaped by the winners, not the losers.”
It’s shaped by all of us together. Trying to erase history, sweep it under the carpet, or ignore it’s ongoing effects is a MASSIVE insult to us all!
Of course teaching and learning from history is very relevant.
However what is unhealthy is the perpetual handout mentality, the lack of desire to end it and the perpetual wallowing in perceived ( or real) injustices by an occupying group in the late 1790 and 1800s. Look at substance abuse, child neglect, abject poverty and family violence on far too many reserves. How will we solve this by perpetuating the myth of “nations” with dependencies on perpetual handouts. We should treat all Canadians the same.
There is no goal here nor any attempts to solve it. It has to come from within mainly. Where are those thought leaders in the native communities ?
Thomas, if you (or your kids) were removed from your family by government agents, placed in schools and religious institutions for a decade where speaking your language and practicing your culture was severely punished, where foreign social, religious and political ideas were incessantly shoved down your throat, then, on top of it all, you and half your fellow students were physically and sexually abused, you know very well there would be psychological ramifications for both the parents whose children disappeared into this abhorrent system, and the kids themselves, who only followed the age-old human pattern of turning into abusers themselves, both to others and to themselves. PTSD is a measureable, documented symptom of residential schools and with measurable stress-related chemical markers that are passed on to the children of survivors.
Moreover, the dominant society calls you a savage and demeans you daily, generation after generation.
This, of course, is on top of the removal of your entire community from its traditional territory and non-monetary sustenance existence, and the containment of your families and friends in small geographical areas called “reserves,” which today are often too small for the growing population and too remote to service properly.
Reserves, the introduction of cash into reserves, and the social aftermath are the result of a long history government interventions and social rejection. You can call them “handouts” all you want, but your terminology is way off the mark and furthers the well-worn path of demeaning a minority.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is the best documentation yet of this cycle of poverty and social malaise, and indigenous people are the first ones who say now is the time to break it. And many First Nations are beginning that process, starting with the Nisga, using their only economic instrument: Unceded ownership of the land, a fact now recognized twice by the highest court in the land.
Suzie Q, the abuse was well-documented, and you are attempting to diminish it without backing up your assertions with proven citations.
And the march through the courts to the to highest level, then the decisions years later on Delgamuukw and Tsilqot’in, proves that land claims are legitimate and have more than adequate merit to survive multiple attempts to quash them in the Canadian system of law itself.
@Thomas … I agree, we should treat everyone the same 🙂
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/1970s-manitoba-poverty-experiment-called-a-success-1.868562
The interesting thing is, when you look at that program, they specifically DIDN’T find a “perpetual handout mentality, the lack of desire to end it and the perpetual wallowing” … these things are perceived, but not actually real. Just like the perception that people on welfare use drugs at higher rates … they keep testing, and they keep finding that they don’t. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/02/26/3624447/tanf-drug-testing-states/ … and if these aren’t true, then why are we to think that any other stereotype is true either? Plenty of people disparage the apathetic millennial generation, but actual data paints a completely different picture … the plural of anecdote is not data.
Why is it that no-one asks where the thought leaders are when it comes to banking scandals, or corporate corruption, or your friendly neighborhood skinheads?
For the moment, however, lets accept and follow your logic a bit, if indeed there is a culture of dependence, then the first step is to ask for help … you know what? THEY HAVE!:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/first-nations-ask-ottawa-to-boost-funding-for-aboriginal-education/article16005557/
and
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/why-cant-we-get-clean-water-to-first-nation-reserves/
etc…
The thing is, we have’t actually been listening, or helping in any way which is really all that helpful.
Just like your giving me $10 is ‘help’ but does little in any real terms to Help me buy a condo, there are so many instances of too little and too late in the name of a perpetuated narrative of steriotypical fallacy: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/stereotypes-often-prevent-canadians-from-helping-205629374.html