Our research exemplifies society’s weak memories of resistance, in that presently society does not remember the role the Musqueam had in the creation of Pacific Spirit Park. Our research tells the forgotten history of the Musqueam concerning the creation of Pacific Spirit Park. It tells the story of the oppressed fighting against the system at the time, trying to fight back for their rights and for the land that was initially theirs.
Rebecca Solnit argues that amnesia can lead to apathy and despair. This is highlighted in our research as failing to remember the narrative of the Musqueam concerning Pacific Spirit Park’s history inherently makes us ignore their histories and their stories of injustices. Our research made it clear that there is not one cohesive story told for the Musqueam. Eduardo Galeano adds to Solnit’s argument in arguing that amnesia blinds us to the beauty of humanity as well as the darkness of it. Not having a clear understanding of the story of the Musqueam in relation to Pacific Spirit Park blinds us from the truth of what really happened. It leads us to not understanding the horrible ways in which the Musqueam were treated by the DIA, the neglect they felt by their governments regarding both land claims and how unattached they felt from issues concerning their land. It also leads us to not having a clear understanding of how hard they fought against the system that were oppressing them in putting up trespassing signs on their land, making it clear that the land that was being repeatedly debated over was theirs.
Our research highlights one of the points that Solnit argues in her book Hope in the Dark, that those with power control the media and can choose whose stories get told whose do not.
“Imagine the world as a theatre. The acts of the powerful and the official occupy the centre stage. The traditional versions of history, the conventional sources of news encourage us to fix our gaze on that stage. The limelights there are so bright that they blind you to the shadowy spaces around you, make it hard to meet the gaze of other people in the seats, to see the way out of the audience, into the aisles, backstage, outside, in the dark, where other powers are at work. A lot of the fate of the world is decided onstage, in the limelight, and the actors there will tell you that all of it is, that there is no other place.” (65)
In the case of our research we found that most of our preliminary findings and sources that we found for our literature review were produced by individuals who belonged to colonial white powers. There were few sources written by the Musqueam, but rather it was more the case that colonialists would speak for them. This conveys this idea that the Musqueam really have no voice concerning their issues even though as our results and analysis show, they played a major role in the establishment of Pacific Spirit Park. With this paper we hope to give the Musqueam just as much of the “limelight” as those that the colonial powers have had for centuries in order to give them agency as their position acted in a manner that has been dictated by social structure instead of as a free agent.
The effects of structure and agency in the story of the Musqueam is seen using Cole Harris’s idea of “management of movement” theory. The theory states, “the government delineated spaces where the Musqueam could live and where they would become trespassers in the eyes of colonial law.” The DIA managed to accomplish this in staking off the land for the Musqueam and restricting them from participating with the rest of society. In separating the Musqueam from the rest of society it resulted in further alienating their voices. The DIA were able to separate the Musqueam enough so that others would not have the chance to hear their story. As a consequence, today we read history, which it is not told by the Musqueam but their colonial rulers.