The fall of 2017 marked the beginning of the Library’s Honouring Reconciliation program to honour the experiences of Indigenous peoples in Canada, facilitate learning, and promote understanding of our shared history. This initiative was made possible by a Canada 150 grant from the West Vancouver Community Foundation.
The Library has continued to offer programming as part of Honouring Reconciliation such as the unveiling of the permanent art piece Panel of Knowledge: Tyee Salmon and Eulachon. The purpose of the commission was to create a work that reflects and interprets the rich culture of the Squamish Peoples and to promote reconciliation and respectful relationships in West Vancouver.
In 2019, the Honouring Reconciliation initiative received the BC Library Association’s 2019 Building Better Communities Award, on behalf of Members of the Squamish Nation, Reconciliation Canada, and West Vancouver Memorial Library.
Past Honouring Reconciliation events include panel discussions, film screenings, and learning circles.
Upcoming Events
Honouring Reconciliation is a program to honour the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, facilitate learning, and promote understanding of our shared history.
Image credit: Carved by Coast Salish artist Luke Marston, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Bentwood Box is a lasting tribute to all Indian Residential School Survivors. The carved panels represent the unique cultures of former First Nations, Inuit and Métis students. Used with permission.
We acknowledge that we are on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation), səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam Nation). We recognize and respect them as nations in this territory, as well as their historic connection to the lands and waters around us since time immemorial.