Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist exhibition finds new home at Maplewood Flats, to August 29
Wild Bird Trust of BC presents the exhibition, the poet’s words being just as relevant and pressing today as when he wrote them
Geswanouth Slahoot was five years old when he was sent to residential school and given an English name.
Wild Bird Trust of BC presents Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist at Maplewood Flats Conservation Area to August 29.
POET, ACTOR, PUBLIC speaker, survivor, father of six, inspiration: those are just a few words to describe the man born Geswanouth Slahoot (Tśētsawanexw and Stalaston) who received his English name, Dan George, at St. Paul’s residential school. He was just five years old at the time.
George worked as a longshoreman, construction worker, school-bus driver, logger, and musician before he started acting at age 60. He was also chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation from 1951 to 1963.
Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist explores his life and legacy.
Originally developed by MONOVA: Museum of North Vancouver and now being presented by Wild Bird Trust of BC, the exhibition focuses on George’s influence as an advocate for First Nations’ rights and his career as an actor and artist, touching on the history and portrayal of Indigenous people in film and television.
During the 1967 centennial celebrations in Vancouver, he recited a poem called “Lament for Confederation” about the oppression and resurgence of Indigenous peoples in Canada:
“Oh Canada, how can I celebrate with you this centenary, this hundred years? Shall I thank you for the reserves that are left me of my beautiful forests? Shall I thank you for the canned fish of my rivers? Shall I thank you for the loss of my pride and authority, even among my own people? For the lack of my will to fight back? No! I must forget what is past and gone.”
Another piece of George’s writing that resonates today is a a column he wrote in 1972 that appeared in North Shore Free Press (an early version of the North Shore News) called Brotherhood and Understanding: Thoughts by Chief Dan George: “It is hard for me to understand how men not only hate and fight their brothers, but even attack nature and abuse her….The only thing that can truly help us is genuine love.”
In announcing the exhibition, the Wild Bird Trust notes on its website that it has been working to decolonize the Maplewood Flats site with the objective of returning lands to Tsleil-Waututh Nation jurisdiction, positing that its lease with the Crown “is a mistake of recent history”. Its statement reads:
“We are steadfastly operating with the spirit of putting the face of Tsleil-Waututh on the land. With the proximity to the new reserve lands, and to Burrard Reserve, Maplewood Flats remains an important opportunity to bring a small bit of redress to TWN. Programming the Chief Dan George exhibit also reflects our methodology of operating the site as a platform for reconciliation in North Vancouver, and the region.
“We recognize Chief Dan George’s legacy impacted the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s trajectory over the recent decades, and also played an important part in inspiring Indigenous rights resurgence across the region and beyond. He also inspired settlers here in North Vancouver (and across North America) to take responsibility for their collective role in colonialism. As your neighbours, the Wild Bird Trust of BC is grateful to be forging stronger alliances with settler civic agencies willing to Indigenize or take steps towards decolonizing (such as the Museum of North Vancouver and the North Vancouver Arts Council). Together we can more effectively challenge the status quo politics at the District of North Vancouver and elsewhere. “
The Maplewood Flats’ Nature House is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm on a first-come first-serve basis, while reservations for the exhibition can be made for bubbles in 60-minute time slots on Thursdays and Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm PDT.
Fireside Chats are taking place June 27 (Stories of the Grandchildren part one) and also on July 25 and August 29.
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