Unarchived

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” – William Faulkner

In the new feature documentary Unarchived, co-directors Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok highlight community archives across British Columbia to reveal some of what has been erased from the official record.

The people and places left out of traditional archives and museums are often determined by the dominant power, but as UBC’s Dr. Henry Yu states, “the process of silencing makes a lot of noise.” Local knowledge keepers are undoing these omissions and hand-fashioning a more inclusive history through family photos, newspaper articles and scratchy old VHS tapes.

Ron Dutton started the BC Gay and Lesbian Archive by collecting protest pamphlets, posters and even cabaret sets from the earliest days of Vancouver’s gay community. In the tiny mill town of Paldi, on Vancouver Island, a remarkable intercultural community was captured on Super 8 and 16-millimetre film by the founders and their families. On the landscape, anthropologist Dr. Imogene Lim points out how plants serve as reminders of Asian communities long gone.

These different archives tell stories of people building connection through work, play, protest, family and tradition. In so doing, they challenge larger institutions to re-examine and address older narratives that no longer reflect the totality of our shared experience. At the Trans Archive at the University of Victoria, a hidden past is documented and preserved. At the Royal BC Museum, staff work tirelessly to right historical wrongs and find a new path towards restorative justice for Indigenous people.

Through a collage of personal interviews, archival images and footage, and deeply rooted memories, the past, present and future come together, fighting for a space where everyone is seen and everyone belong. History is what we all make of it.

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Gray, Hayley (film director)
Gray, Hayley (screenwriter)
Tzadok, Elad (film director)
Tzadok, Elad (screenwriter)
Snelgrove, Teri (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Kaayla Whachell; editors, Aynsley Baldwin, Elad Tzadok; music, Edo Van Breemen, Johannes Winkler.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Archives; Sexual minorities; Transgender people; South Asian immigrants; British Columbia; South Asian people; Racism; Marginalized people; Asian immigrants; Vancouver; First Nations peoples in Canada,First Nations,knowledge keepers,inclusive history,BC Gay and Lesbian Archive,British Columbia Gay and Lesbian Archive,Paldi,Vancouver Island,Imogene Lim,anthropology; "Unarchived"; National Film Board of Canada

00:00:02.208 --> 00:00:04.041
[♪♪♪]

00:00:09.250 --> 00:00:10.875
[gears rumbling and clacking]

00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:12.041
[swishing]

00:00:12.166 --> 00:00:15.291
[♪♪♪]

00:00:15.416 --> 00:00:17.125
- [Henry Yu]
- We think of history

00:00:17.250 --> 00:00:19.000
as stories about the past,

00:00:19.125 --> 00:00:20.250
- but it's always
- about the future,

00:00:20.375 --> 00:00:22.208
in my mind.

00:00:23.083 --> 00:00:24.541
- [Satwinder Bains]
- The worst thing we can do

00:00:24.666 --> 00:00:27.208
- is for our generations
- not to know where we've been.

00:00:27.333 --> 00:00:29.166
- Somewhere,
- someone is gonna want to know.

00:00:30.500 --> 00:00:33.875
- [Genevieve Weber] To see
- yourself in a place where...

00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.958
history is captured and told,

00:00:36.083 --> 00:00:37.375
it has such power.

00:00:38.583 --> 00:00:41.166
- [Yu] Power and archives
- are inextricable.

00:00:41.291 --> 00:00:43.833
Who decides what gets kept?

00:00:43.958 --> 00:00:45.250
- [Magnus Berg]
- Five years ago,

00:00:45.375 --> 00:00:47.916
- the kind of thing
- that I'm saying publicly

00:00:48.041 --> 00:00:50.708
- in this documentary
- right now

00:00:50.833 --> 00:00:51.791
- could get you
- in a lot of trouble.

00:00:51.916 --> 00:00:53.500
The provincial archives

00:00:53.625 --> 00:00:55.541
- have the power
- of life and death

00:00:55.666 --> 00:00:57.416
- over events
- in BC history.

00:00:58.666 --> 00:01:00.125
- [Berg]
- We're supposed to be neutral.

00:01:00.250 --> 00:01:01.583
That's not possible.

00:01:01.708 --> 00:01:04.125
- [Lou-Ann Neel]
- How can our own people,

00:01:04.250 --> 00:01:07.041
- whether we're Indigenous,
- Black, people of colour,

00:01:07.166 --> 00:01:08.958
- how can
- we tell our own stories?

00:01:09.083 --> 00:01:11.208
- Why can't we tell
- our own stories?

00:01:11.333 --> 00:01:13.125
- [Bains] We were absent
- from so many places

00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:14.708
- when, actually,
- we were there.

00:01:14.833 --> 00:01:17.291
We were present.

00:01:17.416 --> 00:01:19.291
- [Imogene Lim] Nobody's
- saying it's your fault,

00:01:19.416 --> 00:01:21.125
- but one needs
- to learn these things

00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:24.541
- so you're not
- repeating the past.

00:01:27.625 --> 00:01:28.958
[Yu] What isn't archived?

00:01:29.083 --> 00:01:31.625
- What is unarchived?
- What is forgotten?

00:01:31.750 --> 00:01:34.458
- What is lost?
- What doesn't belong?

00:01:34.583 --> 00:01:36.000
- [Berg] When we don't
- collect these things,

00:01:36.125 --> 00:01:38.083
- when we don't
- make these records accessible,

00:01:38.208 --> 00:01:40.541
- it doesn't get included
- in history.

00:01:40.666 --> 00:01:41.625
[crowd protesting]

00:01:41.750 --> 00:01:45.208
- [Chung] I believe
- that all institutions,

00:01:45.333 --> 00:01:47.500
colonial institutions,

00:01:47.625 --> 00:01:50.458
- need to be on the way
- for a revolution.

00:01:52.041 --> 00:01:53.708
- The time of reckoning
- has come.

00:01:55.291 --> 00:01:57.625
[♪♪♪]

00:02:01.208 --> 00:02:03.166
[♪♪♪]

00:02:11.125 --> 00:02:15.416
- ♪ Takin' a walk
- down to the bookstore ♪

00:02:15.541 --> 00:02:20.000
- ♪ On a lonely, boring day
- for me ♪

00:02:20.125 --> 00:02:25.000
- ♪ Can't wait to see
- my latest boyfriend ♪

00:02:25.125 --> 00:02:29.916
- ♪ Under the covers
- waiting to be free ♪

00:02:30.041 --> 00:02:34.583
- ♪ With thumbtacks
- and a pair of scissors ♪

00:02:34.708 --> 00:02:37.708
- ♪ I'll sweat real hard
- till way past 3:00 ♪

00:02:37.833 --> 00:02:39.208
♪ Yeah ♪

00:02:39.333 --> 00:02:42.125
- ♪ Coverin' everything
- but the bedroom window ♪

00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:43.291
♪ With pictures ♪

00:02:43.416 --> 00:02:44.583
My name is Ron Dutton.

00:02:44.708 --> 00:02:47.583
- I manage
- the BC Gay and Lesbian Archives.

00:02:47.708 --> 00:02:50.083
♪ Hot magazine ♪

00:02:50.208 --> 00:02:52.666
♪ Not hard to dream ♪

00:02:52.791 --> 00:02:55.000
♪ Where books are seen ♪

00:02:55.125 --> 00:02:56.333
♪ I come real clean ♪

00:02:56.458 --> 00:02:58.375
- My strategy
- was to collect everything.

00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:00.583
- ♪ Oh, baby, oh, whoa
- I love him so ♪

00:03:00.708 --> 00:03:02.041
I don't say,

00:03:02.166 --> 00:03:03.666
- "Oh, that's a good story.
- I'll keep it,"

00:03:03.791 --> 00:03:05.625
- and "That one isn't,
- so I won't."

00:03:05.750 --> 00:03:09.000
I keep everything.

00:03:09.125 --> 00:03:12.375
- Wet T-shirt contests
- at Numbers Cabaret...

00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:13.916
trivia, you know?

00:03:14.041 --> 00:03:15.750
- And you think,
- "Who cares?"

00:03:15.875 --> 00:03:18.500
- You know, in 50 years,
- is anyone gonna care?"

00:03:18.625 --> 00:03:19.958
Well, yeah!

00:03:20.083 --> 00:03:21.916
What I found

00:03:22.041 --> 00:03:24.708
- is that that has been
- a smart thing to do.

00:03:26.541 --> 00:03:29.791
- We all have presumptions.
- We all have assumptions.

00:03:29.916 --> 00:03:33.208
- We all have limitations
- to our knowledge.

00:03:33.333 --> 00:03:35.750
- None of us
- can ever yank ourselves

00:03:35.875 --> 00:03:38.250
- completely out
- of the historical moment

00:03:38.375 --> 00:03:43.500
- to be utterly neutral
- in what we collect.

00:03:43.625 --> 00:03:47.250
This is the poster collection.

00:03:47.375 --> 00:03:49.250
There's a remarkable difference

00:03:49.375 --> 00:03:53.291
- between what posters
- looked like in the 1970s

00:03:53.416 --> 00:03:56.916
and what they look like today.

00:03:57.041 --> 00:03:59.791
So, these are all poor people,

00:03:59.916 --> 00:04:01.041
postering...

00:04:01.166 --> 00:04:02.916
simple, simple.

00:04:03.041 --> 00:04:06.041
- They didn't have
- a lot of money to spend.

00:04:06.166 --> 00:04:08.208
[♪♪♪]

00:04:11.916 --> 00:04:14.750
[projector clicks]

00:04:14.875 --> 00:04:18.916
- I came to Vancouver in 1975,
- in my early 20s.

00:04:19.041 --> 00:04:22.000
- I had just come
- out of university

00:04:22.125 --> 00:04:23.458
and three or four years

00:04:23.583 --> 00:04:26.583
- of working at my first job
- as a librarian.

00:04:28.791 --> 00:04:31.333
- I arrived in the big city
- for the first time,

00:04:31.458 --> 00:04:33.458
ready to let go.

00:04:33.583 --> 00:04:36.791
- I wanted to get
- passionately involved

00:04:36.916 --> 00:04:38.500
- with the politics
- of the time.

00:04:40.916 --> 00:04:43.166
- The whole of the '70s
- and the late '60s

00:04:43.291 --> 00:04:45.458
- had been
- a hugely political time.

00:04:45.583 --> 00:04:48.333
- The women's movement
- is in full force.

00:04:48.458 --> 00:04:50.791
- The anti-war movement
- against the war in Vietnam

00:04:50.916 --> 00:04:53.125
was explosive on campus.

00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:55.833
- The Black Rights movement
- in the United States

00:04:55.958 --> 00:04:57.791
- was very, very much
- in the forefront

00:04:57.916 --> 00:04:59.458
of everybody's minds,

00:04:59.583 --> 00:05:04.083
- and then,
- beginning in 1970, '71,

00:05:04.208 --> 00:05:07.041
- the initial movements
- of the Gay Liberation Front.

00:05:08.916 --> 00:05:10.791
People were picketing

00:05:10.916 --> 00:05:12.333
- and they were
- forming organizations.

00:05:12.458 --> 00:05:14.000
They were publishing newspapers.

00:05:14.125 --> 00:05:15.750
They were writing manifestos.

00:05:15.875 --> 00:05:19.041
- There were probably eight or ten
- gay rights organizations

00:05:19.166 --> 00:05:21.750
- at that moment
- happening in the city,

00:05:21.875 --> 00:05:23.166
the Gay Rights Union,

00:05:23.291 --> 00:05:24.958
- the Gay Alliance
- Toward Equality,

00:05:25.083 --> 00:05:26.666
- Lesbian Mothers'
- Defense Fund...

00:05:26.791 --> 00:05:28.541
At the same time,

00:05:28.666 --> 00:05:32.750
- there is a massive bar scene
- going on,

00:05:32.875 --> 00:05:35.083
- so there is both
- the social and the political,

00:05:35.208 --> 00:05:37.291
- and they're working together
- in tandem.

00:05:39.083 --> 00:05:40.666
Brilliant time to be young...

00:05:40.791 --> 00:05:42.041
and gay.

00:05:42.166 --> 00:05:43.875
♪ Everybody ♪

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:45.333
♪ Is a gay ♪

00:05:45.458 --> 00:05:48.875
- You were being
- suddenly, willingly out

00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:51.083
- for the first time
- in your life,

00:05:51.208 --> 00:05:52.916
and it was intoxicating.

00:05:53.041 --> 00:05:54.708
So...

00:05:54.833 --> 00:05:57.291
- there was I,
- in the middle of it all,

00:05:57.416 --> 00:05:59.250
but also with the sense

00:05:59.375 --> 00:06:03.375
- that we were on the cusp
- of something new,

00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:06.125
- that society
- was being pushed very hard

00:06:06.250 --> 00:06:08.458
- and was going to have
- to make changes

00:06:08.583 --> 00:06:13.333
- to the way that it regarded
- gays and lesbians,

00:06:13.458 --> 00:06:19.000
- and that we were going
- to make that happen.

00:06:21.875 --> 00:06:25.250
- I began to get
- really concerned about that,

00:06:25.375 --> 00:06:27.041
- because everybody was out there
- having a grand old time,

00:06:27.166 --> 00:06:28.875
- and no one
- was doing the filing.

00:06:30.291 --> 00:06:31.333
And everybody's busy,

00:06:31.458 --> 00:06:32.458
they have a demonstration,

00:06:32.583 --> 00:06:33.958
- and then they move on
- to the next thing.

00:06:34.083 --> 00:06:36.958
- They're not thinking
- about writing it all down

00:06:37.083 --> 00:06:38.583
- so that this history
- we were making

00:06:38.708 --> 00:06:41.291
would actually have a record,

00:06:41.416 --> 00:06:42.833
so I simply began to do that.

00:06:44.833 --> 00:06:50.000
- Every handout and brochure
- and newspaper article and poster

00:06:50.125 --> 00:06:51.458
that came to hand,

00:06:51.583 --> 00:06:53.708
- tossing it in a box
- with a date on it.

00:06:53.833 --> 00:06:55.208
Very quickly,

00:06:55.333 --> 00:06:57.583
- the box became four boxes
- and then eight boxes,

00:06:57.708 --> 00:07:00.416
- and I realized
- some sort of structure

00:07:00.541 --> 00:07:03.166
- needed to be imposed
- on this material

00:07:03.291 --> 00:07:06.833
- if it was gonna be usable
- by anyone at a future date,

00:07:06.958 --> 00:07:08.166
so I began to do that.

00:07:16.958 --> 00:07:19.500
Gay Tide is the newspaper

00:07:19.625 --> 00:07:22.500
- put out by the Gay Alliance
- Toward Equality.

00:07:22.625 --> 00:07:23.708
Gale Force,

00:07:23.833 --> 00:07:25.291
it's the newsletter

00:07:25.416 --> 00:07:27.958
- of the Gay and Lesbian Educators
- of BC.

00:07:28.083 --> 00:07:30.708
- A competitor
- in the Gay Games.

00:07:30.833 --> 00:07:34.500
A pennant from Team Berlin.

00:07:34.625 --> 00:07:36.958
Here is a...

00:07:37.083 --> 00:07:39.500
"Dim Sum Dykes..."

00:07:39.625 --> 00:07:40.875
"Bamboo Triangle,"

00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.875
- which is a women's group
- of East-Asian Canadian women.

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.958
These incredible 'zines

00:07:48.083 --> 00:07:50.916
- that are photocopies
- of material,

00:07:51.041 --> 00:07:53.541
uh, poetry, raving...

00:07:53.666 --> 00:07:56.875
- um, they're often
- really obscene,

00:07:57.000 --> 00:08:00.541
- and they are always
- highly confrontational.

00:08:01.708 --> 00:08:03.208
With community archives,

00:08:03.333 --> 00:08:08.083
- it's the community stepping up
- and filling a gap

00:08:08.208 --> 00:08:11.041
- that the other archives
- should have been doing.

00:08:13.083 --> 00:08:17.916
- Most government archives
- are over a hundred years old.

00:08:18.041 --> 00:08:22.541
- Academic archives are usually
- at least 50 years old.

00:08:22.666 --> 00:08:25.083
- So because we have
- this really old legacy,

00:08:25.208 --> 00:08:27.791
- you're dealing with predecessors
- who were, in almost all cases,

00:08:27.916 --> 00:08:29.458
racist, homophobic,

00:08:29.583 --> 00:08:31.041
transphobic, ableist,

00:08:31.166 --> 00:08:34.416
- really, like, every kind
- of prejudice that you can have,

00:08:34.541 --> 00:08:35.500
so as a result,

00:08:35.625 --> 00:08:37.083
you're not seeing communities

00:08:37.208 --> 00:08:38.666
- that have been
- historically oppressed

00:08:38.791 --> 00:08:40.916
- represented
- in most archives.

00:08:42.708 --> 00:08:43.875
Community archives

00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:48.333
- do this tremendously valuable
- service of...

00:08:48.458 --> 00:08:50.625
- starting
- those grassroots archives.

00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:55.958
- They're generally much smaller
- and more agile.

00:08:56.083 --> 00:09:00.750
- They create a nucleus
- that we hope will grow...

00:09:00.875 --> 00:09:02.791
and will last

00:09:02.916 --> 00:09:05.958
- and preserve the materials
- that need to be preserved.

00:09:08.291 --> 00:09:09.541
[Dutton] I've been going back

00:09:09.666 --> 00:09:11.833
- to those old
- newspaper databases,

00:09:11.958 --> 00:09:14.000
now available at home,

00:09:14.125 --> 00:09:19.041
- and downloading material
- that relates to our lives,

00:09:19.166 --> 00:09:21.041
- those little flashes
- or glimpses

00:09:21.166 --> 00:09:23.416
that try to, uh, tell you

00:09:23.541 --> 00:09:28.916
- what it was like in, uh,
- 1940 or 1910 in BC.

00:09:30.541 --> 00:09:32.208
- Here's a man
- from New Westminster,

00:09:32.333 --> 00:09:34.041
22 years old,

00:09:34.166 --> 00:09:37.083
charged with gross indecency

00:09:37.208 --> 00:09:39.250
- and sentenced to two years
- of hard labour

00:09:39.375 --> 00:09:42.875
and five strokes of the lash.

00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:44.750
That was 1946.

00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:50.916
- The thing
- that scars and defines

00:09:51.041 --> 00:09:52.083
in some odd way

00:09:52.208 --> 00:09:54.666
- my generation
- and previous generations

00:09:54.791 --> 00:09:58.791
- is that I was a criminal
- until I was almost 30 years old.

00:10:03.500 --> 00:10:05.541
- [Dutton] I could have
- been arrested at any moment

00:10:05.666 --> 00:10:09.625
- had it become public knowledge
- that I was a gay person.

00:10:11.916 --> 00:10:14.625
- The justice system
- viewed you as a criminal.

00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:16.875
- The religious industry
- regarded you

00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:18.375
as, at best, a sinner,

00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:21.458
and more likely evil,

00:10:21.583 --> 00:10:25.125
- and the psychological industry
- regarded you

00:10:25.250 --> 00:10:28.291
- as being
- damaged or mentally ill.

00:10:29.958 --> 00:10:33.583
- The other estate,
- which is the press,

00:10:33.708 --> 00:10:35.708
not only went along with it,

00:10:35.833 --> 00:10:36.958
but they became the agent

00:10:37.083 --> 00:10:40.583
- by which those three
- oppressed you,

00:10:40.708 --> 00:10:42.208
or they disappeared you,

00:10:42.333 --> 00:10:47.541
- so that you didn't exist
- in the public eye,

00:10:47.666 --> 00:10:49.708
- and that was as damaging
- as anything,

00:10:49.833 --> 00:10:51.708
not to be seen.

00:10:54.125 --> 00:10:56.333
- I'm a trans person
- with disabilities.

00:10:56.458 --> 00:10:58.125
I grew up my whole life

00:10:58.250 --> 00:11:02.500
- never seeing people like me
- in textbooks or in museums

00:11:02.625 --> 00:11:05.500
- or, really,
- in anything historical...

00:11:05.625 --> 00:11:06.958
- let alone, you know,
- mainstream media.

00:11:10.125 --> 00:11:11.500
And it wasn't really

00:11:11.625 --> 00:11:14.083
- until I started
- to learn my history

00:11:14.208 --> 00:11:17.458
- that I actually saw a future
- for myself at all.

00:11:17.583 --> 00:11:19.916
[♪♪♪]

00:11:21.208 --> 00:11:23.166
That...

00:11:23.291 --> 00:11:24.958
that's when my life changed,

00:11:25.083 --> 00:11:26.291
is when I realized

00:11:26.416 --> 00:11:31.500
- that it wasn't that
- I was a freak that should die,

00:11:31.625 --> 00:11:33.000
but that I was a real person,

00:11:33.125 --> 00:11:37.583
- and people like me
- have existed for millennia.

00:11:37.708 --> 00:11:40.875
Um... [sighs]

00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:45.041
- Yeah. I don't know
- what else to say.

00:11:45.166 --> 00:11:46.458
[Devor] Over here...

00:11:50.291 --> 00:11:51.458
...are clipping files.

00:11:51.583 --> 00:11:52.583
Mm-hmm.

00:11:52.708 --> 00:11:56.166
- [Devor]
- This file goes back to 1924.

00:11:56.291 --> 00:11:58.416
- There are articles that
- would appear in the newspaper

00:11:58.541 --> 00:12:01.541
- about somebody who got arrested
- for cross-dressing.

00:12:01.666 --> 00:12:03.500
- The articles
- in that period of time

00:12:03.625 --> 00:12:06.250
always talked about them

00:12:06.375 --> 00:12:10.333
- as some kind of
- depraved human being,

00:12:10.458 --> 00:12:13.500
- and yet
- somebody who was so isolated

00:12:13.625 --> 00:12:15.625
- to think that they
- were the only person like them

00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:16.958
in the world

00:12:17.083 --> 00:12:18.458
- would see
- an article like that

00:12:18.583 --> 00:12:19.666
and would save it.

00:12:19.791 --> 00:12:21.625
That's how lonely they were,

00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:25.083
- that something like that
- was worth cutting and saving.

00:12:26.875 --> 00:12:29.416
Most trans people

00:12:29.541 --> 00:12:33.833
- live the vast majority
- of their lives...

00:12:33.958 --> 00:12:36.541
- having very little contact
- with other trans people.

00:12:38.125 --> 00:12:41.375
- Repeatedly,
- we hear from people

00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:42.708
that it's been really moving,

00:12:42.833 --> 00:12:45.416
- it's been really
- important to them

00:12:45.541 --> 00:12:51.041
- to see
- and touch these materials,

00:12:51.166 --> 00:12:53.125
and through them,

00:12:53.250 --> 00:12:55.708
- to connect
- with their predecessors.

00:12:55.833 --> 00:12:57.875
- Some people use
- the word "ancestors."

00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:00.583
- Occasionally, somebody
- will call them "transestors,"

00:13:00.708 --> 00:13:04.291
- uh, but to be able
- to feel that connection

00:13:04.416 --> 00:13:08.208
- by putting your hands
- on these materials

00:13:08.333 --> 00:13:10.666
- that were in the hands
- of those people as well,

00:13:10.791 --> 00:13:13.666
- it's... it is moving,
- and it's important.

00:13:13.791 --> 00:13:16.625
[♪♪♪]

00:13:24.208 --> 00:13:25.458
[Berg] See, this one,

00:13:25.583 --> 00:13:27.500
- I find
- actually really interesting

00:13:27.625 --> 00:13:30.333
- 'cause trans people
- have always had, obviously,

00:13:30.458 --> 00:13:33.333
- a very antagonistic relationship
- with the cops,

00:13:33.458 --> 00:13:35.750
um, and you can see here,

00:13:35.875 --> 00:13:39.208
- uh, it's talking about,
- you know, special I.D. cards.

00:13:39.333 --> 00:13:42.666
- This was actually, like,
- a relatively common practice.

00:13:42.791 --> 00:13:43.750
- Obviously,
- there's a lot of issues

00:13:43.875 --> 00:13:45.541
- with carrying
- that kind of I.D. card,

00:13:45.666 --> 00:13:47.166
- but it provided people
- with safety

00:13:47.291 --> 00:13:49.166
- that they didn't have
- otherwise.

00:13:49.291 --> 00:13:50.958
Um...

00:13:51.083 --> 00:13:54.708
- [producer] What is it like
- to see these up close?

00:13:58.375 --> 00:13:59.791
I, like, emotional.

00:13:59.916 --> 00:14:01.250
[laughing]

00:14:01.375 --> 00:14:03.083
Like, it feels...

00:14:03.208 --> 00:14:06.791
- often I feel that I have
- more of, like...

00:14:06.916 --> 00:14:08.583
a connection,

00:14:08.708 --> 00:14:10.666
- like, like, a true,
- like, spiritual connection

00:14:10.791 --> 00:14:12.375
with my trans ancestors

00:14:12.500 --> 00:14:15.625
- than I do with, like,
- my actual biological ancestors.

00:14:15.750 --> 00:14:17.791
- Like, I don't think
- I would feel the same way

00:14:17.916 --> 00:14:20.750
- looking at, like,
- my own family papers.

00:14:20.875 --> 00:14:22.166
[deep breath]

00:14:22.291 --> 00:14:24.708
Aaron and the trans archives

00:14:24.833 --> 00:14:29.333
- is actually, like, why
- I went to grad school at all.

00:14:29.458 --> 00:14:31.125
I was looking...

00:14:31.250 --> 00:14:35.958
- basically at what careers
- are even available to us,

00:14:36.083 --> 00:14:37.083
- and, I mean, obviously,
- things have changed

00:14:37.208 --> 00:14:38.958
- in the seven years
- since I came out,

00:14:39.083 --> 00:14:40.416
but even seven years ago,

00:14:40.541 --> 00:14:43.625
- it was pretty daunting
- to try and find

00:14:43.750 --> 00:14:45.000
any kind of field

00:14:45.125 --> 00:14:48.375
- that wasn't, like, actively
- hostile to trans people.

00:14:48.500 --> 00:14:52.625
Um... [sighing heavily]

00:14:52.750 --> 00:14:55.125
- ...and so when I was, you know,
- really trying to find anything,

00:14:55.250 --> 00:14:57.166
- trying to find, you know,
- any kind of information

00:14:57.291 --> 00:14:59.416
- on, you know,
- what trans people were doing,

00:14:59.541 --> 00:15:01.625
- what kind of fields
- they were working in and stuff,

00:15:01.750 --> 00:15:03.916
- that's how
- I found out about, you know,

00:15:04.041 --> 00:15:06.625
- the trans archives
- and Aaron.

00:15:08.125 --> 00:15:11.250
- You know, I knew I needed
- to learn some kind of new skill,

00:15:11.375 --> 00:15:12.708
- and the fact that
- this place existed

00:15:12.833 --> 00:15:14.375
where, you know,

00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:16.458
- our history was actually
- prioritized, really,

00:15:16.583 --> 00:15:19.750
- was one of the impetuses for me
- to go to grad school

00:15:19.875 --> 00:15:22.041
- and study
- to be an archivist,

00:15:22.166 --> 00:15:26.250
- so being here, uh,
- was obviously really emotional.

00:15:26.375 --> 00:15:28.875
- Meeting Aaron,
- who has been a hero of mine,

00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:31.666
- was really emotional,
- because...

00:15:31.791 --> 00:15:35.875
- it's kind of like I've sort of
- finally come full circle

00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:39.750
- from being just, like,
- this kid in Toronto

00:15:39.875 --> 00:15:41.083
with, like...

00:15:41.208 --> 00:15:43.416
- I don't know,
- nothing, I guess.

00:15:43.541 --> 00:15:44.833
[laughing]

00:15:46.916 --> 00:15:49.041
[Devor] Community archives

00:15:49.166 --> 00:15:51.083
are inherently unstable

00:15:51.208 --> 00:15:53.291
because they're volunteer-run

00:15:53.416 --> 00:15:55.416
- and they don't have
- the funding.

00:15:55.541 --> 00:15:57.833
The Transgender Archives

00:15:57.958 --> 00:16:00.208
- is part of the University
- of Victoria Libraries.

00:16:00.333 --> 00:16:02.500
- University of Victoria
- is an institution.

00:16:02.625 --> 00:16:05.666
- We have all the resources
- of the University of Victoria

00:16:05.791 --> 00:16:07.708
supporting us,

00:16:07.833 --> 00:16:09.541
and that's considerable.

00:16:10.708 --> 00:16:15.833
- We try to have
- one foot in each world.

00:16:15.958 --> 00:16:19.833
- Many of the people
- that donated collections here

00:16:19.958 --> 00:16:23.083
- kept things
- that were lifelines for them

00:16:23.208 --> 00:16:24.250
at the time.

00:16:25.875 --> 00:16:30.250
- People were concerned
- that after their death,

00:16:30.375 --> 00:16:33.125
someone else would come in,

00:16:33.250 --> 00:16:34.833
see what they had,

00:16:34.958 --> 00:16:37.250
and they would think,

00:16:37.375 --> 00:16:38.916
- "Well, nobody would care
- about this junk.

00:16:39.041 --> 00:16:40.250
This is garbage,"

00:16:40.375 --> 00:16:42.583
- and throw it away,
- and, in fact, that did happen,

00:16:42.708 --> 00:16:47.583
- and so people started
- to put their collections here

00:16:47.708 --> 00:16:50.375
- because they felt like
- this is a safe place.

00:16:50.500 --> 00:16:52.500
- This place will be here
- 50 years from now,

00:16:52.625 --> 00:16:53.666
a hundred years from now.

00:16:55.375 --> 00:16:57.208
Community archives,

00:16:57.333 --> 00:16:59.958
- there are some who have
- lasted quite a few years,

00:17:00.083 --> 00:17:01.458
and, you know,

00:17:01.583 --> 00:17:04.708
- I hope that they continue
- to last a long time,

00:17:04.833 --> 00:17:07.541
- but there have been many
- over the years that have folded,

00:17:07.666 --> 00:17:11.625
and there are those that exist,

00:17:11.750 --> 00:17:13.000
but every year, it's,

00:17:13.125 --> 00:17:16.583
- "We're not sure if we'll be able
- to continue to exist,"

00:17:16.708 --> 00:17:20.208
- and so the collections
- are precarious.

00:17:20.333 --> 00:17:22.083
- What's gonna happen
- to those collections?

00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:28.625
[♪♪♪]

00:17:39.458 --> 00:17:42.000
For a South Asian Canadian

00:17:42.125 --> 00:17:43.750
- who was an immigrant
- to this country,

00:17:43.875 --> 00:17:45.500
- a fairly young immigrant
- to this country,

00:17:45.625 --> 00:17:49.291
- I never really understood
- what an archive was

00:17:49.416 --> 00:17:50.750
- until I started looking
- at the history

00:17:50.875 --> 00:17:51.916
of South Asian Canadians

00:17:52.041 --> 00:17:53.541
- in Canada,
- and especially in BC.

00:17:56.500 --> 00:18:01.083
- I started to find, you know,
- large gaps in our history,

00:18:01.208 --> 00:18:03.750
- whether it was through
- designed erasure

00:18:03.875 --> 00:18:06.875
- or through omission
- or just through neglect,

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:10.458
- I found that there was
- large pieces of our history

00:18:10.583 --> 00:18:12.375
- that were either
- not included

00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:14.625
- or had
- just been forgotten.

00:18:18.333 --> 00:18:20.291
We were everywhere in BC!

00:18:20.416 --> 00:18:22.500
- We were in small towns.
- We were in big cities.

00:18:22.625 --> 00:18:24.000
We were in institutions.

00:18:24.125 --> 00:18:25.333
We were working.

00:18:25.458 --> 00:18:26.625
We had children.

00:18:26.750 --> 00:18:27.916
We went to hospitals...

00:18:28.041 --> 00:18:29.750
- but we were,
- we were seen nowhere.

00:18:32.916 --> 00:18:34.958
But I'm an optimist,

00:18:35.083 --> 00:18:36.250
so I don't sit and wait

00:18:36.375 --> 00:18:38.250
- for someone else
- to do this work.

00:18:38.375 --> 00:18:40.333
You know, we just start.

00:18:42.458 --> 00:18:43.583
My name is Satwinder Bains,

00:18:43.708 --> 00:18:44.791
and I'm the director

00:18:44.916 --> 00:18:46.125
- of the South Asian Studies
- Institute

00:18:46.250 --> 00:18:48.375
- at the University
- of the Fraser Valley,

00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:52.375
- and I manage the South Asian
- Canadian Legacy Project.

00:18:54.083 --> 00:18:56.125
[keyboard clacking]

00:18:56.250 --> 00:18:58.458
- I've been in Canada
- since 1975,

00:18:58.583 --> 00:19:00.208
- and I've been through
- many iterations

00:19:00.333 --> 00:19:02.875
of my own identity.

00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:04.291
I came from India,

00:19:04.416 --> 00:19:06.875
- and I actually had
- rose-coloured glasses on,

00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.916
and I thought Canada was ready

00:19:09.041 --> 00:19:11.500
- for this young, brown,
- idealistic young person,

00:19:11.625 --> 00:19:13.625
- and Canada
- was a country of information,

00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:17.500
- and everybody was waiting
- with open arms at the airport.

00:19:17.625 --> 00:19:20.291
- It was a rude awakening
- that that was not the case.

00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:26.000
- I wanted society to see me
- as a holistic human,

00:19:26.125 --> 00:19:28.791
as a person with gifts,

00:19:28.916 --> 00:19:31.000
as a person with values,

00:19:31.125 --> 00:19:33.458
- and I got pegged
- into a little square.

00:19:34.791 --> 00:19:37.166
- I was seen as either a Hindu
- or an East Indian,

00:19:37.291 --> 00:19:39.916
terms I wasn't accustomed to.

00:19:40.041 --> 00:19:44.250
- My terms were also racial slurs
- that were thrown at me,

00:19:44.375 --> 00:19:47.166
- so I inured myself
- from some of that racism

00:19:47.291 --> 00:19:49.208
- that I faced
- as a young girl.

00:19:49.333 --> 00:19:52.375
I had to find inside me

00:19:52.500 --> 00:19:56.250
- a deep well of, uh,
- love, self-love,

00:19:56.375 --> 00:19:58.291
- so that the racism
- that I felt

00:19:58.416 --> 00:20:01.291
- wouldn't affect me to the point
- that I would harm myself.

00:20:01.416 --> 00:20:02.458
[camera shutter beeping]

00:20:02.583 --> 00:20:05.958
- So finding your role in society
- takes time...

00:20:06.083 --> 00:20:07.375
[camera shutter beeping]

00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:09.208
- ...to become
- a South Asian Canadian,

00:20:09.333 --> 00:20:11.916
- where I believe
- my identity is important

00:20:12.041 --> 00:20:13.000
as a South Asian,

00:20:13.125 --> 00:20:15.791
- but I'm as Canadian
- as anybody else,

00:20:15.916 --> 00:20:17.125
but my South Asian-ness

00:20:17.250 --> 00:20:18.958
also informs who I am,

00:20:19.083 --> 00:20:20.625
- and it is
- a beautiful information

00:20:20.750 --> 00:20:22.958
- that I carry with me,
- that I don't want to give up.

00:20:24.666 --> 00:20:27.708
- We are over a hundred years
- in this country,

00:20:27.833 --> 00:20:29.583
but it's a moment right now

00:20:29.708 --> 00:20:31.458
- where people are reflecting back
- and saying,

00:20:31.583 --> 00:20:33.166
"Wow! That was important."

00:20:34.666 --> 00:20:37.583
- Not just the Komagata Maru,
- not just the big events,

00:20:37.708 --> 00:20:40.291
- but the daily occurrences
- are important.

00:20:41.625 --> 00:20:43.458
Our position as minorities,

00:20:43.583 --> 00:20:45.208
- our position
- as marginalized people,

00:20:45.333 --> 00:20:46.916
our position as settlers

00:20:47.041 --> 00:20:51.000
- displacing First Nations peoples
- as well...

00:20:51.125 --> 00:20:53.458
and this is all very new.

00:20:53.583 --> 00:20:56.041
- I felt that that South Asian
- Canadian Legacy Project

00:20:56.166 --> 00:20:58.416
would be that vehicle

00:20:58.541 --> 00:21:01.083
- that would allow me
- to record something.

00:21:01.208 --> 00:21:03.041
- Prior to this,
- it was an isolatory work,

00:21:03.166 --> 00:21:04.750
I was doing it by myself,

00:21:04.875 --> 00:21:07.125
but to include more people,

00:21:07.250 --> 00:21:08.708
- to put the message
- out to the community

00:21:08.833 --> 00:21:10.041
- that we're coming,
- you know?

00:21:10.166 --> 00:21:12.500
- We want to listen
- to your stories.

00:21:12.625 --> 00:21:16.583
- That legacy part
- is really critical,

00:21:16.708 --> 00:21:18.166
and, unfortunately for us,

00:21:18.291 --> 00:21:21.333
- we haven't had
- that legacy for a long time.

00:21:24.875 --> 00:21:26.666
- [Berg] Yeah, when we don't
- collect these things,

00:21:26.791 --> 00:21:29.583
- when we don't make these records
- accessible,

00:21:29.708 --> 00:21:31.958
- it doesn't
- get included in history.

00:21:33.833 --> 00:21:38.000
- I worked for
- two LGBT community archives

00:21:38.125 --> 00:21:39.541
before coming to S.A.S.I.,

00:21:39.666 --> 00:21:43.791
- and that's really
- what fuelled my passion

00:21:43.916 --> 00:21:45.416
but also my ethic

00:21:45.541 --> 00:21:47.000
when it comes to archives,

00:21:47.125 --> 00:21:49.000
- and so I was really excited
- to work on

00:21:49.125 --> 00:21:51.208
- the South Asian Canadian
- Digital Archive

00:21:51.333 --> 00:21:52.666
- because it was
- an opportunity for me

00:21:52.791 --> 00:21:55.000
- to do the kind of work
- that I entered the field to do,

00:21:55.125 --> 00:21:56.166
which was to make sure

00:21:56.291 --> 00:21:57.916
- that marginalized peoples'
- histories

00:21:58.041 --> 00:21:59.625
aren't, you know, erased.

00:21:59.750 --> 00:22:00.625
[laughing]

00:22:00.750 --> 00:22:03.500
[♪♪♪]

00:22:03.625 --> 00:22:06.000
- [Bains]
- Simple lifetime stories

00:22:06.125 --> 00:22:07.458
of our everyday existence

00:22:07.583 --> 00:22:09.666
prove to us as Canadians

00:22:09.791 --> 00:22:11.583
- that we built this country
- as well,

00:22:11.708 --> 00:22:13.666
even as settlers.

00:22:13.791 --> 00:22:16.291
- We came in,
- we lived in small communities,

00:22:16.416 --> 00:22:19.166
- and we built homes,
- and we belonged.

00:22:19.291 --> 00:22:22.583
- Those simple
- everyday, normal stories

00:22:22.708 --> 00:22:25.041
are not afforded to us.

00:22:26.583 --> 00:22:28.958
- Any photographs you see
- are caught through a lens

00:22:29.083 --> 00:22:30.708
of very industrious people

00:22:30.833 --> 00:22:34.500
- working at the mill
- or working somewhere.

00:22:34.625 --> 00:22:36.875
We are already 50 years behind.

00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:39.833
[film projector whirring]

00:22:39.958 --> 00:22:42.041
[♪♪♪]

00:22:42.166 --> 00:22:43.625
[Kathryn Gagnon] Mayo Singh

00:22:43.750 --> 00:22:45.708
- and I believe
- it was 35 shareholders

00:22:45.833 --> 00:22:49.291
- bought this land in Paldi
- on Vancouver Island,

00:22:49.416 --> 00:22:51.708
- and established Mayo Siding,
- which was a mill,

00:22:51.833 --> 00:22:55.333
- and it was
- very, very successful...

00:22:55.458 --> 00:22:58.666
but what made Paldi different

00:22:58.791 --> 00:23:00.000
- was that Mayo Singh
- was South Asian.

00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:07.583
Many, many of the workers

00:23:07.708 --> 00:23:09.500
- that were originally
- drawn to Paldi

00:23:09.625 --> 00:23:10.708
were also South Asian,

00:23:10.833 --> 00:23:12.208
because, at that time,

00:23:12.333 --> 00:23:14.708
- it was impossible,
- or almost impossible,

00:23:14.833 --> 00:23:18.166
- for them to work
- anywhere else...

00:23:18.291 --> 00:23:20.458
- but then other communities
- were drawn as well.

00:23:23.333 --> 00:23:26.333
- [Berg] It was
- an intercultural community.

00:23:26.458 --> 00:23:28.916
- You had a lot of
- South Asian immigrants

00:23:29.041 --> 00:23:31.333
- who moved there
- to work for Mayo,

00:23:31.458 --> 00:23:33.708
- and a large population
- of Chinese Canadian immigrants

00:23:33.833 --> 00:23:35.208
- and Japanese Canadian
- immigrants,

00:23:35.333 --> 00:23:36.500
and then, you know,

00:23:36.625 --> 00:23:38.750
- white European Canadian
- immigrants as well,

00:23:38.875 --> 00:23:40.500
all living and working

00:23:40.625 --> 00:23:43.083
- and growing up together
- in this town...

00:23:43.208 --> 00:23:44.291
and if you look at,

00:23:44.416 --> 00:23:46.375
- especially, like,
- the school photos,

00:23:46.500 --> 00:23:48.666
that's very, very evident.

00:23:51.166 --> 00:23:52.541
- [Gagnon]
- There are other camps

00:23:52.666 --> 00:23:54.916
with multicultural enclaves,

00:23:55.041 --> 00:23:57.250
- but there was something special
- about Paldi

00:23:57.375 --> 00:23:58.791
- that I haven't heard
- anywhere else,

00:23:58.916 --> 00:24:01.458
- and it was just
- this spirit of love

00:24:01.583 --> 00:24:03.500
that existed, always, there.

00:24:05.416 --> 00:24:08.125
- Paldi is
- a very, very unique community.

00:24:08.250 --> 00:24:12.041
- I... I personally don't know
- of anything comparable,

00:24:12.166 --> 00:24:14.875
- or any town comparable,
- in the country.

00:24:17.041 --> 00:24:18.458
When we set out,

00:24:18.583 --> 00:24:20.708
- I really, really wanted
- to make sure

00:24:20.833 --> 00:24:23.000
- that we had some kind
- of documentation of Paldi,

00:24:23.125 --> 00:24:26.666
- but I didn't know
- if anything existed.

00:24:27.916 --> 00:24:29.541
- The Cowichan Valley Museum
- and Archives

00:24:29.666 --> 00:24:32.500
- did have the Joan Mayo fonds,
- the Mayo-Singh family fonds.

00:24:32.625 --> 00:24:35.500
- That fonds is,
- for the most part,

00:24:35.625 --> 00:24:40.166
- all of the research material
- that Joan Mayo gathered,

00:24:40.291 --> 00:24:43.958
- so some of the records
- in there are her own,

00:24:44.083 --> 00:24:46.083
- but then there's also a lot
- of collected material from,

00:24:46.208 --> 00:24:49.083
- you know, community members
- or people in Paldi

00:24:49.208 --> 00:24:52.291
- that, you know, gave her photos,
- or she took a photo of a photo,

00:24:52.416 --> 00:24:54.750
- so I drove out
- to Vancouver Island,

00:24:54.875 --> 00:24:56.875
I picked up the boxes,

00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:58.416
- and yeah,
- we've been digitizing,

00:24:58.541 --> 00:25:00.666
and we're just finishing up

00:25:00.791 --> 00:25:03.583
- processing and description
- right now.

00:25:06.500 --> 00:25:10.000
- [Bains] Joan was both
- a historian and a collector.

00:25:10.125 --> 00:25:12.625
- She married into
- a South Asian Canadian family,

00:25:12.750 --> 00:25:14.625
- and then she adopted that family
- as her own.

00:25:14.750 --> 00:25:17.458
- She was accepted
- by the community,

00:25:17.583 --> 00:25:20.541
- but there was a time, I'm sure,
- she must have felt

00:25:20.666 --> 00:25:24.333
- like she was just
- looking inwards from outside.

00:25:25.916 --> 00:25:27.666
[greeting]

00:25:27.791 --> 00:25:28.958
- [Bains]
- You know, it's one thing

00:25:29.083 --> 00:25:30.291
to take the photograph,

00:25:30.416 --> 00:25:32.916
- but then to have a system
- where they're collecting it,

00:25:33.041 --> 00:25:34.208
- which I would love
- for Joan to tell us,

00:25:34.333 --> 00:25:37.458
you know, why she did that.

00:25:37.583 --> 00:25:38.833
My name is Joan Mayo,

00:25:38.958 --> 00:25:43.708
- and I-I married the oldest son
- of Mayo Singh in 1953.

00:25:43.833 --> 00:25:46.666
- No, sorry, 1951.
- [laughs]

00:25:46.791 --> 00:25:48.583
- What does it mean
- to you to know

00:25:48.708 --> 00:25:50.125
- that the South Asian
- Legacy Project

00:25:50.250 --> 00:25:52.375
- is digitizing all of the photos
- and the videos?

00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:54.208
- I just think
- it's a wonderful thing,

00:25:54.333 --> 00:25:57.000
- and it just shows how close
- we all were,

00:25:57.125 --> 00:25:58.083
and still are,

00:25:58.208 --> 00:25:59.375
- even though
- most of 'em moved away

00:25:59.500 --> 00:26:01.125
since the mill closed.

00:26:01.250 --> 00:26:03.666
We're still all very close.

00:26:03.791 --> 00:26:06.875
- It's like family.
- It's one big family.

00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:13.250
- [Bains] That type of archive
- is missing for us.

00:26:13.375 --> 00:26:15.750
- We don't have
- a complete history of a town.

00:26:15.875 --> 00:26:18.625
We... we have snippets,

00:26:18.750 --> 00:26:22.041
- and while people are trying
- to stitch it together,

00:26:22.166 --> 00:26:24.708
- you know,
- the evidence is missing.

00:26:24.833 --> 00:26:27.833
- I know that the archive
- is just being digitized,

00:26:27.958 --> 00:26:30.166
- but I think
- beyond the digitization

00:26:30.291 --> 00:26:31.625
is the storytelling.

00:26:31.750 --> 00:26:34.333
- We are lucky
- that we can take Paldi,

00:26:34.458 --> 00:26:37.583
one small geographic city

00:26:37.708 --> 00:26:39.375
- in the big province
- of British Columbia,

00:26:39.500 --> 00:26:41.500
and say, "Within that city

00:26:41.625 --> 00:26:44.666
- is the lived experiences
- of South Asian Canadians,"

00:26:44.791 --> 00:26:47.458
- that you can tease apart
- at so many levels

00:26:47.583 --> 00:26:50.875
- and find, beneath it,
- all kinds of community living.

00:26:52.750 --> 00:26:56.541
- That, to me,
- is the beauty of Paldi,

00:26:56.666 --> 00:26:58.458
the... the gift of Paldi,

00:26:58.583 --> 00:27:01.166
- the gift of the person
- who collected those photographs,

00:27:01.291 --> 00:27:03.125
- who kept them,
- who put behind them

00:27:03.250 --> 00:27:06.083
- the dates
- and the names of the people.

00:27:06.208 --> 00:27:08.500
To us, that gift is...

00:27:08.625 --> 00:27:09.750
it's...

00:27:09.875 --> 00:27:11.791
you cannot put a value to it.

00:27:11.916 --> 00:27:14.375
- ♪ You'll take me
- Take off and take me ♪

00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:16.208
- ♪ To a place and a people
- Across the sea ♪

00:27:16.333 --> 00:27:19.333
- [Bains] While Paldi's history
- is really known for the mill,

00:27:19.458 --> 00:27:22.000
- the archive
- tells a different story.

00:27:22.125 --> 00:27:24.291
- The archive tells
- a story of men and women

00:27:24.416 --> 00:27:26.666
- involved in play
- and labour

00:27:26.791 --> 00:27:29.083
and home and tradition

00:27:29.208 --> 00:27:33.625
- and events and marriages
- and births and deaths.

00:27:33.750 --> 00:27:35.416
How schoolkids went together,

00:27:35.541 --> 00:27:37.583
- and the moms
- got to talk to each other

00:27:37.708 --> 00:27:39.708
and learn each other's food,

00:27:39.833 --> 00:27:41.375
- and there was conversation
- going on,

00:27:41.500 --> 00:27:43.250
- even if they didn't
- understand each other,

00:27:43.375 --> 00:27:46.166
- and it became this microcosm
- of Canadian society.

00:27:47.625 --> 00:27:49.041
- ♪ So let's go, let's go
- Let's go ♪

00:27:49.166 --> 00:27:50.500
♪ Let's go home ♪

00:27:52.625 --> 00:27:54.541
♪ Home is when we's be ♪

00:27:54.666 --> 00:27:56.166
♪ Home is where you are ♪

00:27:56.291 --> 00:27:57.666
♪ Home is where I belong ♪

00:27:57.791 --> 00:28:00.250
♪ Home is what we make ♪

00:28:00.375 --> 00:28:01.625
♪ Home is in your heart ♪

00:28:01.750 --> 00:28:03.083
♪ Home is where ♪

00:28:03.208 --> 00:28:05.125
♪ Home is when we's be ♪

00:28:05.250 --> 00:28:06.916
♪ Home is where you are ♪

00:28:07.041 --> 00:28:08.666
♪ Home is what we make ♪

00:28:08.791 --> 00:28:10.666
♪ Home is in your heart ♪

00:28:10.791 --> 00:28:14.291
- ♪ Home is where
- I belong ♪

00:28:14.416 --> 00:28:18.250
- We came from India
- in June of 1967.

00:28:18.375 --> 00:28:20.500
- I was born in Paldi,
- in India,

00:28:20.625 --> 00:28:24.375
- arrived in Paldi Airport here,
- from Paldi to Paldi.

00:28:24.500 --> 00:28:27.458
- We lived here from 1950
- to just before 1970.

00:28:27.583 --> 00:28:29.625
I was born here in Paldi.

00:28:29.750 --> 00:28:31.291
- Born and raised
- in Paldi.

00:28:31.416 --> 00:28:33.000
It was wonderful.

00:28:33.125 --> 00:28:34.375
Unforgettable.

00:28:34.500 --> 00:28:36.541
- All the kids were together
- all day long.

00:28:36.666 --> 00:28:38.291
- [man] We hung out
- as much as we could,

00:28:38.416 --> 00:28:40.250
from morning till dark.

00:28:40.375 --> 00:28:41.708
- [woman] We had
- a nice little group hall,

00:28:41.833 --> 00:28:43.416
- and we had
- community activities.

00:28:43.541 --> 00:28:45.291
- We were young.
- Everybody knew everybody.

00:28:45.416 --> 00:28:47.416
- [woman] We didn't feel
- like we came from India

00:28:47.541 --> 00:28:48.750
and were new here.

00:28:48.875 --> 00:28:51.791
- It was just like you were
- part of one big family.

00:28:51.916 --> 00:28:54.291
- [woman] A lot of us
- are still very, very close,

00:28:54.416 --> 00:28:56.458
very good friends.

00:28:56.583 --> 00:28:58.000
- [man] We played together,
- worked together,

00:28:58.125 --> 00:29:00.041
- cried together,
- laughed together.

00:29:00.166 --> 00:29:02.000
- [woman] This was
- our playground.

00:29:02.125 --> 00:29:04.000
- This is the temple
- that I got married in.

00:29:04.125 --> 00:29:06.291
- [man] East Indian,
- Japanese, Chinese, Ukrainian,

00:29:06.416 --> 00:29:07.583
Scottish, English,

00:29:07.708 --> 00:29:10.000
- we thought
- this is how the world is.

00:29:10.125 --> 00:29:11.375
- Nobody's ever forgotten,
- I don't think,

00:29:11.500 --> 00:29:13.333
what they experienced here.

00:29:13.458 --> 00:29:15.125
- Everybody wants that
- remembered.

00:29:15.250 --> 00:29:16.791
- [woman]
- So our children can see it

00:29:16.916 --> 00:29:19.541
- and our grandchildren can see it
- and their grandchildren.

00:29:19.666 --> 00:29:23.333
- [man] I'd like people to realize
- that this little town was...

00:29:23.458 --> 00:29:25.125
a legacy,

00:29:25.250 --> 00:29:27.250
- and that everybody
- should get a chance,

00:29:27.375 --> 00:29:29.666
- like we did,
- to grow up in a place like this.

00:29:29.791 --> 00:29:31.041
♪ Home is where I belong ♪

00:29:31.166 --> 00:29:32.083
♪ Home is you, my friend ♪

00:29:32.208 --> 00:29:33.625
♪ Home is in the song ♪

00:29:33.750 --> 00:29:35.666
- ♪ You listening
- To home ♪

00:29:35.791 --> 00:29:38.375
[♪♪♪]

00:29:41.750 --> 00:29:43.333
This one's really full.

00:29:43.458 --> 00:29:44.875
-Oh!
-So many.

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:46.416
Beautiful!

00:29:46.541 --> 00:29:47.875
- I love this one,
- but, unfortunately,

00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.125
- we have no idea
- who any of these people are.

00:29:50.250 --> 00:29:51.458
-The men are.
-Yeah.

00:29:51.583 --> 00:29:53.208
- These men look like
- they're, you know,

00:29:53.333 --> 00:29:55.083
- new immigrants to the country...
-Yeah, yeah.

00:29:55.208 --> 00:29:56.958
- ...because they still
- have all their turbans,

00:29:57.083 --> 00:29:58.416
and it looks like after the war

00:29:58.541 --> 00:30:01.250
- because one of them
- is wearing a uniform.

00:30:02.833 --> 00:30:03.958
Oh, this is an amazing...

00:30:04.083 --> 00:30:06.375
- [Berg]
- Yeah, I love that one.

00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:09.333
- Yeah, I think these are the only
- photos we have of these kids.

00:30:09.458 --> 00:30:11.958
- Oh, my goodness,
- there's Mahinder Doman!

00:30:13.541 --> 00:30:18.583
- Mahinder is quite famous now,
- as a writer and an author.

00:30:18.708 --> 00:30:21.541
- "Playing in the backyard
- under the..."

00:30:23.083 --> 00:30:24.125
-"Washing."
-Washing?

00:30:24.250 --> 00:30:25.583
-Mm-hmm.
-[Bains laughs]

00:30:25.708 --> 00:30:26.500
- [Berg] Yeah,
- I like that one a lot, too.

00:30:26.625 --> 00:30:28.000
Well, you know what, Magnus?

00:30:28.125 --> 00:30:31.375
- They are very rare, photographs
- of men holding their babies.

00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:33.666
- Usually, it's the women
- that are holding babies,

00:30:33.791 --> 00:30:35.375
- but for women to be given
- centre stage

00:30:35.500 --> 00:30:36.916
- and he's in the back...
-Mm-hmm.

00:30:37.041 --> 00:30:38.500
That's beautiful.

00:30:38.625 --> 00:30:39.708
-Yeah.
-Beautiful.

00:30:39.833 --> 00:30:41.625
- And then this...
- is a birthday party,

00:30:41.750 --> 00:30:43.416
- and that's Rajindi
- right there.

00:30:43.541 --> 00:30:46.375
- [Bains] Oh, you can
- see the resemblance!

00:30:46.500 --> 00:30:48.583
- [Berg] I know!
- It's so easy to identify him.

00:30:48.708 --> 00:30:50.041
- Like, there's him again.
- It's so obvious.

00:30:50.166 --> 00:30:51.125
- Look at that...
- Look at that.

00:30:51.250 --> 00:30:52.458
[Berg laughs]

00:30:52.583 --> 00:30:53.875
Yeah, I also,

00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:55.625
- like, I want to put that one
- in the carousel too.

00:30:55.750 --> 00:30:57.125
-Yes.
-That's such a great photo.

00:30:57.250 --> 00:30:58.458
- It's so "BC," too, right?
-So BC, with the...

00:30:58.583 --> 00:31:00.541
-Yeah, yeah!
-...the log.

00:31:00.666 --> 00:31:01.875
And the log is so large!

00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:02.791
Yeah.

00:31:02.916 --> 00:31:04.750
-It's half of him.
-Mm-hmm.

00:31:04.875 --> 00:31:08.000
- It's both emotional and...
- just a gift,

00:31:08.125 --> 00:31:09.416
the overwhelming sense

00:31:09.541 --> 00:31:12.333
- that this is a gift
- from the past,

00:31:12.458 --> 00:31:15.125
this sense of... discovery,

00:31:15.250 --> 00:31:18.291
- and I get emotional about it,
- because we have so little.

00:31:18.416 --> 00:31:19.625
- It's all
- in our memories.

00:31:19.750 --> 00:31:21.708
- It's gone with our pioneers
- and our elders.

00:31:21.833 --> 00:31:23.000
Those stories are gone.

00:31:23.125 --> 00:31:24.541
Those images are gone,

00:31:24.666 --> 00:31:27.041
- but for someone to have
- saved all this,

00:31:27.166 --> 00:31:30.083
- and then many years later,
- let's say, 70 years later,

00:31:30.208 --> 00:31:32.791
- we're opening a file
- and we see these photographs.

00:31:32.916 --> 00:31:34.416
We can say, "This happened!

00:31:34.541 --> 00:31:37.541
- There was a house,
- and people did live here,

00:31:37.666 --> 00:31:40.583
- and this is what they did,
- and here's the evidence."

00:31:40.708 --> 00:31:43.250
- You can keep talking about it,
- but until you see something...

00:31:43.375 --> 00:31:44.208
Ah!

00:31:44.333 --> 00:31:47.166
It's overwhelming. [sighing]

00:31:47.291 --> 00:31:48.375
- Victoria, so you know
- they, like, travelled

00:31:48.500 --> 00:31:49.500
to get the photos.

00:31:49.625 --> 00:31:50.750
- [Bains]
- The worst thing we can do

00:31:50.875 --> 00:31:54.000
- is for our generations
- not to know where we've been.

00:31:54.125 --> 00:31:55.291
You know, it's interesting

00:31:55.416 --> 00:31:57.708
- when you don't see your heritage
- reflected in the...

00:31:57.833 --> 00:32:01.125
- either the curriculum
- or in community stories

00:32:01.250 --> 00:32:03.250
or in monuments

00:32:03.375 --> 00:32:06.541
or history as it is told...

00:32:06.666 --> 00:32:08.750
- you realize
- that your heritage,

00:32:08.875 --> 00:32:09.875
and what you're leaving behind,

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:11.750
- hasn't been
- important to someone.

00:32:14.208 --> 00:32:15.416
How did that happen?

00:32:15.541 --> 00:32:18.833
How come we were absent?

00:32:20.333 --> 00:32:22.291
- I really want
- to question authorities

00:32:22.416 --> 00:32:23.500
and people in power

00:32:23.625 --> 00:32:28.833
- to say, "What gave you
- that kind of immunity

00:32:28.958 --> 00:32:32.000
to erase us?"

00:32:32.125 --> 00:32:33.708
- [newsreel announcer]
- British Columbia,

00:32:33.833 --> 00:32:36.208
- the most lovely country
- that can be imagined.

00:32:36.333 --> 00:32:37.375
[click]

00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:39.875
[projector whirs]

00:32:41.833 --> 00:32:43.916
[projector winds down]

00:32:52.125 --> 00:32:54.166
[♪♪♪]

00:32:55.750 --> 00:32:56.916
[Imogene Lim] I am...

00:32:57.041 --> 00:32:59.666
third-generation Canadian.

00:33:01.291 --> 00:33:03.833
I am tied to Vancouver Island

00:33:03.958 --> 00:33:07.541
- because my father
- was born in Cumberland.

00:33:07.666 --> 00:33:10.916
- My grandfather,
- Lim Lip Pun...

00:33:12.375 --> 00:33:17.333
- ...he was a head-tax payer,
- and he came in 1890.

00:33:18.583 --> 00:33:21.250
When I teach,

00:33:21.375 --> 00:33:24.333
I talk about my name

00:33:24.458 --> 00:33:29.083
- and how people make judgments
- by how they know you.

00:33:29.208 --> 00:33:31.291
So if I say "Imogene Lim,"

00:33:31.416 --> 00:33:36.041
- they're more likely to think,
- "Ah, maybe born in Canada,"

00:33:36.166 --> 00:33:38.666
- but if I said my Chinese name,
- Lum Mo Jun,

00:33:38.791 --> 00:33:41.125
- they would immediately say
- I'm a foreigner,

00:33:41.250 --> 00:33:43.875
- and that's part of
- the larger issue

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.375
about being Asian in Canada,

00:33:46.500 --> 00:33:49.541
that being constantly identified

00:33:49.666 --> 00:33:53.125
- as being
- the perpetual foreigner.

00:33:53.250 --> 00:33:55.166
- [news reporter]
- A shocking new survey shows

00:33:55.291 --> 00:33:58.708
- just how prominent anti-Asian
- racism is in our country.

00:33:58.833 --> 00:34:00.708
- [Henry Yu] One of
- the most difficult things

00:34:00.833 --> 00:34:02.875
- for me
- in places like Canada

00:34:03.000 --> 00:34:04.916
- is that exclusion
- was successful...

00:34:06.208 --> 00:34:08.708
- and people seemed
- to be unwelcome latecomers,

00:34:08.833 --> 00:34:10.791
- but that's an acceptance
- in this story,

00:34:10.916 --> 00:34:12.375
the success of exclusion.

00:34:12.500 --> 00:34:14.208
- [woman] It's because of you
- Chinese people.

00:34:14.333 --> 00:34:15.750
- [reporter] ...says
- the unidentified woman

00:34:15.875 --> 00:34:17.041
in this video.

00:34:17.166 --> 00:34:20.333
♪ Racist sexist boy! ♪

00:34:20.458 --> 00:34:21.416
[Yu] That normal Canada,

00:34:21.541 --> 00:34:24.000
- the Canada
- that they are disturbing,

00:34:24.125 --> 00:34:25.625
is a white Canada...

00:34:25.750 --> 00:34:27.000
- [man] Get out of my face!
- I'm Canadian!

00:34:27.125 --> 00:34:30.083
- [Yu] ...scapegoating Asians,
- blaming Asians,

00:34:30.208 --> 00:34:33.708
- that has had a long,
- enduring life in Canada.

00:34:33.833 --> 00:34:38.291
- ♪ You are
- a racist, sexist boy! ♪

00:34:41.083 --> 00:34:43.416
- [Yu] For much
- of the history of Canada,

00:34:43.541 --> 00:34:45.875
- what went into
- an official archive,

00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:48.083
- it was really in the support
- of state stories

00:34:48.208 --> 00:34:50.625
- about Canada
- being this place

00:34:50.750 --> 00:34:53.416
where some people belonged

00:34:53.541 --> 00:34:55.583
- and other people
- didn't belong.

00:34:55.708 --> 00:34:57.500
Every record is about

00:34:57.625 --> 00:35:00.333
- the Chinese being a problem
- and not belonging,

00:35:00.458 --> 00:35:04.708
- and we're gonna document that
- again and again and again.

00:35:04.833 --> 00:35:07.541
[♪♪♪]

00:35:07.666 --> 00:35:10.041
♪ Racist, sexist boy! ♪

00:35:10.166 --> 00:35:14.625
- ♪ You are
- a racist, sexist boy ♪

00:35:20.125 --> 00:35:22.166
[♪♪♪]

00:35:23.666 --> 00:35:27.041
- We had laws on the books
- for most of our history

00:35:27.166 --> 00:35:29.625
- that basically
- put the power of the state

00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:33.166
behind white supremacy.

00:35:38.125 --> 00:35:41.958
- One of the most effective ways
- of thinking about history

00:35:42.083 --> 00:35:44.208
- is to think
- about silences...

00:35:46.958 --> 00:35:50.458
- What is not collected
- by those in power?

00:35:50.583 --> 00:35:51.833
What is left out

00:35:51.958 --> 00:35:55.875
- makes it really difficult
- to tell stories,

00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:58.083
- because you're encountering
- the missing.

00:35:58.208 --> 00:36:00.416
- On behalf of the people
- and government of Canada,

00:36:00.541 --> 00:36:03.041
- we offer a full apology
- to Chinese Canadians

00:36:03.166 --> 00:36:04.333
for the head tax,

00:36:04.458 --> 00:36:06.375
and express our deepest sorrow

00:36:06.500 --> 00:36:09.500
- for the subsequent exclusion
- of Chinese immigrants.

00:36:09.625 --> 00:36:11.750
[speaking in Chinese]

00:36:11.875 --> 00:36:14.166
- [Yu] We can't just say,
- "Okay, we apologized.

00:36:14.291 --> 00:36:15.416
We're all good now..."

00:36:15.541 --> 00:36:18.791
- but, still, you don't show up
- in the archives.

00:36:20.416 --> 00:36:22.750
You can't unmake that.

00:36:24.916 --> 00:36:27.208
You can't recover the past,

00:36:27.333 --> 00:36:30.250
- but you can recover
- connection to the past.

00:36:32.500 --> 00:36:34.458
- The surveillance
- of the Chinese,

00:36:34.583 --> 00:36:35.958
in a really perverse way,

00:36:36.083 --> 00:36:38.333
created archives...

00:36:38.458 --> 00:36:40.125
archives of exclusion.

00:36:42.583 --> 00:36:45.041
- So the Chinese who don't
- show up in other records

00:36:45.166 --> 00:36:46.666
and yet, in police records,

00:36:46.791 --> 00:36:50.000
- as they are being
- again targeted for breaking laws

00:36:50.125 --> 00:36:53.208
- that were only
- applying to them...

00:36:53.333 --> 00:36:55.666
- we can actually get
- a fairly rich story

00:36:55.791 --> 00:36:58.750
- of what
- social life was like.

00:36:58.875 --> 00:37:01.958
- I get a little secret joy
- out of that.

00:37:02.083 --> 00:37:03.958
- It's sort of like, "Ha,
- you thought you were doing this,

00:37:04.083 --> 00:37:07.625
- but you're not as smart
- as you thought you were."

00:37:09.916 --> 00:37:12.083
- The process of silencing
- makes a lot of noise...

00:37:14.125 --> 00:37:16.166
- and once you try
- to look for the process

00:37:16.291 --> 00:37:18.916
of erasure and silencing,

00:37:19.041 --> 00:37:21.166
- what you start to see
- is traces,

00:37:21.291 --> 00:37:22.541
the noise everywhere.

00:37:23.833 --> 00:37:25.291
[Lim] Classic painting

00:37:25.416 --> 00:37:28.208
- of the photograph
- that everybody sees

00:37:28.333 --> 00:37:31.625
of Cumberland's Chinatown.

00:37:31.750 --> 00:37:33.791
[♪♪♪]

00:37:47.458 --> 00:37:49.166
[crow calling]

00:37:52.458 --> 00:37:54.333
[snow crunching]

00:37:59.500 --> 00:38:02.166
[children playing]

00:38:04.958 --> 00:38:08.208
- So this would be
- the two main roadways,

00:38:08.333 --> 00:38:11.333
- and so you've got
- the fire hydrant,

00:38:11.458 --> 00:38:12.666
and that's always,

00:38:12.791 --> 00:38:14.875
- people's like, "Oh,
- did you see the fire hydrant?"

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.416
- so it's a marker point
- between the two roads,

00:38:17.541 --> 00:38:20.250
- the upper road,
- the lower road.

00:38:21.375 --> 00:38:23.291
[snow crunching]

00:38:28.041 --> 00:38:31.500
- So, think about, you know,
- like, you're in this place,

00:38:31.625 --> 00:38:34.458
- and they actually had houses
- all along here,

00:38:34.583 --> 00:38:36.083
and when you look now,

00:38:36.208 --> 00:38:39.291
- all the water
- is just right up here.

00:38:41.291 --> 00:38:42.875
- Chinatowns,
- they get erased,

00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:44.916
- they get burned down,
- populations move.

00:38:45.041 --> 00:38:47.708
Oh!

00:38:47.833 --> 00:38:49.875
Here's my uncle.

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:52.458
- So, like Nanaimo's,
- it burned.

00:38:52.583 --> 00:38:55.750
- Duncan's,
- it was redevelopment.

00:38:55.875 --> 00:38:57.750
Cumberland also burned.

00:38:59.416 --> 00:39:02.333
- Part of me is like, "Wow,
- this is really beautiful,"

00:39:02.458 --> 00:39:03.916
but then you think,

00:39:04.041 --> 00:39:05.541
"Oh," you know,

00:39:05.666 --> 00:39:09.875
- "This is where my, you know,
- family came from,"

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:11.791
- and I'm hearing
- the kids in the background.

00:39:11.916 --> 00:39:13.333
I'm thinking,

00:39:13.458 --> 00:39:19.250
- "They could have been the kids
- from my parents' generation."

00:39:19.375 --> 00:39:21.833
- You know, like people
- playing out,

00:39:21.958 --> 00:39:24.166
and the sound of voices,

00:39:24.291 --> 00:39:25.958
because there's,

00:39:26.083 --> 00:39:29.125
- you know, if it wasn't
- for that background of the kids,

00:39:29.250 --> 00:39:31.250
it would be silent,

00:39:31.375 --> 00:39:33.750
- so there's something
- about the silence of the trees

00:39:33.875 --> 00:39:36.375
- and sort of the majesty
- of nature,

00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:39.958
- but this was
- a bustling location.

00:39:41.833 --> 00:39:43.750
- When you're doing
- this kind of research,

00:39:43.875 --> 00:39:48.583
- you're building
- on a number of clues.

00:39:48.708 --> 00:39:50.916
- So you're being
- the detective, right?

00:39:51.041 --> 00:39:54.083
- But there might be
- fire insurance maps.

00:39:54.208 --> 00:39:57.166
- There might be
- business directories...

00:39:57.291 --> 00:39:59.416
- and then
- you look at the landscape.

00:39:59.541 --> 00:40:02.250
- So you see how,
- how it's, like,

00:40:02.375 --> 00:40:04.333
- a little bit raised
- up there?

00:40:04.458 --> 00:40:05.625
So I'm thinking

00:40:05.750 --> 00:40:09.083
- how they had a garden
- sort of up on the hillside.

00:40:09.208 --> 00:40:10.416
- I'm thinking, you know,
- it's like

00:40:10.541 --> 00:40:13.875
- there's a bit of a plateauing
- up there

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:16.666
or a ledge-type piece.

00:40:16.791 --> 00:40:18.583
Ethnobotany.

00:40:18.708 --> 00:40:20.125
You've got the "ethno,"

00:40:20.250 --> 00:40:23.125
- which is looking at
- the sort of cultural use,

00:40:23.250 --> 00:40:24.875
- and the "botany,"
- which is the plants,

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.458
- and it's a reminder of
- who was located here earlier

00:40:29.583 --> 00:40:32.166
- that their presence
- is no longer present,

00:40:32.291 --> 00:40:33.250
so they've been erased,

00:40:33.375 --> 00:40:36.833
- except for the plants
- that remain.

00:40:36.958 --> 00:40:38.625
With the Chinese community,

00:40:38.750 --> 00:40:41.958
lots of times you see bamboo

00:40:42.083 --> 00:40:44.458
- to remind people
- of the homeland.

00:40:45.750 --> 00:40:47.208
If you look at this,

00:40:47.333 --> 00:40:50.416
- we're not talking,
- like, just-planted bamboo.

00:40:50.541 --> 00:40:53.708
- This bamboo has been
- around for some time,

00:40:53.833 --> 00:40:55.000
and my suspicion,

00:40:55.125 --> 00:40:57.458
- without going through
- land titles

00:40:57.583 --> 00:40:58.666
to look at the record,

00:40:58.791 --> 00:41:01.750
- is that somebody
- of Chinese ancestry

00:41:01.875 --> 00:41:03.916
probably lived here.

00:41:04.041 --> 00:41:05.541
For me, bamboo and watercress,

00:41:05.666 --> 00:41:08.541
- because of the sort of
- poking around

00:41:08.666 --> 00:41:09.708
that I've done here,

00:41:09.833 --> 00:41:11.833
- it's like, "Oh, that's
- something to look for."

00:41:14.250 --> 00:41:17.166
- My friend who lives
- in Departure Bay,

00:41:17.291 --> 00:41:18.625
- she said, "You know,
- like, once a year,

00:41:18.750 --> 00:41:19.958
you know, this family comes.

00:41:20.125 --> 00:41:22.666
- They fill a garbage bag
- of whatever's in the ditch,

00:41:22.791 --> 00:41:23.875
and then they're gone!"

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:25.375
- But she says
- they do it every year,

00:41:25.500 --> 00:41:27.041
so I go look in the ditch.

00:41:27.166 --> 00:41:28.416
It's watercress.

00:41:30.875 --> 00:41:34.875
- Departure Bay was an area
- that had farming,

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.375
- so even if there were not
- land owned by Chinese,

00:41:39.500 --> 00:41:41.500
they would've been labour.

00:41:43.583 --> 00:41:45.291
When you have just the tops,

00:41:45.416 --> 00:41:48.958
- you could just do
- a quick stir-fry with garlic,

00:41:49.083 --> 00:41:50.916
- very good,
- just with this.

00:41:51.041 --> 00:41:54.625
- Then season it with
- a little soy and sesame oil.

00:41:54.750 --> 00:41:56.583
It's perfect.

00:41:56.708 --> 00:42:00.041
- The Chinese presence
- is found throughout BC,

00:42:00.166 --> 00:42:03.000
- and basically
- across Canada.

00:42:06.916 --> 00:42:10.291
- You can smell
- the mustiness of this.

00:42:11.208 --> 00:42:13.666
[♪♪♪]

00:42:17.125 --> 00:42:18.333
So this says,

00:42:18.458 --> 00:42:20.791
- "Place Names
- of British Columbia."

00:42:20.916 --> 00:42:25.125
- So when you start
- looking at this list,

00:42:25.250 --> 00:42:28.916
- it has names that might
- be recognizable to you,

00:42:29.041 --> 00:42:30.916
- but then there are
- those small places,

00:42:31.041 --> 00:42:33.375
- and you say,
- "Why is that important?"

00:42:33.500 --> 00:42:36.666
- You know, like,
- why is it in this book?

00:42:36.791 --> 00:42:39.458
They have things like...

00:42:39.583 --> 00:42:40.916
Athrim.

00:42:41.041 --> 00:42:44.583
- It's like, I'm not even sure
- where Athrim is, right?

00:42:44.708 --> 00:42:46.416
There are other places

00:42:46.541 --> 00:42:49.000
- that clearly
- were significant enough

00:42:49.125 --> 00:42:50.541
to be in this book,

00:42:50.666 --> 00:42:52.666
and as a reminder,

00:42:52.791 --> 00:42:57.791
- the book was printed in 1897,
- printed in Vancouver.

00:42:57.916 --> 00:43:01.583
- The fact that you have
- these places

00:43:01.708 --> 00:43:05.500
- that were identified
- in this book

00:43:05.625 --> 00:43:07.541
is telling.

00:43:09.291 --> 00:43:10.958
Those places

00:43:11.083 --> 00:43:13.333
are not what people think of,

00:43:13.458 --> 00:43:16.750
- and say they were Chinese
- or Chinatown there.

00:43:16.875 --> 00:43:22.333
- This is all about
- that... erasure

00:43:22.458 --> 00:43:26.041
- of the significance
- of those small-town places.

00:43:28.208 --> 00:43:29.166
For some people,

00:43:29.291 --> 00:43:30.750
- they think
- there's that dichotomy,

00:43:30.875 --> 00:43:33.625
- Indigenous people,
- First Peoples,

00:43:33.750 --> 00:43:35.750
and then European settlers,

00:43:35.875 --> 00:43:40.333
- and they don't think of
- the non-European settlers

00:43:40.458 --> 00:43:43.041
- that were here early on
- as well.

00:43:44.625 --> 00:43:48.875
- If you avoid the evidence
- that's right there,

00:43:49.000 --> 00:43:50.458
you get to say,

00:43:50.583 --> 00:43:52.500
"Nobody else was here.

00:43:52.625 --> 00:43:54.125
- Yes, Indigenous peoples
- were here,

00:43:54.250 --> 00:43:55.375
and then it was us,

00:43:55.500 --> 00:43:57.250
- and there was no one else
- in between."

00:44:01.083 --> 00:44:02.333
[Yu] If you want to say

00:44:02.458 --> 00:44:03.791
- something is important
- in the past,

00:44:03.916 --> 00:44:06.791
- then you will
- make your own archive.

00:44:06.916 --> 00:44:08.791
Um, you need your own archive.

00:44:10.208 --> 00:44:14.000
- Objects and things
- that are significant,

00:44:14.125 --> 00:44:19.916
- even if they are ephemeral
- or lost in time,

00:44:20.041 --> 00:44:21.375
you can recover them

00:44:21.500 --> 00:44:24.458
- by giving them meaning
- in the present.

00:44:26.500 --> 00:44:27.791
[Grace Wong] As people come in,

00:44:27.916 --> 00:44:30.958
- the first thing they'll see
- is actually this dragon head,

00:44:31.083 --> 00:44:32.416
which, um...

00:44:32.541 --> 00:44:36.875
- we think is,
- was used as early as 1930.

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:40.000
- Behind the dragon head
- would be a very long fabric

00:44:40.125 --> 00:44:42.416
- where people underneath it
- would be dancing.

00:44:45.750 --> 00:44:47.208
Right at the very beginning,

00:44:47.333 --> 00:44:48.916
people would ask,

00:44:49.041 --> 00:44:50.291
"Oh...

00:44:50.416 --> 00:44:53.333
- so why does it have to be
- a Chinese Canadian Museum?"

00:44:53.458 --> 00:44:54.875
Whatever you want to do,

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:56.916
- "why can't it be
- a part of something else?"

00:44:57.041 --> 00:45:00.333
And I guess...

00:45:00.458 --> 00:45:02.166
I-I would say that...

00:45:02.291 --> 00:45:03.958
first of all,

00:45:04.083 --> 00:45:07.916
- if people had recognized
- that it was important...

00:45:08.041 --> 00:45:10.250
you know, other... places,

00:45:10.375 --> 00:45:12.041
- other institutions,
- other whatever,

00:45:12.166 --> 00:45:13.875
I think it would've been done.

00:45:15.458 --> 00:45:17.166
[footsteps echo]

00:45:17.291 --> 00:45:19.875
Having a dedicated institution

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:22.375
- means that those stories
- are being told

00:45:22.500 --> 00:45:24.541
from the community's voice,

00:45:24.666 --> 00:45:26.291
from the people's voices,

00:45:26.416 --> 00:45:30.166
- not interpreted
- via several other layers,

00:45:30.291 --> 00:45:32.916
- that there's a real resonance
- to the community.

00:45:35.375 --> 00:45:40.291
- Countering racism,
- anti-Asian racism,

00:45:40.416 --> 00:45:43.083
- needs to start
- with a broad education,

00:45:43.208 --> 00:45:45.875
- which is very much
- a role of museums.

00:45:48.750 --> 00:45:50.833
The Chinese Canadian Museum's

00:45:50.958 --> 00:45:53.291
- specifically related
- to Chinese Canadian history,

00:45:53.416 --> 00:45:56.458
- but the museum is not
- just for Chinese Canadians.

00:45:56.583 --> 00:45:59.500
- It needs to be
- a museum for everyone.

00:45:59.625 --> 00:46:01.250
Do we have this at home?

00:46:01.375 --> 00:46:05.000
- [Yu] The past
- is not a closed book.

00:46:05.125 --> 00:46:06.875
It's almost a truism

00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:09.916
- that each generation
- makes their own past...

00:46:11.333 --> 00:46:13.000
High five!

00:46:13.125 --> 00:46:15.416
- [Yu] ...but we determine
- the meaning of the past

00:46:15.541 --> 00:46:16.625
right now.

00:46:16.750 --> 00:46:19.250
- Those who are leaving things
- in archives

00:46:19.375 --> 00:46:22.875
- are those who have an eye
- to how they will be understood

00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:26.708
- when people in the future
- look back upon them.

00:46:26.833 --> 00:46:27.666
What does this say?

00:46:27.791 --> 00:46:30.416
- This says
- "Chinese Public School."

00:46:30.541 --> 00:46:31.708
[Yu] So to me,

00:46:31.833 --> 00:46:32.875
- that's what's so interesting
- about archives,

00:46:33.000 --> 00:46:34.291
- it's what's so interesting
- about history,

00:46:34.416 --> 00:46:35.708
- because it's always
- about the future,

00:46:35.833 --> 00:46:36.833
in my mind.

00:46:36.958 --> 00:46:40.250
- It's about
- what we project forward

00:46:40.375 --> 00:46:41.916
as how we want to be remembered.

00:46:42.041 --> 00:46:43.625
And what does this one do?

00:46:43.750 --> 00:46:46.750
- It says "Chinese
- Benevolent Association."

00:46:46.875 --> 00:46:49.625
[translating]

00:46:49.750 --> 00:46:51.000
What does this mean?

00:46:51.125 --> 00:46:53.250
- It means Chinese people
- come together

00:46:53.375 --> 00:46:54.791
and they work together.

00:46:54.916 --> 00:46:58.750
- It's a group of Chinese people
- that work together.

00:46:58.875 --> 00:47:01.625
- And so let's remake
- the meaning of the past

00:47:01.750 --> 00:47:03.833
to fit the future we want now.

00:47:07.833 --> 00:47:09.750
[♪♪♪]

00:47:22.416 --> 00:47:24.375
[switch clicks on]

00:47:25.541 --> 00:47:28.125
[footsteps echoing]

00:47:43.875 --> 00:47:46.375
- This vault's
- about 11,000 square feet.

00:47:46.500 --> 00:47:49.250
This quadrant is...

00:47:49.375 --> 00:47:52.333
- a mix of various kinds
- of special media,

00:47:52.458 --> 00:47:55.458
- uh, including a lot
- of our photographic prints,

00:47:55.583 --> 00:47:57.708
a lot of oversize prints.

00:47:57.833 --> 00:47:59.250
We're the final home

00:47:59.375 --> 00:48:00.583
- for any records
- of permanent value

00:48:00.708 --> 00:48:01.666
from the city,

00:48:01.791 --> 00:48:03.708
but we compliment those records

00:48:03.833 --> 00:48:08.000
- with records from organizations
- and, uh...

00:48:08.125 --> 00:48:09.208
- individuals,
- from families,

00:48:09.333 --> 00:48:11.541
and from collectors like Ron.

00:48:12.791 --> 00:48:13.791
- [producer]
- Can you walk us through

00:48:13.916 --> 00:48:15.125
what it was like to decide

00:48:15.250 --> 00:48:18.666
- to put your archive
- in a government institution?

00:48:18.791 --> 00:48:22.041
- It was wrenching,
- to be honest with you.

00:48:22.166 --> 00:48:25.333
- I, uh, I have been
- thumping this tub for 30 years,

00:48:25.458 --> 00:48:27.250
- so there's a lot of people
- in the community

00:48:27.375 --> 00:48:29.000
- who must be wondering
- what Ron is...

00:48:29.125 --> 00:48:30.875
what Ron is thinking,

00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:32.875
and that tub was this,

00:48:33.000 --> 00:48:35.083
these are our stories.

00:48:35.208 --> 00:48:37.791
- We have to control
- the narrative.

00:48:39.291 --> 00:48:45.208
- We have to be the ones
- who decide what our lives mean.

00:48:45.333 --> 00:48:47.500
- [reporter] Looking through
- a series of old pics

00:48:47.625 --> 00:48:48.791
of drag queens,

00:48:48.916 --> 00:48:50.958
the city hoped to help identify

00:48:51.083 --> 00:48:53.541
some of the many unknown faces

00:48:53.666 --> 00:48:57.125
- in a new gay-and-lesbian
- archive they've established.

00:48:57.250 --> 00:49:02.500
- Our history as a community,
- as a minority community,

00:49:02.625 --> 00:49:04.333
- has been heavily
- under-documented

00:49:04.458 --> 00:49:06.666
by historians.

00:49:06.791 --> 00:49:08.916
- [Gordon] Ron was
- quite famous in the community

00:49:09.041 --> 00:49:11.041
because of his collection.

00:49:11.166 --> 00:49:14.708
- He was the person
- we would send researchers to

00:49:14.833 --> 00:49:16.583
if they had any questions

00:49:16.708 --> 00:49:19.583
- about the gay and lesbian
- community in Vancouver.

00:49:19.708 --> 00:49:24.250
- We didn't have a lot of the
- LGBTQ2+ community documented,

00:49:24.375 --> 00:49:27.791
- nothing as substantial
- or as far-ranging, as broad,

00:49:27.916 --> 00:49:30.833
as the BCGLA collection.

00:49:33.875 --> 00:49:37.458
- So this is a lot of Ron's stuff,
- of the BCGLA collection,

00:49:37.583 --> 00:49:39.500
- so all of this bay,
- that bay,

00:49:39.625 --> 00:49:40.875
some other bays,

00:49:41.000 --> 00:49:42.541
and...

00:49:42.666 --> 00:49:47.625
- this, I believe, is mostly
- his subject-files series.

00:49:47.750 --> 00:49:50.250
- Any subject under the sun,
- Ron will have a file for it.

00:49:52.041 --> 00:49:53.541
As Ron got older,

00:49:53.666 --> 00:49:55.458
he started seriously thinking

00:49:55.583 --> 00:49:57.083
- about where the collection
- could go.

00:49:57.208 --> 00:49:58.541
I had to give it up

00:49:58.666 --> 00:50:00.375
- because
- I'm desperately elderly,

00:50:00.500 --> 00:50:05.333
- and I needed to begin
- to look further afield.

00:50:06.958 --> 00:50:09.041
- [Gordon]
- The gay and lesbian community

00:50:09.166 --> 00:50:11.916
- had lots of reasons
- to not trust the city,

00:50:12.041 --> 00:50:13.666
so we were really honoured

00:50:13.791 --> 00:50:16.333
- when Ron approached us
- as a potential home.

00:50:16.458 --> 00:50:19.541
I'll take that one...

00:50:19.666 --> 00:50:25.333
- I shut down the main archive
- on December 31st, 2017,

00:50:25.458 --> 00:50:27.541
and we arranged a day,

00:50:27.666 --> 00:50:30.166
- and within a matter
- of two or three hours,

00:50:30.291 --> 00:50:32.708
they stripped my apartment...

00:50:32.833 --> 00:50:34.541
[laughing] ...complete!

00:50:34.666 --> 00:50:36.708
- And it just
- all went out the door

00:50:36.833 --> 00:50:38.875
in van load after van load,

00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:41.166
because it was so huge.

00:50:41.291 --> 00:50:42.666
I'd gotten so used to it

00:50:42.791 --> 00:50:44.750
- that I'd forgotten
- how very large it really was.

00:50:44.875 --> 00:50:46.291
[♪♪♪]

00:50:46.416 --> 00:50:50.458
- Within a year
- of it being moved over there,

00:50:50.583 --> 00:50:55.250
- suddenly, a huge quantity of it
- was appearing on the internet...

00:50:55.375 --> 00:50:58.375
- something
- I could never have done.

00:50:58.500 --> 00:51:00.166
I'm eternally grateful to them.

00:51:00.291 --> 00:51:01.500
Uh, they are my friends.

00:51:01.625 --> 00:51:04.666
- They are friends
- of our community.

00:51:06.666 --> 00:51:10.375
- My own thoughts
- about this process of archiving

00:51:10.500 --> 00:51:13.625
- were that while the politics
- was important

00:51:13.750 --> 00:51:15.958
- and the changes of law
- were important

00:51:16.083 --> 00:51:20.458
- and the changes
- in the social fabric mattered,

00:51:20.583 --> 00:51:22.791
- there was
- a larger story there,

00:51:22.916 --> 00:51:26.250
- which is about people
- and how they... how they live,

00:51:26.375 --> 00:51:28.041
- how they struggle
- through their daily lives,

00:51:28.166 --> 00:51:30.833
- how they managed in times
- that were much more toxic

00:51:30.958 --> 00:51:33.625
- than the world we were in
- at that point,

00:51:33.750 --> 00:51:36.708
- and it hadn't
- ground them up.

00:51:38.041 --> 00:51:39.500
I wanted to tell their story.

00:51:39.625 --> 00:51:42.208
I wanted their struggle

00:51:42.333 --> 00:51:45.250
to be heard and understood

00:51:45.375 --> 00:51:46.750
and honoured.

00:51:46.875 --> 00:51:49.208
That became the real mission,

00:51:49.333 --> 00:51:50.291
to honour the voices

00:51:50.416 --> 00:51:52.166
- that weren't
- gonna be heard otherwise.

00:51:52.291 --> 00:51:54.541
[♪♪♪]

00:51:58.958 --> 00:52:00.458
- You see,
- the people in this building,

00:52:00.583 --> 00:52:01.958
in the provincial archives,

00:52:02.083 --> 00:52:06.000
- have the power of life and death
- over events in BC history,

00:52:06.125 --> 00:52:07.583
- because
- it's in this building

00:52:07.708 --> 00:52:11.958
- where books and documents,
- originals are kept.

00:52:12.083 --> 00:52:14.166
- There's no other documents
- like them.

00:52:14.291 --> 00:52:16.000
If they disappear,

00:52:16.125 --> 00:52:18.041
- events in BC history
- disappear.

00:52:18.166 --> 00:52:19.250
When I was a kid,

00:52:19.375 --> 00:52:21.291
- there was
- a little local museum

00:52:21.416 --> 00:52:23.458
in my neighbourhood,

00:52:23.583 --> 00:52:27.166
- and there was a letter framed
- on the wall

00:52:27.291 --> 00:52:30.708
- that was written
- by my great-grandmother,

00:52:30.833 --> 00:52:33.166
- and she had won a prize,
- a national award,

00:52:33.291 --> 00:52:35.000
for writing this letter.

00:52:35.125 --> 00:52:36.875
To see it on the wall

00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:40.666
- felt like there was
- a real connection for me

00:52:40.791 --> 00:52:42.750
- to that place
- and to this person

00:52:42.875 --> 00:52:46.125
- who had lived
- a hundred years before me.

00:52:46.250 --> 00:52:48.625
- It sparked
- this love of history

00:52:48.750 --> 00:52:50.875
- and curiosity
- about the place

00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:53.333
- where my family had lived
- for generations.

00:52:53.458 --> 00:52:55.375
I am incredibly privileged.

00:52:55.500 --> 00:52:57.666
- I come from
- a white settler family

00:52:57.791 --> 00:53:00.625
that moved to Vancouver Island,

00:53:00.750 --> 00:53:03.833
- on that side of my family,
- many generations ago,

00:53:03.958 --> 00:53:07.458
- and lived on
- stolen Indigenous land,

00:53:07.583 --> 00:53:11.416
- and yet I got to see myself
- represented in this space,

00:53:11.541 --> 00:53:13.833
and...

00:53:13.958 --> 00:53:17.791
- so many other people don't
- see themselves represented.

00:53:19.541 --> 00:53:20.500
- [news anchor]
- The Royal BC Museum

00:53:20.625 --> 00:53:22.791
is pledging a major change

00:53:22.916 --> 00:53:25.000
- after the release
- of a report today

00:53:25.125 --> 00:53:27.458
- that found racism
- and discrimination

00:53:27.583 --> 00:53:30.416
- was directed at staff
- inside the organization.

00:53:30.541 --> 00:53:33.333
- The board of the museum
- has met with the CEO,

00:53:33.458 --> 00:53:34.416
and they've come to agreement

00:53:34.541 --> 00:53:37.750
- that Jack will depart
- later this month.

00:53:37.875 --> 00:53:38.875
- [reporter]
- Racism and discrimination

00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:41.166
- was found
- within the museum,

00:53:41.291 --> 00:53:44.458
- including a culture of fear
- and distrust in the workplace.

00:53:44.583 --> 00:53:46.583
- Management failed to properly
- handle those complaints,

00:53:46.708 --> 00:53:48.083
- and a recognition
- the museum

00:53:48.208 --> 00:53:50.250
- has outdated
- and offensive exhibits

00:53:50.375 --> 00:53:52.708
- stemming from
- its 135-year history,

00:53:52.833 --> 00:53:54.000
telling BC's history

00:53:54.125 --> 00:53:56.250
- through the lens
- of European colonizers.

00:53:56.375 --> 00:53:57.833
These two reports show

00:53:57.958 --> 00:54:00.625
- that we are not
- the museum we wanted to be,

00:54:00.750 --> 00:54:03.916
- and we're not
- the museum we should be.

00:54:05.083 --> 00:54:07.583
[♪♪♪]

00:54:07.708 --> 00:54:09.666
- [Weber]
- I think everybody internally

00:54:09.791 --> 00:54:11.750
- realizes that there
- needs to be massive changes.

00:54:11.875 --> 00:54:14.416
Things don't move quickly...

00:54:16.208 --> 00:54:17.625
- ...but I think
- they need to.

00:54:17.750 --> 00:54:20.333
[♪♪♪]

00:54:21.708 --> 00:54:23.541
- I think we hit
- the perfect storm,

00:54:23.666 --> 00:54:26.208
- the perfect storm
- of wanting so much

00:54:26.333 --> 00:54:28.833
to do repatriation,

00:54:28.958 --> 00:54:30.583
community relationships,

00:54:30.708 --> 00:54:32.125
- uh, changing the way
- we do exhibits,

00:54:32.250 --> 00:54:35.208
- all these really positive,
- wonderful goals,

00:54:35.333 --> 00:54:37.625
- but not actually
- having the structure to do it.

00:54:37.750 --> 00:54:40.000
It's very obvious to me

00:54:40.125 --> 00:54:42.166
- that what we have
- is an organization

00:54:42.291 --> 00:54:45.291
- that was structured
- in colonial times,

00:54:45.416 --> 00:54:48.375
- and we see
- not just remnants of it,

00:54:48.500 --> 00:54:50.458
we see evidence of it.

00:54:50.583 --> 00:54:52.125
We take it for granted.

00:54:52.250 --> 00:54:54.541
- It's taken for granted
- by a lot of people

00:54:54.666 --> 00:54:57.416
- that these structures will just
- somehow work themselves out.

00:54:57.541 --> 00:54:58.708
- They don't
- just work themselves out.

00:55:00.916 --> 00:55:04.000
- You have to actually
- look at the policies,

00:55:04.125 --> 00:55:06.541
- find out
- what is discriminatory in them,

00:55:06.666 --> 00:55:08.750
- because many of them don't
- mean to be discriminatory,

00:55:08.875 --> 00:55:10.000
but they are,

00:55:10.125 --> 00:55:13.791
- and they need to be
- very carefully focused on,

00:55:13.916 --> 00:55:15.875
and consult with communities

00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:18.666
- and change the way
- those policies are written.

00:55:20.916 --> 00:55:23.666
- [Tzu-I Chung] We have
- the ethical responsibility

00:55:23.791 --> 00:55:25.500
to really understand

00:55:25.625 --> 00:55:28.708
- how profound
- the changes need to happen.

00:55:28.833 --> 00:55:31.458
- It's not
- just about adding things.

00:55:31.583 --> 00:55:34.000
- It's not just about tweaking
- a couple of things.

00:55:34.125 --> 00:55:38.625
- It's about real,
- fundamental understanding

00:55:38.750 --> 00:55:42.708
of how to rebuild something

00:55:42.833 --> 00:55:44.541
- with a completely different
- framework.

00:55:46.625 --> 00:55:50.416
I believe that all institutions,

00:55:50.541 --> 00:55:51.916
especially those who...

00:55:53.375 --> 00:55:56.083
- ...have recognized that they are
- colonial institutions,

00:55:56.208 --> 00:55:59.250
need to...

00:55:59.375 --> 00:56:00.875
- be on the way
- for a revolution.

00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:02.333
[footsteps echoing]

00:56:02.458 --> 00:56:04.541
[♪♪♪]

00:56:09.500 --> 00:56:11.875
- [Bains] How is it
- you are not accountable

00:56:12.000 --> 00:56:14.583
- to Canadian society,
- to British Columbia?

00:56:14.708 --> 00:56:16.875
- You know, where is
- the immunity in saying,

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:21.041
"This is how BC was built,"

00:56:21.166 --> 00:56:22.083
without understanding

00:56:22.208 --> 00:56:25.041
- that so many other groups
- of men and women

00:56:25.166 --> 00:56:26.583
- gave their lives
- to this country,

00:56:26.708 --> 00:56:29.166
- fought in wars
- for this country,

00:56:29.291 --> 00:56:31.000
- died on rebuilding
- railway tracks

00:56:31.125 --> 00:56:32.833
and log booms,

00:56:32.958 --> 00:56:35.250
- and yet,
- they're absent?

00:56:36.791 --> 00:56:37.958
[note rustles]

00:56:38.083 --> 00:56:39.625
Absence was

00:56:39.750 --> 00:56:42.208
- a very difficult thing
- to get around in my mind,

00:56:42.333 --> 00:56:43.958
and I think absence

00:56:44.083 --> 00:56:46.708
- has been the thing
- that motivates me.

00:56:46.833 --> 00:56:47.583
I'm not angry.

00:56:47.708 --> 00:56:50.166
I'm just frustrated.

00:56:53.458 --> 00:56:57.750
- We did an intervention
- at the Royal BC Museum,

00:56:57.875 --> 00:56:59.791
and I remember walking through,

00:56:59.916 --> 00:57:02.666
- and we were given sticky notes
- and pieces of paper

00:57:02.791 --> 00:57:04.083
where we could intervene

00:57:04.208 --> 00:57:06.083
- in terms of
- the historical trajectory

00:57:06.208 --> 00:57:08.208
- of how they had
- shown British Columbia,

00:57:08.333 --> 00:57:09.541
and to say, "We were here,

00:57:09.666 --> 00:57:10.875
we were here,

00:57:11.000 --> 00:57:12.166
and we were also here,

00:57:12.291 --> 00:57:14.166
but we're not reflected."

00:57:14.291 --> 00:57:18.958
- It's almost like our presence
- was nowhere to be seen.

00:57:19.083 --> 00:57:20.791
- I'm so proud
- of that intervention

00:57:20.916 --> 00:57:21.958
because previously,

00:57:22.083 --> 00:57:23.458
I had never really imagined

00:57:23.583 --> 00:57:26.166
- that my history
- could be present here.

00:57:26.291 --> 00:57:28.000
I kind of assumed

00:57:28.125 --> 00:57:30.083
- that the dominant narrative
- was going to take over,

00:57:30.208 --> 00:57:32.500
- and I had to be relegated
- to the margins again,

00:57:32.625 --> 00:57:35.375
- and didn't really question
- that positioning,

00:57:35.500 --> 00:57:38.375
- but the intervention
- really allowed me to understand

00:57:38.500 --> 00:57:40.250
that I have a claim,

00:57:40.375 --> 00:57:42.291
and I can make that claim.

00:57:42.416 --> 00:57:44.708
- [Chung]
- Yeah, that was so important

00:57:44.833 --> 00:57:48.541
- that people actually feel, uh,
- rightfully there, right?

00:57:48.666 --> 00:57:51.916
- Like, they need to feel
- that's their space,

00:57:52.041 --> 00:57:54.291
- and we need to do
- so much more work

00:57:54.416 --> 00:57:56.416
- to make that moment
- last longer,

00:57:56.541 --> 00:57:58.666
- and to do more things
- for the communities.

00:57:58.791 --> 00:58:00.375
- Yeah, we'd like
- some permanency.

00:58:00.500 --> 00:58:02.791
- You know, we don't want
- to be temporary Canadians.

00:58:02.916 --> 00:58:04.208
- We want to be
- permanent Canadians.

00:58:04.333 --> 00:58:06.791
- We want to have
- that sense of permanency

00:58:06.916 --> 00:58:09.291
- so that we're not
- asking for this

00:58:09.416 --> 00:58:10.708
over and over again.

00:58:10.833 --> 00:58:12.875
- I'm hoping
- this will transform this space.

00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:15.083
[♪♪♪]

00:58:15.208 --> 00:58:18.625
- [Chung] There has been
- a lot of different efforts

00:58:18.750 --> 00:58:22.208
- to add
- bits and pieces

00:58:22.333 --> 00:58:24.458
- of previously marginalized
- stories

00:58:24.583 --> 00:58:26.375
or previously erased stories.

00:58:26.500 --> 00:58:30.583
- What we actually need to do
- is to...

00:58:30.708 --> 00:58:32.083
ditch that binary model

00:58:32.208 --> 00:58:35.791
- and really build a relationship
- to invite the communities in,

00:58:35.916 --> 00:58:39.791
- consult and work with people
- who have different needs

00:58:39.916 --> 00:58:41.791
- to share
- and build that common vision

00:58:41.916 --> 00:58:44.125
for the future.

00:58:45.250 --> 00:58:46.250
Victoria's Chinatown

00:58:46.375 --> 00:58:48.750
- is a very important
- historic site

00:58:48.875 --> 00:58:51.000
that is at risk.

00:58:51.125 --> 00:58:55.541
- A lot of different businesses,
- communities, and residents

00:58:55.666 --> 00:58:57.708
- are losing their footing
- in that space

00:58:57.833 --> 00:59:01.958
- because of old issues
- with modern Chinatowns

00:59:02.083 --> 00:59:03.541
across the Americas,

00:59:03.666 --> 00:59:05.625
- the gentrification,
- the urban development,

00:59:05.750 --> 00:59:07.875
and economic shifts.

00:59:10.583 --> 00:59:13.458
- When the Victoria Chinatown
- communities

00:59:13.583 --> 00:59:17.000
- wanted something done
- in their space,

00:59:17.125 --> 00:59:20.208
- we wanted
- to really work with them

00:59:20.333 --> 00:59:22.333
and see what their needs were.

00:59:22.458 --> 00:59:25.291
- We want to show a new image
- of Victoria Chinatown,

00:59:25.416 --> 00:59:28.333
- which is, you know, the past
- and the present.

00:59:28.458 --> 00:59:30.666
- [Chung] We want
- to blend the historical

00:59:30.791 --> 00:59:32.708
with the modern design.

00:59:32.833 --> 00:59:34.958
- The exhibit is called
- "Peering into the Past"

00:59:35.083 --> 00:59:39.791
- because, um, we want to create
- those innovative small corners.

00:59:39.916 --> 00:59:42.583
- [Lowe]
- This is the first project

00:59:42.708 --> 00:59:45.250
- in collaboration
- with the Royal BC Museum,

00:59:45.375 --> 00:59:46.916
as well as Salient Group

00:59:47.041 --> 00:59:49.625
- and the Victoria Chinatown
- Museum Society,

00:59:49.750 --> 00:59:51.500
and it's a storefront exhibit

00:59:51.625 --> 00:59:55.125
- which was curated
- by the Royal BC Museum,

00:59:55.250 --> 00:59:57.833
- so our next venture
- will actually be

00:59:57.958 --> 00:59:59.083
an interim museum

00:59:59.208 --> 01:00:00.458
- where we could
- actually open the door,

01:00:00.583 --> 01:00:02.125
- and people would go in
- and see exhibits.

01:00:02.250 --> 01:00:03.791
- [Bains]
- It'd be really good for us.

01:00:03.916 --> 01:00:06.125
- South Asian Canadian Museum
- is just starting out,

01:00:06.250 --> 01:00:08.333
- and we'd love to sit with you
- and the Vancouver people

01:00:08.458 --> 01:00:09.916
- and just,
- just shoot the breeze.

01:00:10.041 --> 01:00:11.166
Let's talk to each other

01:00:11.291 --> 01:00:13.291
- and maybe build each other
- through solidarity.

01:00:13.416 --> 01:00:14.916
- I think institutions
- can help us

01:00:15.041 --> 01:00:18.291
- develop some sort of ideas
- that bring us all together.

01:00:18.416 --> 01:00:19.666
- I never thought of that
- till now,

01:00:19.791 --> 01:00:21.833
- that perhaps we need
- to talk more to each other

01:00:21.958 --> 01:00:24.458
- around one table,
- because, up to this point,

01:00:24.583 --> 01:00:25.791
there's been both

01:00:25.916 --> 01:00:29.250
- a provincial/federal Canadian
- kind of view

01:00:29.375 --> 01:00:30.791
about keeping people separate.

01:00:30.916 --> 01:00:32.500
- I would like to see
- more solidarity

01:00:32.625 --> 01:00:34.458
- from all kinds
- of community groups,

01:00:34.583 --> 01:00:35.666
to come together to say,

01:00:35.791 --> 01:00:38.000
- "Our voices are greater
- if we are united."

01:00:38.125 --> 01:00:40.291
- I think
- let's record this as well.

01:00:40.416 --> 01:00:41.375
Let's put this in...

01:00:41.500 --> 01:00:44.666
- There's a systemic
- and system-wide failure,

01:00:44.791 --> 01:00:48.000
- I believe, in Canada,
- to really be inclusive.

01:00:49.500 --> 01:00:50.875
The status quo

01:00:51.000 --> 01:00:52.958
- is very entrenched
- and embedded

01:00:53.083 --> 01:00:54.250
in our communities.

01:00:54.375 --> 01:00:59.083
- It has at its core
- a very supremacist idea.

01:00:59.208 --> 01:01:00.666
It has at its core

01:01:00.791 --> 01:01:02.958
- a place of privilege
- and power

01:01:03.083 --> 01:01:04.250
that is unquestioned.

01:01:04.375 --> 01:01:06.375
The status quo thinks

01:01:06.500 --> 01:01:09.833
- that it has also clawed its way
- to its position,

01:01:09.958 --> 01:01:11.458
and it's gonna hang on.

01:01:11.583 --> 01:01:13.125
- We're not a society
- that's immune

01:01:13.250 --> 01:01:16.583
- from these kind of thoughts
- or intentional ideas,

01:01:16.708 --> 01:01:20.416
- and to pretend that we are
- is disingenuous.

01:01:20.541 --> 01:01:21.458
[protestors singing]

01:01:21.583 --> 01:01:22.958
Through colonization,

01:01:23.083 --> 01:01:24.125
the priority for history

01:01:24.250 --> 01:01:25.750
- has been
- a European-centric history.

01:01:25.875 --> 01:01:30.041
- We don't question
- why mainstream institutions

01:01:30.166 --> 01:01:32.083
don't reflect our presence,

01:01:32.208 --> 01:01:34.500
- and when
- you make them uncomfortable,

01:01:34.625 --> 01:01:35.750
when you do question them,

01:01:35.875 --> 01:01:37.791
- there's a lot of defensiveness,
- let's be honest.

01:01:37.916 --> 01:01:40.583
- People don't like to shift
- and make change,

01:01:40.708 --> 01:01:42.750
so the more open we can be

01:01:42.875 --> 01:01:44.458
- to the questions
- that are posed to us,

01:01:44.583 --> 01:01:46.166
- the better we will be
- as a society.

01:01:46.291 --> 01:01:47.541
[crowd cheering]

01:01:47.666 --> 01:01:50.708
The status quo needs to shift,

01:01:50.833 --> 01:01:53.500
- because the status quo
- is rotten.

01:01:53.625 --> 01:01:56.208
- [new reporter] Most Canadians
- know Sir John A. Macdonald

01:01:56.333 --> 01:01:58.541
- as the country's
- first Prime Minister.

01:01:58.666 --> 01:02:00.916
- His government created
- the Indian Act

01:02:01.041 --> 01:02:02.875
- and established
- the Residential School system

01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:04.875
where thousands were abused

01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:06.916
- and generations of trauma
- followed.

01:02:07.041 --> 01:02:09.458
- In order to really
- commit to reconciliation,

01:02:09.583 --> 01:02:12.208
- we need to remove the statue
- of John A. Macdonald

01:02:12.333 --> 01:02:14.291
- from the front steps
- of City Hall.

01:02:14.416 --> 01:02:16.500
[♪♪♪]

01:02:25.208 --> 01:02:27.416
[chalk scratching board]

01:02:29.750 --> 01:02:31.625
[♪♪♪]

01:02:45.166 --> 01:02:46.583
- [Sandra Marion]
- History, to me,

01:02:46.708 --> 01:02:50.708
means a connection to the past.

01:02:52.041 --> 01:02:54.250
- As a people, we always
- love telling stories.

01:02:54.375 --> 01:02:56.041
We're very much storytellers.

01:02:56.166 --> 01:02:59.375
- That's just kind of how
- we share some of the history

01:02:59.500 --> 01:03:02.625
- and some of the knowledge
- that we have.

01:03:04.958 --> 01:03:07.750
- I was fortunate enough
- to have that connection

01:03:07.875 --> 01:03:10.375
- in a living form
- of my grandmother,

01:03:10.500 --> 01:03:12.500
but not everybody does,

01:03:12.625 --> 01:03:14.875
- and so sometimes
- knowing one's history

01:03:15.000 --> 01:03:17.541
is extremely difficult.

01:03:17.666 --> 01:03:20.125
- I kind of wanted to get
- back involved with my nation

01:03:20.250 --> 01:03:23.250
- and facilitate
- that connection.

01:03:24.416 --> 01:03:25.625
My name is Sandra Marion,

01:03:25.750 --> 01:03:28.000
- and I'm the director
- of Culture and Heritage

01:03:28.125 --> 01:03:30.083
for Tahltan Central Government.

01:03:32.208 --> 01:03:33.500
- [Chad Norman Day]
- Tahltan Nation

01:03:33.625 --> 01:03:36.708
- is a strong
- Indigenous people

01:03:36.833 --> 01:03:38.791
- up in
- Northwest British Columbia.

01:03:38.916 --> 01:03:43.500
- We have about 4,000 members
- that we know of.

01:03:43.625 --> 01:03:48.583
- Close to 90% of our people
- now live outside the territory,

01:03:48.708 --> 01:03:49.708
and it's really important

01:03:49.833 --> 01:03:54.250
- to ensure
- that our cultural information

01:03:54.375 --> 01:03:56.791
is accessible to them.

01:03:56.916 --> 01:04:01.291
- There's a huge connection
- between archives and land.

01:04:01.416 --> 01:04:03.500
- The archives
- tells the stories,

01:04:03.625 --> 01:04:07.208
but our ancestors on the land...

01:04:07.333 --> 01:04:11.666
- um, their use
- and how they survived,

01:04:11.791 --> 01:04:14.916
- a huge part of our culture
- was survival.

01:04:15.083 --> 01:04:19.750
- We have so many different
- ecosystems within our territory

01:04:19.875 --> 01:04:22.375
- that each area had
- their own way of doing things,

01:04:22.500 --> 01:04:25.833
- depending on the terrain
- and the weather,

01:04:25.958 --> 01:04:29.250
- and those stories
- that are recorded,

01:04:29.375 --> 01:04:30.708
they're important

01:04:30.833 --> 01:04:32.875
so that we understand

01:04:33.000 --> 01:04:35.291
- how to use the land
- in different areas,

01:04:35.416 --> 01:04:37.750
- so those stories
- need to be kept...

01:04:37.875 --> 01:04:41.250
- need to be kept safe
- and preserved.

01:04:42.666 --> 01:04:45.125
[turn signal clicking]

01:04:47.250 --> 01:04:51.166
- Tahltan Central Government
- started in 1974.

01:04:52.541 --> 01:04:54.083
- Early on,
- we had started

01:04:54.208 --> 01:04:57.125
- the Culture
- and Heritage Department,

01:04:57.250 --> 01:04:59.416
and one of the major tasks

01:04:59.541 --> 01:05:01.291
- was to start
- building an archive

01:05:01.416 --> 01:05:03.791
- so that we could house that
- all in one place.

01:05:05.541 --> 01:05:06.958
- [Marion]
- A lot of documentation,

01:05:07.083 --> 01:05:10.708
- especially around exploration
- in our territory,

01:05:10.833 --> 01:05:14.000
has accumulated over the years,

01:05:14.125 --> 01:05:16.541
- but nobody else
- outside the organization

01:05:16.666 --> 01:05:18.125
could access those documents.

01:05:18.250 --> 01:05:20.875
- And we get
- all kinds of documents.

01:05:21.000 --> 01:05:22.125
So, these books,

01:05:22.250 --> 01:05:24.500
- they're about different areas
- in the territory,

01:05:24.625 --> 01:05:26.458
- and so this was one
- of their resource books

01:05:26.583 --> 01:05:28.875
from 1982.

01:05:29.000 --> 01:05:31.166
- There's a picture
- of Treaty Creek.

01:05:31.291 --> 01:05:34.791
- This is a book
- the TTC had obtained...

01:05:34.916 --> 01:05:36.833
um...

01:05:36.958 --> 01:05:39.916
- to use in their...
- in their study

01:05:40.041 --> 01:05:43.416
- for interviews
- about land claims.

01:05:44.583 --> 01:05:45.833
There's a lot of audio.

01:05:45.958 --> 01:05:47.375
Over time,

01:05:47.500 --> 01:05:51.458
- there were multiple interviews
- conducted with our elders.

01:05:51.583 --> 01:05:53.791
During the fires of 2018,

01:05:53.916 --> 01:05:56.125
- everybody realized, you know,
- these documents are precious,

01:05:56.250 --> 01:05:59.083
- so we wanted to organize
- and preserve,

01:05:59.208 --> 01:06:03.291
- to help support
- Tahltan identity

01:06:03.416 --> 01:06:05.791
and kind of reinvigorate it.

01:06:05.916 --> 01:06:07.958
We're taking, uh, resources,

01:06:08.083 --> 01:06:10.333
- and we're putting it
- back into the people

01:06:10.458 --> 01:06:12.666
- in the form
- of culture and language.

01:06:14.125 --> 01:06:17.416
- So we typically get a lot
- of different forms of media

01:06:17.541 --> 01:06:19.208
in here.

01:06:19.333 --> 01:06:22.791
- We get cassette tapes,
- with or without cases.

01:06:22.916 --> 01:06:24.583
- Recently,
- one of our members,

01:06:24.708 --> 01:06:28.500
- she had found some footage
- in her uncle's basement,

01:06:28.625 --> 01:06:29.958
- and brought it to me
- and said,

01:06:30.083 --> 01:06:31.458
- "Hey, I would like
- to donate this."

01:06:31.583 --> 01:06:36.250
- And this is where we have VHS,
- we have mini digital videos.

01:06:36.375 --> 01:06:37.875
We didn't have time

01:06:38.000 --> 01:06:39.625
- to go through it properly
- right away,

01:06:39.750 --> 01:06:42.083
- and, uh, probably three
- or four weeks ago,

01:06:42.208 --> 01:06:45.083
- our multimedia director
- sent me a clip,

01:06:45.208 --> 01:06:47.166
- and it was 27 minutes
- of my grandmother

01:06:47.291 --> 01:06:49.000
working on moose hide.

01:06:52.000 --> 01:06:55.166
- We've never videotaped her
- as a family,

01:06:55.291 --> 01:06:58.833
- and she passed
- in April 2020...

01:06:58.958 --> 01:07:02.750
- and so to have her
- working on moose hide

01:07:02.875 --> 01:07:04.375
is incredible.

01:07:07.291 --> 01:07:09.583
Scrape with blade...

01:07:09.708 --> 01:07:11.708
- [speaking in language]
- ...is what you call it.

01:07:13.333 --> 01:07:14.416
[Marion] It was just...

01:07:15.541 --> 01:07:16.916
I was blown away.

01:07:17.041 --> 01:07:19.541
- The VHS actually
- has no title on it,

01:07:19.666 --> 01:07:21.750
so nobody knew what was on there

01:07:21.875 --> 01:07:23.708
- until we digitized it
- and pulled it up.

01:07:25.208 --> 01:07:27.333
- I was actually having
- a pretty rough morning,

01:07:27.458 --> 01:07:28.750
- and so when I seen that,
- I was like,

01:07:28.875 --> 01:07:30.541
- "Okay, Grandma.
- Message received."

01:07:30.666 --> 01:07:32.500
- This is what
- we're trying to recreate

01:07:32.625 --> 01:07:33.958
for our membership,

01:07:34.083 --> 01:07:35.041
is these moments.

01:07:35.166 --> 01:07:37.333
[static crackles]

01:07:37.458 --> 01:07:39.708
- If there's information
- out there

01:07:39.833 --> 01:07:42.041
- about your nation,
- about your family,

01:07:42.166 --> 01:07:45.333
- anything to do
- with your identity

01:07:45.458 --> 01:07:47.250
as an Indigenous individual,

01:07:47.375 --> 01:07:49.833
- you are supposed
- to have unaltered access

01:07:49.958 --> 01:07:52.000
to that information,

01:07:52.125 --> 01:07:54.666
- and you're supposed to be able
- to bring it... bring it home.

01:07:55.958 --> 01:07:57.166
- [Ursula Abramczyk]
- And with respect

01:07:57.291 --> 01:08:00.458
- to what we want from
- the RBCM and BC Archives,

01:08:00.583 --> 01:08:02.666
- we need to go
- through formal channels.

01:08:02.791 --> 01:08:05.000
- Those formal channels
- haven't caught up

01:08:05.125 --> 01:08:08.166
- with existing legislation
- or changes to the legislation

01:08:08.291 --> 01:08:09.791
- that have happened
- in the past couple of years.

01:08:11.250 --> 01:08:13.625
- Part of the materials
- at that institute

01:08:13.750 --> 01:08:15.958
- are First Nations'
- cultural heritage

01:08:16.083 --> 01:08:18.083
and property.

01:08:23.041 --> 01:08:23.791
[lights clicking on]

01:08:25.916 --> 01:08:27.875
- [Weber]
- One of the biggest concerns

01:08:28.000 --> 01:08:30.250
- about working
- in this field today

01:08:30.375 --> 01:08:32.791
is recognizing

01:08:32.916 --> 01:08:34.666
- that the work that we do
- causes real harm,

01:08:34.791 --> 01:08:36.916
- and trying to find a way
- to mitigate that

01:08:37.041 --> 01:08:38.333
and to fix that,

01:08:38.458 --> 01:08:42.000
- to ensure that not only
- do we not make those mistakes

01:08:42.125 --> 01:08:43.416
going forward,

01:08:43.541 --> 01:08:48.583
- but to try and actually repair
- what was done in the past.

01:08:48.708 --> 01:08:51.750
- I think it must just be down
- a couple bays...

01:08:53.708 --> 01:08:56.625
- We're not
- anywhere near there yet,

01:08:56.750 --> 01:08:59.250
and a big part of it is

01:08:59.375 --> 01:09:02.500
- engagement with communities
- that have the knowledge,

01:09:02.625 --> 01:09:05.875
- never assuming
- that we know what's best

01:09:06.041 --> 01:09:08.291
or what the answer is.

01:09:11.916 --> 01:09:15.208
So this is the A.J. Stone album.

01:09:18.791 --> 01:09:20.708
- [Marion]
- So this is from 1890...

01:09:20.833 --> 01:09:21.833
[Weber] 1897...

01:09:21.958 --> 01:09:24.708
-Yeah, to '98?
-To '98.

01:09:28.208 --> 01:09:30.208
[♪♪♪]

01:09:32.375 --> 01:09:34.875
Like, the near Spatsizi.

01:09:36.166 --> 01:09:38.375
- And so this is, like,
- a really perfect item

01:09:38.500 --> 01:09:40.291
- of what we would like
- to discuss,

01:09:40.416 --> 01:09:42.916
- of, you know,
- bringing it home,

01:09:43.041 --> 01:09:44.000
[Weber] Mm.

01:09:44.125 --> 01:09:46.333
- Given the individuals
- in these photos

01:09:46.458 --> 01:09:47.791
and being able, like you said,

01:09:47.916 --> 01:09:50.166
to have the physical copy...

01:09:50.291 --> 01:09:51.375
-Mm-hmm.

01:09:51.500 --> 01:09:53.166
- ...and then discussing
- how to preserve it,

01:09:53.291 --> 01:09:55.041
because it is from 1897...

01:09:55.166 --> 01:09:56.291
-Right.

01:09:56.416 --> 01:09:59.875
- But then allowing
- our own people to look at them

01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:02.583
- and say, "Hey,
- that's my family member.

01:10:02.708 --> 01:10:04.583
- That's who that is," and...
-Yeah.

01:10:04.708 --> 01:10:06.708
- [Marion] And properly
- putting names to photographs

01:10:06.833 --> 01:10:09.333
that have been unnamed

01:10:09.458 --> 01:10:11.041
for over...

01:10:11.166 --> 01:10:12.166
-Exactly.

01:10:12.291 --> 01:10:13.208
- ...a century?
- [chuckles sadly]

01:10:13.333 --> 01:10:14.375
-Yeah.

01:10:14.500 --> 01:10:16.166
[slide projector clicks]

01:10:16.291 --> 01:10:18.416
[♪♪♪]

01:10:20.458 --> 01:10:22.875
- [Marion]
- These photos are all online,

01:10:23.000 --> 01:10:24.875
- and our people have said,
- you know,

01:10:25.000 --> 01:10:27.541
- "That's,
- that's my family member.

01:10:27.666 --> 01:10:30.333
- I'm a descendant
- of that person in that photo,"

01:10:30.458 --> 01:10:33.458
- but then you look in this album,
- and it's all numbers,

01:10:33.583 --> 01:10:35.166
- and it's...
-[Weber] Yeah.

01:10:35.291 --> 01:10:38.208
- There's a level of, like,
- a feeling of dehumanizing...

01:10:38.333 --> 01:10:40.750
-Absolutely.
-...the photos,

01:10:40.875 --> 01:10:43.375
- because we have
- had access to them,

01:10:43.500 --> 01:10:45.125
but to properly label them...

01:10:45.250 --> 01:10:46.916
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

01:10:47.041 --> 01:10:50.125
- ...and bring them home
- would be... amazing.

01:10:50.250 --> 01:10:51.291
-Yeah.
-Mm.

01:10:51.416 --> 01:10:53.125
[projector clicks]

01:10:55.666 --> 01:10:57.375
[click]

01:11:00.583 --> 01:11:02.333
[click]

01:11:05.541 --> 01:11:07.208
[click]

01:11:09.708 --> 01:11:11.708
- [Marion] This is Tahltan
- before the bridge.

01:11:11.833 --> 01:11:14.750
- There's markings in the...
- the cliffs.

01:11:17.500 --> 01:11:19.458
[click]

01:11:22.500 --> 01:11:24.000
[click]

01:11:24.125 --> 01:11:25.125
Look at the hide.

01:11:25.250 --> 01:11:26.416
-Mm-hmm.
-She's right on it.

01:11:26.541 --> 01:11:27.458
[Marion] Yeah.

01:11:27.583 --> 01:11:29.291
- Remember in the video
- with my grandma,

01:11:29.416 --> 01:11:32.083
- she put that bar out
- on the blankets

01:11:32.208 --> 01:11:33.791
and climbed right up on it to...

01:11:33.916 --> 01:11:35.041
-Wow.
-I haven't seen the video.

01:11:35.166 --> 01:11:36.833
...to flake-scrape it.

01:11:36.958 --> 01:11:38.208
She's scraping it.

01:11:38.333 --> 01:11:39.958
- [Weber] And this is raised up
- above the ground?

01:11:40.083 --> 01:11:41.416
-Yep.
-Wow.

01:11:41.541 --> 01:11:42.541
[quietly] That's incredible.

01:11:42.666 --> 01:11:44.250
It looks so cold.

01:11:44.375 --> 01:11:45.458
Yeah.

01:11:45.583 --> 01:11:46.916
[Marion] The amount of stories

01:11:47.041 --> 01:11:48.791
- that would come out
- of these photos from our people

01:11:48.916 --> 01:11:50.166
would be amazing.

01:11:50.291 --> 01:11:55.375
- [Weber] So when we've been
- in conversation about, uh...

01:11:55.500 --> 01:11:58.083
- repatriating material
- from the archive,

01:11:58.208 --> 01:12:00.958
- our conversations have landed
- on the shared stewardship model,

01:12:01.083 --> 01:12:03.291
- so we haven't
- actually repatriated the items,

01:12:03.416 --> 01:12:06.416
but this is new... water for us.

01:12:06.541 --> 01:12:08.041
- This is something
- that we haven't done.

01:12:08.166 --> 01:12:09.666
- This is...
- we're testing the waters,

01:12:09.791 --> 01:12:12.041
but something we'd be eager

01:12:12.166 --> 01:12:15.000
- to enter into conversation
- with you about.

01:12:15.125 --> 01:12:17.875
- So for
- the Tahltan-specific archive,

01:12:18.000 --> 01:12:21.583
- it'll be a huge asset
- in the sense of

01:12:21.708 --> 01:12:23.125
"You can come home,

01:12:23.250 --> 01:12:25.291
- and you can physically
- look at these photos

01:12:25.416 --> 01:12:26.708
that involve your family..."

01:12:26.833 --> 01:12:28.500
-Yeah.
-"...and your territory."

01:12:29.916 --> 01:12:31.583
[Marion] We talk about

01:12:31.708 --> 01:12:35.458
- incentivizing our members
- to want to come home.

01:12:35.583 --> 01:12:38.500
- Having things like this
- would be huge,

01:12:38.625 --> 01:12:40.250
- because then
- they can come home

01:12:40.375 --> 01:12:41.958
- and they can
- look at their history,

01:12:42.083 --> 01:12:45.291
- and they can physically touch
- tangible items

01:12:45.416 --> 01:12:47.208
of their own history,

01:12:47.333 --> 01:12:49.666
- and I think
- there's an underestimation

01:12:49.791 --> 01:12:51.750
in the power of that,

01:12:51.875 --> 01:12:54.708
- whereas, now,
- we have to come to Victoria,

01:12:54.833 --> 01:12:59.083
- and so being able to do that
- while on your own territory,

01:12:59.208 --> 01:13:01.333
it's huge.

01:13:06.083 --> 01:13:09.250
- I love the accent of the blue
- in the middle.

01:13:09.375 --> 01:13:10.791
Yeah, me too.

01:13:10.916 --> 01:13:13.333
It's so gorgeous.

01:13:15.750 --> 01:13:17.208
They belong at home.

01:13:18.500 --> 01:13:22.166
- They belong at home,
- and our...

01:13:22.291 --> 01:13:27.333
- our people need to see them,
- and they need to...

01:13:27.458 --> 01:13:31.458
work to... remember.

01:13:32.875 --> 01:13:35.250
- And it's just
- seeing pieces like this,

01:13:35.375 --> 01:13:37.750
- to connect to those pieces
- of today

01:13:37.875 --> 01:13:41.583
- and to know that
- even though this is here,

01:13:41.708 --> 01:13:43.291
it wasn't lost.

01:13:43.416 --> 01:13:45.083
- This artifact should
- come home, though.

01:13:45.208 --> 01:13:47.791
- This item from home
- should come home.

01:13:49.291 --> 01:13:51.791
- Photographs of
- men and women who helped...

01:13:51.916 --> 01:13:52.958
- [Dan Pon]
- An institutional archive

01:13:53.083 --> 01:13:55.958
- is governed by
- a lot of different protocols

01:13:56.083 --> 01:13:58.875
- that come from a top-down view
- of narratives

01:13:59.000 --> 01:14:02.041
- that come from
- older European traditions,

01:14:02.166 --> 01:14:04.000
- they come
- from colonial traditions,

01:14:04.125 --> 01:14:05.125
and not to say

01:14:05.250 --> 01:14:07.750
- that all community archives
- don't do that.

01:14:07.875 --> 01:14:10.916
- Collecting objects
- is by nature

01:14:11.041 --> 01:14:13.166
a fairly colonial thing to do,

01:14:13.291 --> 01:14:16.625
- but the advantage
- of a community archive

01:14:16.750 --> 01:14:19.708
- is it really is not
- beholden to those, necessarily.

01:14:19.833 --> 01:14:20.916
It can be flexible.

01:14:22.833 --> 01:14:24.041
- Grunt Gallery's
- an artist-run centre

01:14:24.166 --> 01:14:25.125
in the Canadian model,

01:14:25.250 --> 01:14:26.833
here in Vancouver,

01:14:26.958 --> 01:14:29.625
- on unceded
- Coast Salish territories.

01:14:29.750 --> 01:14:30.958
We have kept an archive

01:14:31.083 --> 01:14:33.875
- of the programming history
- of this space,

01:14:34.000 --> 01:14:35.791
- in one form or another,
- since the beginning.

01:14:37.375 --> 01:14:40.875
- See, we don't keep artworks,
- as in the physical work, here.

01:14:41.000 --> 01:14:42.666
- A lot of times
- we're talking about

01:14:42.791 --> 01:14:44.875
photo and video documentation.

01:14:45.000 --> 01:14:46.083
[door opening]

01:14:47.625 --> 01:14:49.416
-Hello.
-Hi there. Welcome to Grunt.

01:14:49.541 --> 01:14:51.750
- My name's Dan.
- I'm the archives manager here.

01:14:51.875 --> 01:14:54.416
- Very nice to meet both of you.
- Good to have you here.

01:14:54.541 --> 01:14:56.166
[women chuckling]

01:14:56.291 --> 01:14:58.166
- Come on in.
- Take a look.

01:14:59.916 --> 01:15:03.166
- So this is the office,
- and as well as our archive.

01:15:03.291 --> 01:15:05.875
- Uh, The Grunt's been around
- since 1984,

01:15:06.000 --> 01:15:08.083
- so we have
- a pretty extensive archive

01:15:08.208 --> 01:15:09.916
- of all our programing
- over the years

01:15:10.041 --> 01:15:12.833
- and exhibitions, performances,
- events, publications,

01:15:12.958 --> 01:15:15.208
- and the video
- I have to show to you today,

01:15:15.333 --> 01:15:17.791
- it can give you
- a little background.

01:15:17.916 --> 01:15:20.250
- There's a Mi'kmaq artist
- named Mike MacDonald

01:15:20.375 --> 01:15:22.833
who passed in 2006,

01:15:22.958 --> 01:15:24.750
but his tapes are held

01:15:24.875 --> 01:15:26.875
- by an artist-run centre
- called Vtape in Toronto.

01:15:27.000 --> 01:15:27.916
-Okay.

01:15:28.041 --> 01:15:29.041
- And so I took copies of them
- out here

01:15:29.166 --> 01:15:30.791
as a sort of backup

01:15:30.916 --> 01:15:33.416
- and to kind of connect
- some of his work

01:15:33.541 --> 01:15:36.458
- with this space
- that he spent a lot of time in.

01:15:36.583 --> 01:15:40.416
- I'll just... bring up
- this video for you.

01:15:40.541 --> 01:15:41.791
[man] You remember

01:15:41.916 --> 01:15:43.875
- the first year you come
- in the country, you know?

01:15:44.000 --> 01:15:45.291
What year was that?

01:15:45.416 --> 01:15:46.958
[woman] 1914, in spring.

01:15:47.083 --> 01:15:48.541
1914.

01:15:48.666 --> 01:15:50.916
- In the spring, in, uh...
- April, we hit the...

01:15:51.041 --> 01:15:53.000
[chuckles] Wow.

01:15:53.125 --> 01:15:54.875
[man] Is that right?

01:15:55.000 --> 01:15:57.625
- You know,
- I was born in 1908.

01:15:57.750 --> 01:15:58.708
You were small!

01:15:58.833 --> 01:16:00.375
-April, I was small, yeah.
-Yeah.

01:16:00.500 --> 01:16:02.000
I remember, you know,

01:16:02.125 --> 01:16:04.125
- just like a dream there,
- you know.

01:16:04.250 --> 01:16:05.875
- It's strange people
- come in the country, you know?

01:16:06.000 --> 01:16:07.458
-Yeah.
-You've got to...

01:16:07.583 --> 01:16:09.458
- know the difference, you know,
- and the people there.

01:16:09.583 --> 01:16:12.583
- I could remember it
- just like a dream, you know?

01:16:12.708 --> 01:16:15.458
- He was one of
- the four or five men

01:16:15.583 --> 01:16:18.166
- that started TCG,
- Tahltan Central Government.

01:16:18.291 --> 01:16:19.458
Mm-hmm.

01:16:19.583 --> 01:16:21.041
- So I'm going to ask
- the hard question.

01:16:21.166 --> 01:16:22.791
How do we get a copy?

01:16:22.916 --> 01:16:24.333
'Cause I can tell you right now,

01:16:24.458 --> 01:16:26.416
- there's two very large families
- back home

01:16:26.541 --> 01:16:28.166
who would love this tape.

01:16:28.291 --> 01:16:29.791
-No doubt, no doubt.
-Absolutely love it.

01:16:29.916 --> 01:16:31.166
- I'm related to Eva
- through my grandfather.

01:16:31.291 --> 01:16:32.291
-Oh, wow.

01:16:32.416 --> 01:16:36.000
- She was huge
- in re-recording our songs,

01:16:36.125 --> 01:16:37.625
keeping the dancing going.

01:16:37.750 --> 01:16:40.458
- All the tape we have now
- for that time

01:16:40.583 --> 01:16:41.750
is all audio.

01:16:41.875 --> 01:16:43.916
There's no visual at all,

01:16:44.041 --> 01:16:46.750
- so this would...
- this would be, like...

01:16:46.875 --> 01:16:49.166
like, the cherry on top.

01:16:49.291 --> 01:16:51.208
- [Pon] The missing link,
- kind of, for that stuff.

01:16:51.333 --> 01:16:53.375
- Yeah, because I don't think
- anybody even knows this exists.

01:16:53.500 --> 01:16:54.583
Yeah, I think there's...

01:16:54.708 --> 01:16:56.208
- I mean, I think
- that's a great opportunity.

01:16:56.333 --> 01:16:57.791
Like, our approach here

01:16:57.916 --> 01:17:00.541
- is really just about
- caring for artists' work

01:17:00.666 --> 01:17:02.291
and stewarding the material.

01:17:02.416 --> 01:17:05.708
- I'm not really into
- archival gatekeeping

01:17:05.833 --> 01:17:07.625
- or any sort of... where
- we're, like, possessing it,

01:17:07.750 --> 01:17:10.250
- and in this case, it's even
- a degree removed from that,

01:17:10.375 --> 01:17:12.791
- because we're essentially
- just holding a copy of it.

01:17:12.916 --> 01:17:16.041
- I mean, I would want
- to honour the commitments

01:17:16.166 --> 01:17:17.541
on Mike's family's behalf,

01:17:17.666 --> 01:17:20.458
- and Vtape, and the agreements
- that they've made,

01:17:20.583 --> 01:17:21.625
but I think definitely

01:17:21.750 --> 01:17:23.375
- a conversation with them
- out there,

01:17:23.500 --> 01:17:24.916
- but the way I see it,
- there's...

01:17:25.041 --> 01:17:26.208
- [Marion]
- Do you have a direct contact

01:17:26.333 --> 01:17:28.208
- that you might be able
- to introduce us to?

01:17:28.333 --> 01:17:29.916
-Definitely, yeah, definitely.
-Okay.

01:17:30.041 --> 01:17:33.166
- [man on tape] I met Frank
- when he was 19...

01:17:33.291 --> 01:17:35.166
- [Marion]
- I think it's really hard

01:17:35.291 --> 01:17:37.791
- to think
- that we can watch this

01:17:37.916 --> 01:17:39.041
- and not walk away
- with a copy

01:17:39.166 --> 01:17:41.708
and just hope that we have one.

01:17:41.833 --> 01:17:43.541
- Yeah, like, I would feel
- comfortable giving you,

01:17:43.666 --> 01:17:46.208
- like, a copy of this,
- if you have a drive,

01:17:46.333 --> 01:17:49.333
- or I can WeTransfer it to you
- or whatever, like...

01:17:49.458 --> 01:17:51.750
[Eva singing in language]

01:17:51.875 --> 01:17:54.083
[women chuckling warmly]

01:17:58.750 --> 01:18:00.541
[Marion] We all know that song.

01:18:00.666 --> 01:18:02.041
Before COVID, we had dances,

01:18:02.166 --> 01:18:04.625
- and they would always sing
- this song at a dance.

01:18:04.750 --> 01:18:06.000
Does it have a name?

01:18:06.125 --> 01:18:08.166
-Ye kade jani.
-Ye kade jani.

01:18:08.291 --> 01:18:10.625
[singing in language]

01:18:15.000 --> 01:18:17.458
[singing in language]

01:18:31.541 --> 01:18:34.250
[tender chuckling]

01:18:37.916 --> 01:18:39.833
Wow.

01:18:43.291 --> 01:18:44.166
[chuckling]

01:18:44.291 --> 01:18:46.291
[deep breath, sigh]

01:18:46.416 --> 01:18:47.833
That's...

01:18:47.958 --> 01:18:49.333
- thank you so much.
-Yeah, for sure.

01:18:49.458 --> 01:18:51.333
I always talk about timing

01:18:51.458 --> 01:18:53.500
- and how timing affects me
- in this job,

01:18:53.625 --> 01:18:56.291
- because it's always, like,
- slaps me in the face

01:18:56.416 --> 01:18:57.833
when things like this happen.

01:18:57.958 --> 01:18:59.291
Like, you going over there

01:18:59.416 --> 01:19:01.083
- and doing that work
- and then bringing it back...

01:19:01.208 --> 01:19:02.000
-Mm-hmm.

01:19:02.125 --> 01:19:04.041
And then us meeting you,

01:19:04.166 --> 01:19:06.125
- and just how
- all of that lines up. Like...

01:19:06.250 --> 01:19:07.375
- [Pon] It's pretty
- amazing, like...

01:19:07.500 --> 01:19:09.125
The things that have to happen

01:19:09.250 --> 01:19:11.458
- in order to get
- to where you are in this moment.

01:19:11.583 --> 01:19:13.333
- We could've easily
- missed each other, but...

01:19:13.458 --> 01:19:14.750
-Yeah!
-That's not how it worked out.

01:19:14.875 --> 01:19:16.666
- Or you could have
- easily missed the tape...

01:19:16.791 --> 01:19:17.958
That's true.

01:19:18.083 --> 01:19:19.458
- And picked something else.
- Like...

01:19:19.583 --> 01:19:20.750
-That's true.

01:19:20.875 --> 01:19:22.375
- There's always
- these other forces

01:19:22.500 --> 01:19:24.041
in the back that just...

01:19:24.166 --> 01:19:25.708
I don't know.

01:19:25.833 --> 01:19:27.666
I believe in it, so...

01:19:27.791 --> 01:19:28.791
[she laughs]

01:19:28.916 --> 01:19:30.166
[Pon] I believe in it too.

01:19:30.291 --> 01:19:31.958
[all chuckling]

01:19:32.083 --> 01:19:35.666
- [Marion] Through this work,
- things keep coming to us.

01:19:35.791 --> 01:19:39.416
- I feel like there's
- this gravitational pull

01:19:39.541 --> 01:19:41.166
- in some sort of,
- like, the Force.

01:19:41.291 --> 01:19:42.666
[laughing]

01:19:43.875 --> 01:19:47.083
- It's this concept
- of ghost-dancing,

01:19:47.208 --> 01:19:48.166
and that we will start

01:19:48.291 --> 01:19:50.458
- to bring things
- back to our people

01:19:50.583 --> 01:19:53.458
- when our ancestors
- start coming back to us,

01:19:53.583 --> 01:19:57.458
- and so having these tapes
- coming to us

01:19:57.583 --> 01:19:59.208
- rather than us
- going looking for it

01:19:59.333 --> 01:20:01.416
- just signifies,
- you know,

01:20:01.541 --> 01:20:03.500
- you're in the right place
- at the right time,

01:20:03.625 --> 01:20:05.875
- and you're doing the work
- that needs to be done.

01:20:19.166 --> 01:20:20.958
- [Dutton]
- You may not know it,

01:20:21.083 --> 01:20:23.708
- but the moment you are in
- has never happened before.

01:20:23.833 --> 01:20:28.666
- It is an incredible,
- fertile moment to be alive,

01:20:28.791 --> 01:20:32.458
- and we need to know
- what that feels like,

01:20:32.583 --> 01:20:34.250
and you have to tell us.

01:20:41.333 --> 01:20:43.375
- There is definitely
- an understanding

01:20:43.500 --> 01:20:46.333
- that we're in
- a time of massive change.

01:20:46.458 --> 01:20:49.875
The institutional understanding

01:20:50.000 --> 01:20:51.625
is catching up

01:20:51.750 --> 01:20:54.666
- to what people on the ground
- have been doing for years.

01:20:54.791 --> 01:20:58.375
- I feel really fortunate
- to be at this time,

01:20:58.500 --> 01:21:00.333
- but I also find the task
- very daunting.

01:21:00.458 --> 01:21:01.916
It's only possible

01:21:02.041 --> 01:21:04.666
- if we actually build
- a relationship, build a trust,

01:21:04.791 --> 01:21:05.875
to figure out

01:21:06.000 --> 01:21:09.208
- how we can reimagine
- our cultural spaces.

01:21:22.875 --> 01:21:25.875
- [Lim] Why does everybody
- have to go to the RBCM?

01:21:26.000 --> 01:21:29.166
- If you have
- a particular special item,

01:21:29.291 --> 01:21:31.083
- why do you have to
- see it there?

01:21:31.208 --> 01:21:34.791
- So it should
- remain in the community.

01:21:34.916 --> 01:21:36.375
[Yu] It's a process

01:21:36.500 --> 01:21:40.000
- that's gonna actually take
- active remediation,

01:21:40.125 --> 01:21:42.083
because we value inclusion.

01:21:42.208 --> 01:21:44.000
- We think we should
- create a society

01:21:44.125 --> 01:21:45.333
where people belong.

01:21:57.958 --> 01:21:59.458
- [Berg] If we aren't
- actively collecting

01:21:59.583 --> 01:22:00.750
and preserving those records,

01:22:00.875 --> 01:22:02.791
- they, they disappear,
- they're gone,

01:22:02.916 --> 01:22:05.708
- and because we're only
- tackling this now, in 2021,

01:22:05.833 --> 01:22:07.958
- in a lot of cases,
- we're too late.

01:22:09.333 --> 01:22:10.666
[Bains] I would say one word

01:22:10.791 --> 01:22:13.375
- might kind of explain
- what I feel at this moment

01:22:13.500 --> 01:22:15.083
- is the word
- is "impatience."

01:22:15.208 --> 01:22:16.916
I'm also very positive

01:22:17.041 --> 01:22:19.291
- and an optimist about
- where we're going.

01:22:19.416 --> 01:22:21.208
We've just laid the foundation.

01:22:32.958 --> 01:22:34.916
- [Neel]
- British Columbia and Canada

01:22:35.041 --> 01:22:37.708
- are a work in progress,
- as far as I'm concerned.

01:22:37.833 --> 01:22:39.208
- We didn't hit the end
- at any point.

01:22:39.333 --> 01:22:41.333
- I'm not even sure
- we're at the middle point yet,

01:22:41.458 --> 01:22:43.125
and I think that

01:22:43.250 --> 01:22:46.791
- hearing what real citizens
- have to say to us,

01:22:46.916 --> 01:22:48.791
and taking that as our lead,

01:22:48.916 --> 01:22:51.458
- that's what's going to make
- the museum of the future.

01:22:51.583 --> 01:22:54.250
- That's what's going to change
- what these places are all about,

01:22:54.375 --> 01:22:57.375
- and I think
- that all citizens then

01:22:57.500 --> 01:23:00.416
- are gonna have an opportunity
- to learn the real histories,

01:23:00.541 --> 01:23:01.750
all of it,

01:23:01.875 --> 01:23:04.458
- not just somebody's
- narrow interpretation of it,

01:23:04.583 --> 01:23:05.416
but all of it.

01:23:05.541 --> 01:23:07.333
[film projector running]

01:23:12.458 --> 01:23:14.375
[film spool ends]

01:23:14.500 --> 01:23:16.875
[♪♪♪]

01:23:27.541 --> 01:23:28.625
[projector clicks]

01:23:30.250 --> 01:23:32.541
[♪♪♪]

Main content

Unarchived

Citation

Main credits

Other credits

Docuseek subjects

Distributor subjects

Keywords