B.C.’s Colony Farm Regional Park renamed ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park

Colony Farm Regional Park has been renamed ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park — a move that one councillor says is an important step toward healing.

Colony Farm Road has also been renamed ƛ̓éxətəm Road.

The name means ‘to be invited’ in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, and is pronounced tla-hut-um.

“What it means to me is a healing journey that my community is on. It is 120 years of hurt that needs to be addressed, and it’s something that my community is working with Metro Vancouver on. What it means to us is the starting of that journey,” kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) First Nation Coun. George Chaffee said.

Chaffee says that Colony Farm used to be the Nation’s fishing village.



“In the summertime or springtime, we would come back down to this area that’s here and we would fish. We would fish…sockeye, coho — all the salmons that are there, and then we would dry them and then we would sell them,” he explained.

“We also picked plants and berries in the area, and it was with all the families that are here…working together to try and make sure that it was protected.”

The region explains the former name was associated with the colonization of the area, whereas the new one aims to reflect and honour the history, culture, and ties to the lands the Kwikwetlem First Nation has.

“I’m speaking on behalf of my elders. I’ve sat down with them many times and I’ve gone through their story, and it’s…not a nice story, and it’s a hurtful one. And to hear it there and to know that they kept the name of Colony Farm, it is something that says that, ‘it’s theirs’ — and it’s not. It belongs to my people, and that needs to be understood. We’re still here, and we’re stronger than ever. We’re coming and this is the beginning of getting that hurt to stop,” Chaffee explained.

“Colony Farm itself means exactly what it is, and that needs to be understood. The hurt that has done to the community and the healing that needs to happen, and this is the start of it.”

Chair of the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors, George V. Harvie, says renaming the park is a “significant milestone in the path we’re walking together.”

“We are honoured to support better representation of the Nation on its traditional territory, and to draw attention to their important cultural and historic contributions to our region.”

The park’s signage will be changed over the next year, and the Kwikwetlem First Nation is slated to develop a cultural revitalization plan for the park as well.

Changes are set to include “signage and educational displays in the park to better inform the public about kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation territory, history, and culture.”

“The name reflects their welcome to visitors to ƛ̓éxətəm Regional Park, which is located on their traditional and ancestral territory and adjacent to their ancestral village of slakəyánc (Coquitlam I.R. #1),” the release reads.

It adds that the name reflects, in part, the concept of asking for permission to “enter the territories of others.”

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