In an effort to showcase the ancestral heritage of the UBC lands, the university unveiled April 4 new street signs in both English and həńq̓əmińəḿ, the traditional language of the Musqueam people.
A total of 54 locations on nine streets in the heart of UBC’s Vancouver campus now have the original English name as well as the həńq̓əmińəḿ rendition with an English translation. Musqueam elder Larry Grant said the inclusion of his people’s language was momentous in the relationship between UBC and the Musqueam people, on whose traditional lands the campus is located.
“This is something we had worked on for several years now,” Grant told the audience in the Jack Poole Hall at the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre. “It’s one of the most important things now that reflects our partnership of the Musqueam and the University of British Columbia.”
The translations into English are necessary because the Musqueam’s ancestral language uses a place-based, directional system. This means that instead of using the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west and the names of historical figures to describe or label places, həńq̓əmińəḿ descriptions will use geographical characteristics relative to the place of interest, such as the direction of a river or the location of mountain ranges.
Michael White, associate vice-president of UBC’s campus and community planning, said the Musqueam people were instrumental in bringing the project to life and supporting the Vancouver campus to adopt bilingual signs the same way it was done at the Okanagan campus in Kelowna. There the campus street signs are in English and in nsyilxcn, which is spoken by the Okanagan Indian Band. White added that there are also plans to expand the renaming of campus streets in the coming months.
“All these signs are functional and they join Brent Sparrow [Jr.]’s [Totem] post and other Musqueam public art works around the campus as visual reminders to us all that the UBC Point Grey campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the həńq̓əmińəḿ-speaking Musqueam people,” White said.
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