The Youthful Spark That Restored Sen̓áḵw

When you are transported back in time while visiting the living museum at Canada’s Sen̓áḵw Historic Site, you may find it surprising that your experience was inspired by the idea of a seventeen year old. Fifty years ago a combination of her passionate belief in working toward truth and reconciliation and her love of art sparked Maxine Neumann's imagination. Neumann saw an Emily Carr painting of the Kitsilano Indian Reserve in an October 2017 Vancouver Sun newspaper article. Familiar with the geographic area in which the painting was set, Neumann was shocked by the reality that at the time of Carr’s painting, in 1908/09, the area around Vanier Park was inhabited by Indigenous peoples.