W.E. Connect: West End Community Hub Renewal Plan

We are asking community to share feedback on three scenarios for how the buildings and spaces could take shape to create the future West Eng Community Hub. Complete a survey for a chance to win a $50 VISA gift card!

Survey contest rules

The West End Community Hub: Renewal Plan Contest will run from Thursday May 18, 2023. Completed survey responses must be submitted and received by 11:59 pm on Monday June 19, 2023.

To be entered into the contest, participants must enter their email information through the survey to indicate their desire to enter.

5 prizes of a $50 VISA gift card will be awarded by Friday, June 23, 2023. Prizes will be emailed to the winners.

Be sure you have parent/guardian consent to enter if you’re under 18 years of age.

Prizes must be accepted as awarded, cannot be transferred, and cannot be redeemed for cash. Only one prize per person. Restrictions may apply.

Staff members of the City of Vancouver, Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver School District and the West End Community Centre Association are not eligible to participate in the contest.

Thank you to everyone who shared your voice and let us know which activities and spaces you would like to see at the future West End Community Hub. For more information on the potential spaces and activities to be included, see the Phase 2 Engagement Report Activities and Spaces.

Community engagement for the spaces and activities phase was available from February 2 – March 8, 2022.

Based on this valuable feedback, project partners are now working to develop scenarios for how the community hub spaces could take shape. We invite you to get involved in spring 2023 to share feedback on scenarios for the future community hub. Stay tuned for opportunities to attend in-person events and provide feedback online.

We are excited to share the Vision and Principles for the renewed West End Community Hub.

Vision

The West End Community Hub celebrates Vancouver’s connection to xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) cultures, and supports play, learning, creativity and wellness for all people.

For more information on the process and to read all the principles, see the Phase 1 Report: Vision & Principles for the future West End Community Hub.

This report is the result of a collaborative and Indigenous-centred process with the West End community. Throughout the fall, participants attended visioning workshops, heard Coast Salish Knowledges and perspectives, visited self-guided engagement stations and completed the West End Experiences survey. Almost 1,000 responses were shared from diverse groups within our communities including the LGBTQIA2S+, newcomers, seniors, and families with children.

The Framework, Vision and Principles marks the final steps of the visioning work created with the community during the W.E. Connect engagement process. The framework reflects our commitment to reconciliation, declares the purpose and aspirations of the future West End Community Hub and will help define space use needs for the site.

We presented this framework at an online public information session on December 8. You can watch the event here:

As we wrap up this engagement phase, we want to take a moment to thank you all for participating in W.E. Connect over the past few months. We invite you to continue to get involved in early 2022 for the next phase of engagement, Space Needs Identification. Stay tuned for opportunities to attend in-person events and complete an online survey to further explore how you currently use the site and how you want to use it in the future. This input, along with other research being conducted, will lead to options of design concepts for the site.

We look forward to seeing you in 2022 and continuing to reimagine the West End Community Hub together.

Kind regards,
The West End Community Hub project team

W.E. Connect is rooted in local Indigenous knowledge and West End experiences.

Learn about the Indigenous history of the West End through stories and original artwork shared by artists from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and be inspired by community artists’ perspectives and rich experiences of the West End. Learn more about the West End through Indigenous history, original art work and stories.

Meet the artists:

	Chrystal Sparrow: xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) artist and carver Chrystal Sparrow is a xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) artist and female carver. She was traditionally mentored by her late father Irving Sparrow, a master carver. Chrystal is both a traditional and contemporary Coast Salish artist who designs feminine art to express her culture and family teachings. She has public art at the YVR International Airport, Vancouver School Board, Starbucks Canada, BC Children's Hospital, and many other locations. Chrystal believes her work is a living art language that expresses her culture, teachings, and perspectives. Instagram: @chrystalsparrow Facebook: /salishcarver
	Cory Douglas: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) WE resident, architect and artist Cory Douglas was born and raised in Coast Salish Territory ‘Vancouver’ and brings over 25 years of local experience in art and architectural design. He is a Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation member with Xaayda (Haida) and Ts'msyen (Tsimshian) ancestry. Cory began his business as a graphic artist and continues to redefine himself as he merges his academic architectural vocation with his innate creativity. Cory is connected to the Skwxwú7mesh Nation through his parents and has been studying traditional Xaayda form and Formline and Coast Salish design. Cory’s intention is to communicate the cultural history of Canada, alongside the development and design of strategies through decolonization. Listen to Cory's interview on CBC's On The Coast with Gloria Macarenko discussing how Indigenous input is helping shape the future of the West End Community Hub. Instagram: @modernformline Facebook: /cory.douglas.7
	Angela George: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Coast Salish weaver and artist Coast Salish weaver Angela George carries two ancestral names - sits'sáts'tenat and qʷənat. Originally from Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Sts’ailes, she lives and works in the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh)Nation with her husband Gabriel George, children, and grandchildren. Traditionally groomed, Angela carries the gift of weaving with integrity and a responsibility to create awareness, stewardship, and harmony. Angela holds an MBA in Indigenous Business Leadership at SFU, where she researched səlilwətaɬ laws of the land and sacred waters of the Burrard Inlet, then designed it into a 10’ Weaving Governance panel to demonstrate that Coast Salish weavings are Holders of Knowledge and living, guiding documents. Instagram: @anggeorge_weaver Facebook: /ang.george
	Afuwa: Vancouver artist Afuwa was born in Guyana, on Karinya, Lokono, and Akawaio lands, and makes art on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories (Vancouver), on the site known as Luk'Luk'i. Locally and internationally exhibited, her work encompasses language, the body, and diasporic memory, and has appeared in publications such as Room Magazine, PUBLIC, Asparagus, GUTS, The Capilano Review, The Feminist Wire, Briarpatch, West Coast Line, subTerrain, and in Performing Utopias in the Contemporary Americas (2017). Her multisensory painting/ installation Still Salt, Dark Stories is currently in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Vancouver Special exhibit, which runs until 02 January 2022. Website: afuwa.wordpress.com Instagram: @afuwapaints Photo by Arlene Bowman
	Ken Boesem: West End artist and writer BC artist/writer Ken Boesem’s family first arrived in Vancouver in 1885, and he has been a settler here, making his home in various “nests” in the West End, since 1999. Between = 2005-2012, Boesem produced “The Village”, a newspaper comic strip that featured a diverse and inclusive cast of West Enders living in shared community in the West End’s queer Davie Street enclave. Boesem had the privilege of working in various capacities from 2004-2017 at the West End’s legendary community bookstore, Little Sister’s Book & Art Emporium, helping to facilitate West End community building directly at street level. Twitter: @kbcanuck Instagram: @kenboesem

We will be 'popping-up' throughout the West End to talk to you about your vision for the future West End Community Hub. Visit us during any of the following dates* to learn more about the project process, provide your hopes for the future Hub, and ask project staff any questions:

1. West End Farmers Market
   Saturday, October 9: 9am - 2pm

2. Jim Deva Plaza
   Tuesday October 12: 4 - 7pm

1. King George Secondary/Joe Fortes Library/West End Community Centre outdoor plaza
   Friday, October 15: 4 - 7pm

2. Morton Park (A-maze-ing Laughter Sculptures)
   Sunday, October 17: 10am - 3pm.

3. Jim Deva Plaza
   Wednesday, October 20: 4pm - 7pm

4. Morton Park (A-maze-ing Laughter Sculptures)
   Saturday, October 23: noon - 5pm

5. King George Secondary/Joe Fortes Library/West End Community Centre outdoor plaza
   Wednesday, October 27: 4 - 7 pm

1. Morton Park (A-maze-ing Laughter Sculptures)
   Saturday, October 30: noon - 5pm

2. Jim Deva Plaza
   Sunday, October 31: noon - 5pm

* Pop-up dates may change due to weather - all changes will be updated here.

The planning process and future West End Community Hub is rooted in xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) ways of knowing and storytelling.

The W.E. Connect: Coast Salish Chronicles of the West End event held on September 21 was an opportunity to deepen connections to this community, this place, this land. During the event we heard stories and learned from local Knowledge Holders and participants had the opportunity to draw from this greater understanding and identify key ideas that can help create a vision for the renewed West End Community Hub. Watch a recording of the event here:

Or learn from each local Knowledge Holder in their own individual videos:

Chrystal Sparrow: xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) artist and carver

Aaron Nelson-Moody: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Knowledge Holder and carver

Gabriel George: səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Knowledge Holder

Register for W.E. Connect: Coast Salish Chronicles of the West End on Tuesday, September 21, 7-9 pm, online.

You’ll hear stories and learn from local Knowledge Holders:

• Chrystal Sparrow: xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), artist, carver

• Aaron Nelson-Moody: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Knowledge Holder and carver

• Gabriel George: səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), Knowledge Holder

This event will deepen your connections to this community, this place, this land. Drawing from this greater understanding, participants will identify key ideas that can help create a vision for the renewed West End Community Hub.

Register here for this event!

The planning process and future West End Community Hub will be rooted in xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) ways of knowing, working together, and storytelling.

Through events and information, all are invited to learn more about this place from local First Nations Knowledge Holders. We’ll hear stories of each Nation’s connection to and stewardship of the area. Then, we’ll build on this knowledge by sharing West End community and visitor experiences and hopes for the site. The result will be a vision for the Community Hub.

The West End Community Hub will be planned in a way that respects the presence and knowledge of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations and through this will foster more inclusive spaces for all.

Through a co-design process, in collaboration with community members from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations will contribute:

• Vision for the future building

• Cultural contributions to the overall design

• Integration of traditional knowledge

• Historical recognition of the importance of the pre-colonial West End

The City of Vancouver, Vancouver School Board, and Vancouver Public Library are committed to strengthening relationships with the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh):

• City of Vancouver: City of Reconciliation (2014)

• Vancouver School Board: Indigenous Education

• Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: Approach to Reconciliation

• Vancouver Public Library: Truth and Reconciliation