Elder

Larry Grant
sʔəyəɬəq
洪禮興
Grant in 2023
Born (1936-09-01) September 1, 1936
Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s)Educator, Linguist, Band councillor, Musqueam elder

Elder Larry Grant (Halkomelem: sʔəyəɬəq[1] Chinese: 洪禮興; Jyutping: hung4 lai5 hing1; Cantonese Yale: hùhng láih hīng) is a Musqueam and Chinese-Canadian elder, educator, adjunct professor, mechanic, longshoreman, and cultural consultant.

Grant serves as manager for the Musqueam language and culture department, and works towards revitalizing the Hən̓q̓əmín̓əm̓ (Downriver Halkomelem) language. He serves as an adjunct professor for the University of British Columbia's First Nations and Endangered Languages Program. His work with hən̓q̓əmín̓əm̓ aided in providing dual-language names as well as new names to several locations in Vancouver.

Early life

Grant was prematurely[2] born September 1, 1936, to a Chinese father, Hong Tim Hing, and a Musqueam matriarch, Agnes Grant,[3] on a hop field in Agassiz, British Columbia.[2][4] Grant was the second of four children born to the couple, alongside Gordon Grant, Helen Callbreath and Howard E. Grant.[5][6]

Hong Tim Hing was from Sei Moon, a village in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province.[7] He immigrated in 1920[8] and was part of a group of Chinese migrants who had farmed on the Lin On Farm on Musqueam Reserve 2, one of 20 vegetable farms on the Musqueam reserve.[4][6][9] The farm was owned by Agnes' father, Seymour Grant.[10] Hong procured illegal documents which purported him as a relative of another settled Chinese worker, and was made to pay the Chinese head tax to enter the country.[9] As a child, Grant seldom saw his father as a result of the provisions of the Indian Act, which had stipulated that non-Indigenous peoples were unable to cohabit on reserve lands.[8] The Grant family was made to move from Musqueam to Vancouver's Chinatown as a result of the removal of Indian status due to Agnes' marriage to a non-Indigenous man.[9] Grant was raised with help from his grandparents and the Musqueam community.[4]

Grant was considered by the Canadian government as a Chinese citizen due to his ancestry, despite little connections with his father. Because of his Chinese ancestry, Grant was excluded from attendance within the Canadian Indian residential school system,[11][12][9] and would instead attend public schools in Vancouver's neighborhood of Point Grey.[3] Despite their mixed ancestry, the people of the Musqueam reserve treated the Grant children as fully Musqueam.[11] Agnes Grant, according to her children, was one of the few remaining speakers of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language, and passed on her oral history onto Grant.[4] As a child, Grant would attend the potlatch and participate in games of slahal.[4] As Grant's Indian status was not recognized, he was financially supported by his mother through his time in high school and three years of his apprenticeship.[13] He would graduate from high school in 1955.[8] Because of his family's financial situation, Grant was unable to attend university and would instead worked towards becoming a tradesperson.[13]

Career

Grant worked as a heavy duty mechanic in the longshore industry and as an auto machinist for four decades prior to his retirement.[8][14][11] Following his retirement, Grant enrolled into the First Nations Language Program in the University of British Columbia[2][15][13] and became an educator and an elder within the Musqueam community. Grant works as a language and culture consultant within the Musqueam community.[4][2] Serving as the manager of the Musqueam language department, Grant has worked towards advancing Indigenous reconciliation and hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language revitalization within the city of Vancouver.[4][1][16] Grant is a Faculty Fellow at St. John's College, the inaugural Life Fellow for Green College.[17]

Grant has led initiatives to rename various landmarks within the city. In 2022, Grant was consulted in the renaming of Vancouver's Trutch Street, named after Lieutenant Governor Joseph Trutch, to Musqueamview Street (Halkomelem: šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm).[1][4][18][19] Grant was additionally consulted in the renaming of Sir Matthew Begbie Elementary School, named after Matthew Baillie Begbie, to wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm.[4][20]

Work within the University of British Columbia

Grant provided hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names to street signs at the University of British Columbia

Grant has served as the Elder-in-Residence for the University of British Columbia's First Nations House of Learning since 2001. In his duties as Elder-in-Residence, Grant serves as an ambassador for Musqueam, as well as an elder figure for Indigenous students looking for a home away from home.[11] Grant additionally serves as an adjunct professor within UBC's Institute of Critical Indigenous Studies' Musqueam Language and Culture Program, where he teaches courses on the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language.[4][2][14]

Grant has served on the First Nations education standing committee, the UBC president's advisory committee on Aboriginal issues, and the Musqueam UBC Development committee.[11]

Grant provided the names for a 2018 incorporation of hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language names to street signs on the University of British Columbia grounds.[21] Grant additionally provided the names of the tə šxʷhəleləm̓s tə k̓ʷaƛ̓kʷəʔaʔɬ residence area and the individual buildings təməs leləm̓ (Sea Otter House), sqimək̓ʷ leləm̓ (Octopus House), sɬewət̕ leləm̓ (Herring House), q̓əlɬaləməcən leləm̓ (Orca House) and qʷta:yθən leləm̓ (Sturgeon House).[22]

Personal life

Grant's great-great-great-grandfather was Chief Joe Capilano.[12][23] Grant is married to Gina, an artist and residential school survivor.[24][25] Gina's artwork includes Out of the Silence, which is displayed at the Vancouver International Airport.[26]

In 2010 Grant received Vancouver Community College's Alumnni Award of Distinction. In 2014, Grant became an honorary graduate of the University of British Columbia's Native Indian Teacher Education Program (NITEP).[17]

In film

Grant was profiled as part of the Chinese Canadian Stories project by the University of British Columbia.[27]

Grant's early life was profiled in the film All Our Father's Relations, which documented the Grant siblings retracing their father's journey from Guangdong to Musqueam, returning to their father's home community of Sei Moon, and highlighting the historical ties between Vancouver's Chinese Canadian community and the Musqueam.[5][28][9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wilson, Odette (30 September 2022). "Musqueam gifts new name to City of Vancouver to replace Trutch Street". Musqueam A Living Culture. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Larry Grant". Justice Institute of British Columbia. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. 1 2 Pleshakov, Alexandra Sanya (31 August 2010). "We do not talk about our history here" : the Department of Indian Affairs, Musqueam-settler relations, and memory in a Vancouver neighbourhood (PDF) (Thesis). University of British Columbia. doi:10.14288/1.0071217. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Peng, Jenny (2 June 2023). "Larry Grant (sʔəyəɬəq)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Anthony Wilson-Smith. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Film funding adds new lens to First Nations and Chinese Canadian history". BC Gov News. Government of British Columbia. Ministry of International Trade. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  6. 1 2 Hwang, Florence (24 January 2017). "Film explores historical relations between Musqueam First Nation and Chinese". The Source. Vol. 17, no. 2. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  7. ↑ "Aerial view of Sei Moon village". Heritage Burnaby. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Kurucz, John (20 January 2017). "Documentary connects histories of Chinese immigrants and Musqueam". Vancouver Is Awesome. Glacier Media Group. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Lee-Young, Joanne (27 January 2017). "Musqueam siblings trace father's roots to China and find little-told B.C. history". Vancouver Sun. Postmedia Network Inc. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  10. ↑ Siegel, Leah. "MUSQUEAM-CHINESE FARMS". BC Untold History. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Zhou, Helen (12 May 2017). "Our Campus: Elder Larry Grant finds a voice for Indigenous languages". The Ubyssey. The Ubyssey Publications Society. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  12. 1 2 Steedman, Scott (11 April 2018). "A Place of Learning: A Musqueam View of UBC and BC History". The Tyee. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 Young-Leon, Alannah (2011). "Reanimating Storywork: Indigenous Elders' Reflections on Leadership by Larry Grant" (PDF). SFU Indigenous Student Centre. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Elder Larry Grant". Office of the President. University of British Columbia. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  15. ↑ "First Words: Larry Grant speaks hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓". CBC Radio. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. CBC News. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  16. ↑ Cheung, Christopher (22 August 2023). "The Revitalizing Power of Indigenous Typography". The Tyee. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  17. 1 2 "Indigenous Heritage Month". Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society. 22 June 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  18. ↑ Kulkarni, Akshay (30 September 2022). "Musqueam Nation gives gift of new name for Vancouver's former Trutch Street". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  19. ↑ Robinson, Kristen (1 October 2022). "Vancouver's former Trutch Street now Musqueamview and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmasəm in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓". Global News. Global Television Network. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  20. ↑ "Vancouver elementary school renamed wek̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm in Musqueam name gifting ceremony". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 9 December 2022. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  21. ↑ Du Bois, Samuel (8 April 2018). "UBC and the Musqueam First Nation unveil street signs in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language". The Ubyssey. The Ubyssey Publications Society. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  22. ↑ Bawaan, Nathan (8 June 2022). "'Now you will learn our words': Musqueam gifts UBC hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ names for new residence area". The Ubyssey. The Ubyssey Publications Society. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  23. ↑ Ling, Sarah (29 June 2016). "Looking beyond "Vancouver"..." University of British Columbia Student Services. University of British Columbia. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  24. ↑ Howell, Mike (2 April 2017). "Hundreds raise 'reconciliation totem pole' at UBC". Vancouver Is Awesome. Glacier Media Group. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  25. ↑ "Thousands donated to child and family service agency following Nanaimo vigil". Nanaimo News Bulletin. Black Press Media. 11 June 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  26. ↑ "Musqueam Welcome Area". Vancouver International Airport. Vancouver Airport Authority. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  27. ↑ Ling, Sarah (27 April 2012). "Elder Larry Grant Featured by UBC Chinese Canadian Stories Project". University of British Columbia Indigenous Portal. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  28. ↑ Britten, Liam (28 January 2017). "From Musqueam to China: documentary tells story of Chinese-Indigenous family reconnecting". CBC News. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
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