Vanier Park is a municipal park located in the Kitsilano

Kitsilano

Kitsilano is an upmarket neighbourhood on the West Side of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Known colloquially as "Kits", this neighborhood is home to many yuppies, young families and students as well as yoga studios, organic markets, cafes and Vancouver's Greektown. The primary...

 neighbourhood of Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is home to the Vancouver Museum

Vancouver Museum

The Museum of Vancouver is a local museum located in Vanier Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada. The museum was founded in 1894 and recently went through a major re-visioning process in 2008. It shares facilities with the H. R...

, the Vancouver Maritime Museum

Vancouver Maritime Museum

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is a Maritime museum devoted to presenting the maritime history of Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Canadian Arctic. Opened in 1959 as a Vancouver centennial project, it is located within Vanier Park just west of False Creek on the Vancouver waterfront. The main...

, the City of Vancouver Archives, and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

H.R. MacMillan Space Centre

The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, founded 1968, is an astronomy museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, that is located at Vanier Park in Vancouver. Inside the building, there are live demonstrations on science in the GroundStation Canada Theatre, exhibits and games in the Cosmic Courtyard,...

.

History

The Squamish people and their kin, the Tsleil-Waututh

Tsleil-Waututh First Nation

The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, also known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Band, is a First Nations government in the Canadian Province of British Columbia...

. Musqueam and Squamish/Tsleil-Waututh

Tsleil-Waututh First Nation

The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, also known as the Burrard Indian Band or Burrard Band, is a First Nations government in the Canadian Province of British Columbia...

 established a brief political unity in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century by Chief August Jack, aka Qahtsahlano, who inherited the chieftaincy of both peoples and established his residence at Snauq at the mouth of False Creek

False Creek

False Creek is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. It separates downtown from the rest of the city. It was named by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey of 1856-63. Science World is located at its eastern end and the Burrard Street Bridge crosses its western end. False Creek is...

, now Vanier Park just west of the Burrard Bridge, rather than choose between residence at the Capilano Reserve or at Musqueam, as either of those would have had political implications for the one not chosen.

Once a Royal Canadian Air Force

Royal Canadian Air Force

The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...

 (RCAF) station, Number 7 Supply Depot, the site was turned over to the Vancouver Park Board by the Federal Government on October 28, 1966. Named for former Governor General of Canada Georges Vanier

Georges Vanier

Major-General Georges-Philéas Vanier was a Canadian soldier and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 19th since Canadian Confederation....

, the park officially opened on May 30, 1967. The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and the Vancouver Museum complex opened in 1968, thanks to lumber baron MacMillan’s $1.5 million donation.

Deputy Park Board Superintendent William Livingstone, famous for his landscape design for Queen Elizabeth Park and VanDusen Botanical Garden

VanDusen Botanical Garden

VanDusen Botanical Garden is situated in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Named for local lumberman and philanthropist Whitford Julian VanDusen, it has been a public garden since its opening on August 30, 1975 and is managed by the Vancouver Park Board and run by a large staff of volunteers...

, increased the size of the original park site using tons of free fill from the excavation for the MacMillan Bloedel Building on Georgia Street

Georgia Street

Georgia Street is an east-west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor...

. The fill added additional acres onto the park which was then landscaped by Livingstone and his crew.

Attractions

Vanier Park plays host to several of Vancouver’s biggest summer festivals, including the International Children’s Festival and the Shakespearean Bard on the Beach

Bard on the Beach

Bard on the Beach is Western Canada's largest professional Shakespeare festival, which is held every year in open-ended tents on the waterfront in Vanier Park in Kitsilano, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada...

. It is the biggest and most famous of the fifteen parks in Kitsilano.

External links

• Vancouver Park Board - Vanier Park