Xwáýxway (Xway' xway, Why-why, Qoiquoi,Qwhy-qwhy, Whoiwhoi)[1] ([xʷajxʷaj]) is a village site of the Indigenous Sḵwxwú7mesh, located near what is now known as Stanley Park in British Columbia, Canada. The location is on the eastern peninsula of the park, at the location now the site of Lumberman's Arch. The village site was home for many Sḵwxwú7mesh, but after more colonization began in the Vancouver area, the inhabitants were forced to re-locate to nearby villages. The name of the village comes from a mask ceremony, and a story where one of these masks originated from this place. Thus, its best translation would be "Place of the Mask".
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Xwáýxway was a village settlement inhabited by Sḵwxwú7mesh, the local indigenous people. This village is estimated to have been inhabited for more than 3000 years. For thousands of years, the area of Burrard Inlet and present day Vancouver was inhabited by the indigenous people. The resource abundant in these lands were used by Sḵwxwú7mesh, Musqueam, and Tsleil-waututh. This village was one of the prominent villages in the area, serving as home to many houses, occupied by large extended family as is the custom of the indigenous culture.
With colonial British Expansion from the east, Vancouver started to boom in population in size. With the passing of the Indian Act, the area known now as Stanley Park was created apart of Crown Lands, when the indigenous populations were placed on reserves. Like the nearby village site near Vanier Park called Senakw, the natives were removed to progression development and expansion of the European settlements. In the 1880s, surveyors and road builders knocked the homes down to create the Park Drive perimeter road. In a 1934 conversation with archivist Major J.S. Matthews, August Jack Khatsahlano related to his childhood when he lived in the area, "We was inside this house when the surveyors come along and they chop the corner of our house when we was eating inside... We all get up and go outside see what was the matter. My sister Louise, she was only one talk a little English; she goes out ask Whiteman what's he doing that for. The man say, 'We're surveying the road. My sister ask him, "'Whose road?"
Local anthropologist Charles Hill-Tout noted several skeletons were found during a road crew excavation near Xwáýxway. In the ancient Skwxwu7mesh custom, deceased were placed in trees with mausoleums built around the remains. The remains would be placed in a specially made bent wood box, and placed high in the tree. Some individuals or families of high rank or noble status would be placed in cedar tree dug out canoes.
In the late 1800s, the village was the largest settlement in Stanley Park. In this village, a big house or long house measured at 60 meters long and near 20 meters wide. The structure was built with large cedar posts and slabs. 11 families lived in the house, numbering around 100 people. A large potlatch, a ceremonial event conducted by wealthy families, was held at this house in 1875. This event is also mentioned in the city council meeting minutes, where the medical health officer recommended the destruction of the buildings because of a smallpox outbreak, says Eric McLay, president of the Archeology Society of B.C.
Squamish First Nation chief Ian Cambell proposed in 2010 that Stanley Park be renamed Xwayxway Park after the name of this village.[2]