When you hear about the history of places like North Vancouver, you don’t often think of Métis people. However, the settlement of Moodyville in present-day North Vancouver shows a marked presence of Métis people prior to 1892.
The Moodyville settlement was built around a lumber mill at the beginning of the lumber economy in present-day North Vancouver.
Scholars tell us that Moodyville was a multicultural place and that there was a large Indigenous component in Moodyville — up to 40% were Indian and mixed-ancestry. New mixed-ancestry families emerged between mill workers and women indigenous to the area. When you dig deeper, it appears there were also French “half-breeds” in a place called French Town. They are written about in this account from The Province, 1943.
A panel at Monova Museum in North Vancouver currently states, “Moodyville became the first significant non-Indigenous community.” This account erases the Indigenous history and complexity in Moodyville.
Despite the historical accounts that exist, the presence of Métis has been erased from the city’s historical imagination. This is not surprising: in early city records from other jurisdictions, Métis were often vilified by both the media and public officials.
As North Vancouver grew, the Métis people who lived there were displaced. To this day, the Métis community is not represented in archival records or museums in the way that white European settlers or First Nations are described in documents and objects. The First Nations presence in Moodyville Park is unmistakable to visitors and rightfully must be included.
There is great potential to learn more about the hidden histories of Métis in North Vancouver and across the Pacific Northwest. We know they existed before North Vancouver existed and contributed to the founding of this city and region.