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Victoria’s history and culture is 
etched in its landscape and its 
architecture.
Long before Europeans arrived 
on these shores, the Lək̓ʷəŋən-
speaking (Lekwungen) peoples, 
whose ancestors arrived after 
the glaciers retreated thousands 
of years earlier, nurtured camas 
bulbs and other foodstuffs on 
the site of what is now Beacon 
Hill Park.
The European arrivals mistook 
those meadows for a natural 
clearing they deemed perfect 
for a fur-trading outpost. Thus 
the Hudson Bay Company 
established Fort Victoria in 
1843. It marked the beginning 
of an often difficult relationship, 
to put it gently, between the 
local Indigenous people and the 
settlers and their descendants 
who would transform Victoria 
from a colonial outpost into a 
vibrant 21st century city.
Honoring Lekwungen 
Homelands
The Lekwungen Place Making 
Project is a powerful example of 
what can happen when collaboration 
is grounded in respect, culture, 
and shared purpose. Through the 
leadership of the local First Nations, a 
Lək̓ʷəŋən working group, the Greater 
Victoria Harbour Authority (gvha.ca), 
and Destination Greater Victoria, this 
initiative was created to help locals and 
visitors understand an important truth: 
Victoria sits within the homelands of the 
Lək̓ʷəŋən people.
In February, five new interpretive 
structures were installed along the 
Lower Causeway on Victoria’s Inner 
Harbour. These installations share the 
stories, history, and living presence of 
the xʷsepsəm (Esquimalt) Nation and 
the Songhees Nation, whose members 
are descendants of the Lək̓ʷəŋən-
speaking people.
This work represents more than 
signage — it is an act of reconciliation, 
cultural revitalization, and a visible 
reminder that these lands and waters 
have been stewarded by Lək̓ʷəŋən 
peoples since time immemorial. Known 
to the Indigenous people as Xʷsəyq̓  əm 
(whu-sei-kum), meaning “place of mud,” 
the location was a First Nations village 
Victoria’s Storied Architecture 
Built Upon a Place of Mud
Architect Francis Rattenbury’s masterpiece, the B.C. Parliament Buildings. (Destination Greater Victoria/Off the Eaten Track)
Mifflin Wistar Gibbs was elected to Victoria 
city council shortly after the U.S. Civil War. 
(Wikimedia Commons)

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