Whey-Ah-Whichen (Cates Park)

Whey-Ah-Whichen/Cates Park
Damien George (Stalaston), 2000

The Tsleil-Waututh Reserve is approximately 100 yards from Cates Park. It's very comforting to me that this park was the summer home to thousands of my ancestors - their bones, blood and spirits are still there. The ancestral name for Cates Park is Whey-Ah-Whichen which means 'faces the wind'. Whey-Ah-Whichen was a food gathering place and there were deer and elk trails there. Like any piece I have ever done, I want it to be easy on the eyes, to make people feel the way I feel when you look at it. None of my art has a squared edge, none of it has a sharp corner or a straight line. Each line has a real slight bend, so its easy on the eyes. It makes people feel peaceful, because I think that's what I feel at Cates Park.

Whey-Ah-Whichen is the Tsleil-Waututh name for this place which defines Indian Arm from Burrard Inlet. The Squamish know it as Atsenách. The point was named after Lieutenant Rocke of HMS Satellite, which patrolled the Northwest Coast in the 1850s.

Cates Park
Cates Park was dedicated in 1950 in memory of Charles H Cates, founder of the Cates Towing Company, and was developed during the following decade.

Dollarton
Early logging in the area supported lumber mills such as Cedarside and the Dollar Mill, a substantial enterprise that gave its name to the settlement of Dollarton.

Malcolm Lowery & Earle Biney
Shacks built along the shoreline in the 1940s and 50s have linked the area to Canada literary heritage as poet Earle Birney and novelist Malcolm Lowery and his wife lived here.

Cates Park Totem Poles
The totem poles and canoe reflect the strong native presence inherent in this site, and the continued popularity of Cates Park as a community gathering place recalls the interwar years when the point was a favourite location for aquatic activities such as canoe races, swimming and diving competitions.