Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong

A celebration and in-depth exploration of Canada’s West Coast through an Indigenous and immigrant lens, Reconciling weaves together personal tales and tough histories for guiding steps toward true understanding.

A personal and historical story of identity, place, and belonging from a Musqueam-Chinese Elder caught between cultures

It’s taken most of Larry Grant’s long life for his extraordinary heritage to be appreciated. He was born in a hop field outside Vancouver in 1936, the son of a Musqueam cultural leader and an immigrant from a village in Guangdong, China. In 1940, when the Indian agent discovered that their mother had married a non-status man, Larry and his two siblings were stripped of their status, suddenly labeled ＂bastard children.＂ With one stroke of the pen, they were no longer recognized as Indigenous.

In Reconciling, Larry tells the story of his life, including his thoughts on reconciliation and the path forward for First Nations and Canada. His life echoes the barely known story of Vancouver -- and most cities in the Americas, from Cusco to Mexico City, from New York to Toronto. It combines Indigenous traditions with key events of the last two centuries, including Chinese immigration and the Head Tax, the ravages of residential schools, and now Indigenous revival and the accompanying change in worldview. Each chapter takes the form of a series of conversations between Larry and writer Scott Steedman and is built around one pivotal geographical place and its themes, including the Musqueam reserve, Chinatown, the site of the Mission Residential School, the Vancouver docks, and the University of British Columbia.

When Larry talks about reconciliation, he uses the verb reconciling, an ongoing, unfinished process we’re all going through, Indigenous and settler, immigrant and Canadian-born. ＂I have been reconciling my whole life, with my inner self,＂ he explains. ＂To not belong was forced upon me by the colonial society that surrounded me. But reconciling with myself is part of all that.＂

Larry Grant is the Elder-in-residence at the Justice Institute of BC and the University of British Columbia’s First Nations House of Learning. He holds a President’s Medal from UBC and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Simon Fraser University. He lives with his wife on the Musqueam reserve in Vancouver.

Scott Steedman has worked in publishing for 35 years, including roles with Dorling Kindersley, Larousse, Raincoast, and Douglas & McIntyre. He teaches publishing at Simon Fraser University and is co-author of Art for War and Peace. He lives in Vancouver, BC.