A new edition brings a new perspective to E. Pauline Johnson’s 1911 classic
Gwen Pemberton (she/her) // Arts & Culture Editor
Andy Poystila (he/him) // Production Manager
This year a new edition of E. Pauline Johnson’s classic book, Legends of Vancouver, was published, but this edition stands out from the many others which have been produced in the over 100 years that the book has been in circulation. For the first time, the book will be published under Johnson’s intended title, Legends of the Capilano.
In a letter following the book’s original 1911 publication, Johnson’s sister Evelyn wrote, “the name ‘Legends of Vancouver’ was given the book by the Trustees of the Fund in the hope that it would prove a better seller. My sister was greatly disappointed, as she had called it ‘Legends of the Capilano.’”
For the first time, this new edition acknowledges the contributions of Mary Agnes Capilano (Lixwelut), alongside those of Chief Joe Capilano (Sahp-luk) of the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation.
It includes five new stories narrated entirely, or in part, by Mary Agnes — these include a re-telling of the Legend of the Two Sisters, and the additions of the Legend of the Squamish Twins, Legend of the Seven Swans, Legend of Lillooet Falls and Legend of the Ice Babies.
Editor Alix Shield, a settler scholar of English and Scottish descent, has produced this edition in collaboration with the Mathias family, the great-grandchildren of Chief Joe Capilano and Mary Capilano. Shield first met the Mathias family in 2017 at the “Drum is Calling Festival” in Vancouver. In a new foreword to the book the Mathias family says, “many of the stories featured in the book had been passed down in the family for generations in the traditional oral manner. We are very excited to be a part of this new addition and to have our stories included here.”
Shield, originally from Vancouver, came to the project having encountered Legends in her post-secondary studies in Halifax, where she found the stories of familiar places a welcoming reminder of home. During her PhD at SFU Shields became interested in the legacy of marginalization in the Canadian publishing industry, both of female Indigenous authors, and the stories of Chief Joe and Mary Agnes Capilano themselves.
“I looked for ways that my research could contribute to the TRC’s Calls to Action, and to what Métis authour Maria Campbell calls kwaskastahsowin or conciliation (‘putting things right’).”
The stories in Legends were told to E. Pauline Johnson in a mix of Chinook trading language and English, in the oral tradition, by her friends Joe and Mary Agnes Capilano after she moved to the Pacific West Coast following her retirement in 1909.
Johnson originally met Chief Joe in London in 1906, when he met with King Edward VII to protest restrictions on Indigenous land and fishing rights in Canada. In her foreword to the original 1911 edition she writes, “to the fact that I was able to greet Chief Capilano in the Chinook tongue, while we were both many thousands of miles away from home, I owe the friendship and the confidence which he so freely gave me when I came to reside on the Pacific Coast.”
Later in her life, Johnson was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her friends and family formed The Pauline Johnson Trust and took a collection of the stories, which had previously been published in various places — including The Daily Province in Vancouver — and compiled them into what would become the original Legends of Vancouver. Profits from the book were then used to pay for Johnson’s care, until the end of her life in 1913. She is buried in Stanley Park.
Until now, the contributions of Joe and Mary Capilano to Legends of the Capilano have never been acknowledged on the cover of the book, and only in 2013 was biographical information about Joe Capilano included. Only stories that had appeared previously in The Daily Province were selected to be a part of the original collection, which did not include any of the stories shared by Mary Capilano.
At the book launch, held by the Massy Arts Society, Massy Books and Manitoba University Press on May 9, 2023, Shield spoke of the importance of including Mary Agnes’ story in this new edition. “You learn about who [she] was as a storyteller, as a narrator. All of that is missing if we don’t get to read the story from her perspective.”
After opening remarks from the Mathias Family, Shield presented each member of the family with a copy of the book and a bundle of tobacco, in recognition of, “all of the hard work that we have put into this book… honouring the relationships that we have made along this journey … with hopes that this book will bring people together in conversation and in relationship.”
Shield’s edition acknowledges Joe and Mary Capilano on the cover, and includes biographical information on both of them, as well as E. Pauline Johnson. Also included are various photos and archives, as well as insights from the Mathias family, who this edition was created in collaboration with. It also includes interviews by two Indigenous experts, literary scholar Rick Monture (Mohawk) and archaeologist Rudy Reimer (Skwxwú7mesh), in which they reflect on the impact of Johnson’s book, the Capilanos and their stories.
All royalties from the book will be donated to the Chief Joe Mathias BC Aboriginal Scholarship Fund, named after the late Chief Joe Mathias.
