The Lekwungen Coast Salish moccasin represents Lekwungen Peoples and the broader Coast Salish presence on southern Vancouver Island, including the lands and waters around what is now Victoria, British Columbia. In the Moccasin Identifier collection, this moccasin is connected to the Vancouver Island Treaties of 1850–1854, also known as the Douglas Treaties or Fort Victoria Treaties.
This moccasin reflects coastal design knowledge shaped by land, shoreline, movement, and changing materials. It is described as a one-piece, ankle-height moccasin made from tanned deer hide leather, with a sewn side seam and a back heel seam. Northwest Coast footwear includes examples of both hard- and soft-soled moccasins, adapted to coastal terrain. Woven cedar fibres also provided traditional foot protection for West Coast Peoples, showing the many ways footwear responded to place and environment.
Northwest Coast footwear includes examples of both hard- and soft-soled moccasins, adapted to coastal terrain, movement, and environment. Woven cedar fibres also provided traditional foot protection for West Coast Peoples, showing the many ways footwear responded to place and available materials. Over time, animal hide, beads, and other trade materials influenced moccasin styles and design elements, while Coast Salish footwear traditions continued to reflect identity, land, and relationship.
This moccasin also teaches about the complex history of the Vancouver Island Treaties. Between 1850 and 1854, James Douglas, acting for the Hudson’s Bay Company and the British Crown, entered into fourteen agreements with First Nations on Vancouver Island. The Treaty Summary explains that these agreements were made as Britain and the Hudson’s Bay Company sought to secure land for settlement, farming, mining, and colonial expansion. First Nations already lived on, governed, and relied on these lands for survival, culture, and identity long before colonial officials arrived.
Many First Nations leaders entered these negotiations understanding that they were agreeing to share land or allow newcomers limited use, not permanently surrender ownership as defined by European law. The treaties were written in English, using legal concepts unfamiliar to many First Nations signatories, and were often poorly explained. Although the treaties promised continued rights to hunt and fish “as formerly” and protection of village and cultivated lands, these promises were often ignored or restricted as settler populations grew.
The Douglas Treaties covered only a small portion of what is now British Columbia, but they continue to carry legal and cultural significance today. They remain central to ongoing conversations about land recognition, treaty rights, hunting, fishing, self-determination, and reconciliation. For the Lekwungen Coast Salish Peoples, these histories are not distant or abstract. They are connected to living relationships with land, water, community, and responsibility.
For visitors today, this moccasin reminds us that Lekwungen Coast Salish presence in Victoria is ancient and ongoing. Through its deer hide, Pacific Dogwood floral beadwork, folded cuff, coastal construction, and place-based design, the Salish moccasin reflects adaptation, resilience, and cultural continuity. In the context of the Moccasin Identifier, it invites learners to understand the Vancouver Island/Douglas Treaties not only as historical agreements, but as living responsibilities connected to land, water, respectful relationship, and the importance of honouring promises.
This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet a été rendu possible en partie grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
