Stanley Park is one of the main attractions in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with around eight million visitors every year. It covers about a thousand acres of a promontory on the north side of the city, looking across Vancouver Harbour to North Vancouver. The park was opened in 1888 and named in honour of the then Governor-General of Canada, Lord Stanley of Preston. The collection of totem poles at Brockton Point, to the south-east of Stanley Park, is one of the most popular features of the park.
When the park was first created, the promontory’s natural woodland was used by a number of First Nation people, including the Musqueams. A plan was drawn up in the early 20th century, by the Art, Historical and Scientific Association, to create an “Indian village” as a tourist attraction, but fortunately this voyeuristic proposal was soon dropped. However, the plan included moving several totem poles to the park from other places in Canada.