A New Westminster native is committed to ensuring that the First Nations contributions aren’t forgotten during Canada’s 150th anniversary year.
David Lyle is serving as the 2017 artistic director for the Hyack Festival Association, with the goal of executing its theme for the year: First Nations. First Cities: Telling Our Story. Together.
The stories of the First Nations are important to Lyle, who was adopted in infancy by a New Westminster couple.
Lyle’s adoptive father, Walter, fought with the Royal Westminster Regiment in Europe in the Second World War and is one of the men depicted on the Wait for Me Daddy monument in Hyack Square. While serving abroad, Walter met his wife, Emily, and returned to the Royal City, where they adopted an infant son.
“I was part of the Sixties Scoop,” explains Lyle. “It’s basically when native children were taken from their parents, or adopted out.”
Through the years, Lyle has made a couple of attempts at investigating his history and trying to find his biological family, with no success. One of his earliest memories was attending Indian Days in New Westminster in 1967, when he was just two years old.
“I recall it was a big deal because I had my first Mohawk haircut,” Lyle laughs. “You can see it in the picture.”
David Brett, president of the Hyack Festival Association, was searching the library’s archives when he found that photo of David in a newspaper clipping and tracked him down.
Lyle has fond memories of growing up in New Westminster, where he enjoyed many of the city’s longstanding traditions such as dancing the maypole dances at May Day, playing lacrosse and watching the Hyack Parade. He’s looking forward to bringing a First Nations perspective to the Hyack Festival Association’s events in 2017, which is Canada’s 150th anniversary.
“The native son returns,” says Lyle, who moved to Vancouver a decade ago.
Lyle recognizes there’s a backlash in some native communities about celebrations surrounding Canada’s 150th anniversary.
“It is extremely important to me that I get this right,” he says. “Within the native community, there is a lot of talk about: Should we be celebrating this?”
Working with some artists, Lyle has developed a logo that will be featured on Hyack’s 2017 pin and float.
“We are adding a plus to the 150,” he says. “That’s saying, ‘Hey, there was a long history before the 150 years.’”
Having lived in Vancouver for the past decade, Lyle is excited to return to his old stomping grounds and help Hyack implement its theme. He’s grateful to Qayqayt First Nation Chief Rhonda Larrabee and her daughter Stacey for their assistance and the work Larrabee has done through the years to increase awareness about First Nations in New West.
After graduating from New Westminster Secondary School in 1982, Lyle performed in bands, which segued into parts in TV and films. He’s been proud that some of those roles, including Arctic Air, have allowed him to represent the First Nations community in a positive way.
“I think our community is really needing that,” he says. “I have been teaching up at the reserve, the Musqueam, teaching them some voiceover and narration. They are telling their own stories.”
Lyle is also the host and narrator of the upcoming 13-episode Aboriginal People’s Television Network series Nations at War, which tells the history of Canada from the aboriginal of view. Lyle’s work in film and TV has influenced his plans for the Hyack float, which he’s treating like a rolling stage.
Along with acting, teaching acting and working in production in the film industry, Lyle is also part of the Artists Rendering Tales Collective Inc., a group that puts on historical re-enactments. It’s anticipated the group will highlight New Westminster’s First Nations through historical re-enactments at Hyack Festival events like the Qayqayt Howl salmon barbecue.
“Hyack, at the end of the day, it’s a festival, it’s a parade, it’s a party. It’s a promotion of New Westminster and a promotion of Hyack,” Lyle says. “That’s the main focus I want to do – bring everyone together.”
