ACWW and Chinatown Wonders presented the launch of Larry Grant’s personal and historical story of identity, place, and belonging, as told by 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 labelled “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. When Larry talks about reconciliation, he uses the verb' reconciling,' an ongoing, unfinished process we’re all going through, whether 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.”

This event took place on September 14, 2025, at the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum (555 Columbia Street, Vancouver). You can watch the full video here.