Places Acknowledged: Placemaking in Burnaby’s Town Centres

By Tara Flynn

Home can be where you build community – let’s start with acknowledging where we are. 

The City of Burnaby recognizes that we are on the ancestral and unceded homelands of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples and are grateful to be on this territory – and Simon Fraser University respectfully acknowledges the unceded traditional territories of the Coast Salish peoples, including the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations, on which SFU Burnaby is located.

This year, to highlight the theme of “place,” we took some time to focus events around each of the four Town Centres in Burnaby. Use this year’s Festival as a reason to check out a corner of the city that might be new to you!

Burnaby’s 4 City Centres

The Burnaby Festival of Learning was inspired by a learning festival in Cork Ireland. Burnaby, however, has a remarkably different demographic and geography than Ireland. So I sat with the question: How can a community-engaged university, like SFU, honour Ireland’s model and create a celebration of lifelong learning, Burnaby style? 

Because of its richness, expansiveness, and diversity, we turned to the Burnaby community, posing the question: what do you want to teach or learn about in your city?

You came forward in a big way, and the flavour of each Burnaby city centre shines through (especially in the Edmonds region!). 

Stay tuned! Next week I will share some of the amazing events open for registration! 

Burnaby is a place saturated with stories. Stories of so many people—newcomers, immigrants, students, refugees, First Peoples, settlers—finding, stewarding, or defending their place in this evolving, vital, and dynamic city. Join us as we explore stories of place at this year’s Connect Fest, April 26-30th, 2024! We have so much to learn from each other.