User:KShells/sandbox

A few aboriginal groups inhabited the area including Sto:lo, Coast Sailish, Kwantlen, Qayqayt, Tsawwassen, and Musqueam. We chose to focus on one of the closest groups to Hawthorne Park, Qayqayt. The Qayqayt are an aboriginal group that lived very close to the area. Since there are salmon swimming through the streams we assume that they fished for food there. Also there is a plant in the park that is called paper birch. Aboriginals used the plant's park to weave baskets. Sadly there are not very many members left in the Qayqayt tribe. Almost all of the members were wiped out by the small pox epidemic. They went from 400 members to only 12 officials and up to 100 rumored to still be alive. Since there are so little left they lost almost all of their land including the area around Hawthorne Park.