Check out the ironies in these photographs that I just took of that swan in the Lost Lagoon [1,2,3,4]. Ok, so like I mention below that 1st photo, that place is actually called, or was called, Ch’elxwa7elch. The land has a 3000 year history with the indigenous people here. And “The lake was created in 1916 by the construction of the Stanley Park causeway; until then, Lost Lagoon was a shallow part of Coal Harbour…” The swan you see is a Mute Swan and it isn’t indigenous to Canada. In North America it’s now considered an invasive species because of the rate at which its population increases and its effect on other waterfowl and the ecosystem in general. So they legally have to clip their wings. So these swans can’t fly anymore. So what we have here is a swan with clipped wings who can’t fly on an artificial lake on stolen land with a fountain on top.

It’s beautiful but it is truly fucked up. I swear we can do better than this.