Welcome to the Vancouver Lexicon. Its purpose is to pin down the patois of the City of Vancouver by recording its toponyms, nicknames, slang terms, personalities, places, and other Van-centric things. Full A-Z here.

Land Title Covenant | racism, history | At the beginning of the 20th century, racism was often written into local Land Titles as a way to bar people of colour from buying homes in emerging or expanding Lower Mainland and Victoria neighbourhoods. These so-called ‘covenants’ were seen as legitimate until 1978, when they were finally deemed unenforceable under a new BC law.

“No person of the African or Asiatic race or African of Asiatic descent (except servants of the occupier of the premises in residence) shall reside or be allowed to remain on the premises.” – Land Title Covenant, British Properties.

This was also true across the border in neighbouring Washington state, where many thousands of properties were subject to racist covenants (upheld and validated by the US Supreme Court in 1926) that were not made legally moot until 1968.

Usage: “So this racist lady on the bus starting ranting about Land Title Covenants, asking a young Asian couple if they were servants…”