The Great Vancouver Pot Riot
/Half a century before marijuana became legal, the potheads of Vancouver took to the streets demanding their right to smoke. But their peaceful protest descended was met by bloodshed and violence in the notorious Battle of Maple Tree Square.
Mural: Abbott & Cordova, August 7, 1971 by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas
Unfortunately we could only take this short so far due to the incredible cost of licensing photos of the event—the pricetag was $300 per image, all rights now owned by Postmedia. This is a struggle in every episode, but specifically those that focus on more recent Canadian history where absolutely nothing is in the public domain or CC.
In a similar vein, we couldn't reach the copyright holder of footage of the Battle of Maple Tree Square (not even City of Vancouver Archives has record of the rights holder), so we couldn't include this incredible footage. Please check out those links to get a better visual sense of the riot.
This short was shot spur-of-the-moment while we were filming in Vancouver, it's a story we can see ourselves coming back to down the line to cover with a broader brush.