A deal between the federal government and the Musqueam First Nation is still attracting attention and confusion, days after the announcement.<\/p>\n
Nearly two weeks ago, the federal government signed off on three new agreements with the Musqueam Nation, recognizing its stewardship of marine management, fisheries management and a recognition of its Aboriginal rights, including title within the nation\u2019s traditional territory.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an agreement aimed at reconciliation and the recognition of rights.<\/p>\n
Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow says co-management, self-government, and clear definitions are all components of what has been negotiated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a treaty here in Vancouver in Musqueam, and it\u2019s recognizing our rights, and we\u2019re trying to negotiate what those rights mean,\u201d Sparrow told CityNews.<\/p>\n
But exact details of the deal have remained unclear \u2014 even to the provincial government.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Premier David Eby said he hasn\u2019t been briefed on the agreement\u2019s contents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look forward to learning more about what the federal government has been doing here. It\u2019s important work, I\u2019m sure, with Musqueam,\u201d said Eby.<\/p>\n
That said, the agreement became a topic of interest among Eby\u2019s opposition in Question Period. The BC Conservatives pushed the BC NDP on the language of the agreement and what it could mean for landowners in the province.<\/p>\n
Scott McInnis, MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke and Critic for Indigenous Relations, incredulously asked, \u201cThis is one of the most prominent Indian bands in British Columbia, whose traditional territory, yes, includes Metro Vancouver, and this government had no idea this agreement was being signed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Spencer Chandra Herbert says the province was not included.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not sit at a negotiation table,\u201d said Chandra Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have not seen the agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anita Boscariol, a lawyer at Vancouver firm Watson Goepel, says the agreements\u2019 claims on land use shouldn\u2019t be cause for concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis agreement recognizes that Musqueam has Aboriginal rights, including title, within their traditional territory,\u201d Boscariol explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does not say they have Aboriginal title over the entire claimed territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says the agreements are in keeping with Section 35 of Canada\u2019s Constitution Act, which simply says \u201cthe existing Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boscariol says no First Nation has asked for title over private property or claimed it in any case so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s understandable that people might be a little nervous, but really, at the end of the day, there\u2019s really no reason to be at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crown-Indigenous Relations Canada has confirmed Boscariol\u2019s sentiment in a statement with CityNews.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Musqueam Agreements do not affect privately owned land. The Incremental Recognition Agreement provides general recognition that Musqueam has Aboriginal rights and title within their territory,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Sparrow says the nation is not going after third-party land.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have concerns over some of the third-party land, but that\u2019s the colonial system, is that we have to negotiate with the Crown, and the federal and provincial governments are the Crown.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A deal between the federal government and the Musqueam First Nation is still attracting attention and confusion, days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-512169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}