View source for Musqueam First Nation

{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name               = Musqueam Nation
| official_name      = Musqueam Indian Band
| native_name        = šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ
| native_name_lang   = hur
| other_name         = 
| settlement_type    = [[First Nations in Canada|First Nation]]
| image_flag         = Flag of the Musqueam First Nation.svg
| flag_link          = #Flag
| image_seal         = Musqueam Indian Band seal.png
| seal_size          = 75px
| image_map          = {{Switcher|[[File:Musqueam.png|upright=1.2|frameless]]|Show map of the [[British Columbia Coast#Major subregions|South Coast]]|[[File:CAN BC Musqueam Nation locator.svg|upright=1.2|frameless]]|Show map of British Columbia|default=1}}
| map_caption        = Traditional territory of the Musqueam Nation, as defined by the 1976 Musqueam Declaration
| pushpin_map        = Canada British Columbia
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in British Columbia
| coordinates_region = 
| subdivision_type   = Country
| subdivision_name   = [[Canada]]
| subdivision_type1  = Province
| subdivision_name1  = [[British Columbia]]
| subdivision_type2  = 
| subdivision_name2  = 
| established_title  = 
| established_date   = 
| government_type    = [[Band government|Band council]]
| government_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web|title=Chief & Council|publisher=Musqueam Nation|url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/governance/chief-council/}}</ref>
| leader_title1      = Chief
| leader_name1       = Wayne Sparrow
| leader_title2      = Councillors
| leader_name2       = {{Collapsible list
| title              = {{nobold|Full list (10):}}
| title_style        =
| frame_style        = border:none; padding:0
| list_style         = text-align:left; display:none
| 1 = Morgan Guerin
| 2 = Megan Harkey-Mentzos
| 3 = Allyson Fraser
| 4 = Gordon Grant
| 5 = Angela Point
| 6 = Kim Guerin
| 7 = Jordan Point
| 8 = Michele Point
| 9 = Alec Guerin
| 10 = Richard Sparrow
}}
| unit_pref          = metric
| area_blank1_km2    = 1448.88
| area_blank1_title  = Traditional territory
| area_blank2_title  = Reserve land
| area_blank2_km2    = 2.73
| elevation_footnotes = 
| elevation_m        = 
| population_footnotes = <ref>{{cite web |title=Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population – Musqueam 2 & Musqueam 4, Indian reserve (IRI) [Census subdivision], British Columbia |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Musqueam&DGUIDlist=2021A00055915803,2021A00055915810&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 |website=Statistics Canada |publisher=Government of Canada |date=February 9, 2022}}</ref>
| population_total   = 1,656
| population_as_of   = 2021
| population_density_km2 = 
| timezone           = [[Pacific Time Zone|PST]]
| utc_offset         = -8
| timezone_DST       = PDT
| utc_offset_DST     = -7
| postal_code_type   = Postal code span
| postal_code        = [[List of postal codes of Canada: V|V6N]] (Musqueam 2), V4K{{nbsp}}3N2 (Musqueam 4)
| area_code          = [[Area code 604|604]], [[Area codes 778, 236, and 672|778, 236, 672]]
| blank_name         = [[Ethnic group]]
| blank_info         = [[Coast Salish]]
| blank1_name        = Languages
| blank1_info        = {{csl|[[Hunquminum]]|[[English language|English]]}}
| blank2_name        = [[Indian reserve|Reserves]]
| blank2_info        = {{csl|Musqueam 2 (main)|Musqueam 4|Sea Island 3}}
| website            = {{URL|http://www.musqueam.bc.ca/}}
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|[[Halkomelem|hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓]]|šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ}}

The '''Musqueam Nation''' ([[Hunquminum]]: {{lang|hur|šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ|italics=no}}) is a [[First Nations in Canada|First Nation]] whose traditional territory encompasses the western half of what is now [[Greater Vancouver]], in [[British Columbia]], Canada. It is governed by a [[band council]] and is known officially as the '''Musqueam Indian Band''' under the ''[[Indian Act]]''. "Musqueam" ({{IPAc-en|audio=Musqueam English pronunciation.mp3|ˈ|m|ʌ|s|k|w|i|ə|m}} {{Respell|MUS|kwee|əm}}) is an [[Anglicisation of names|anglicization]] of the Hunquminum name {{lang|hur|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|italics=no}}, which means "place of the [[Scolochloa|river grass]]" or "place where the river grass grows" ({{lang|hur|məθkʷəy̓|italics=no}} being the Hunquminum name of the plant).

== Etymology ==
{{further|Muthkwey}}

"Musqueam" is derived from the Hunquminum name {{lang|hur|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|italics=no}}, which is itself a derivative of {{lang|hur|məθkʷəy̓|italics=no}}, the Hunquminum name for river grass. River grass was historically abundant in Musqueam territory; {{lang|hur|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|italics=no}} accordingly means "place of the river grass" or "place where the river grass grows".<ref name="Musqueam's Story">{{cite web |title=Musqueam's Story |url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/our-story/ |website=xʷməθkʷəy̓əm{{snd}}Musqueam: A Living Culture |publisher=Musqueam Nation}}</ref>

The oral history of the Musqueam people speaks to the plant's cultural significance. The Musqueam origin story tells of an enormous double-headed serpent ({{lang|hur|sʔi:ɬqəy̓|italics=no}}) which lived in Camosun Bog ({{lang|hur|xʷməm̓qʷe:m|italics=no}}). The serpent was so massive that its winding path created the [[Fraser River]] ({{lang|hur|stal̕əw̓|italics=no}}). All living things that crossed the serpent's path were said to have died, and from the serpent's droppings bloomed new life{{snd}}river grass{{snd}}which grew abundantly around the serpent's home. The people of the area therefore named the land {{lang|hur|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|italics=no}}.<ref name="Musqueam's Story"/>

== History ==
[[File:Xwmetskwiyam Image 001.png|thumb|upright|left|Musqueam people with their chief and a Coast Salish house post in the background]]

The Musqueam people have lived in the [[Point Grey]] area of Vancouver, around the mouth of the [[Fraser River]], for at least 4,000 years.<ref name="Klashinsky 2018">{{cite news |last=Klashinsky |first=Dena |title=Portion of c̓əsnaʔəm village and burial site returned to Musqueam |url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/portion-of-c%CC%93%C9%99sna%CA%94%C9%99m-village-and-burial-site-returned-to-musqueam-indian-band |access-date=February 15, 2024 |work=Musqueam Nation |date=October 17, 2018}}</ref> Archaeological evidence taken from the [[Marpole Midden]] (or Great Fraser Midden) attest to the Musqueam people's thousands-year-old history in the area.<ref name="Roy 2010, p. 16">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Susan |title=These Mysterious People: Shaping History and Archaeology in a Northwest Coast Community |date=October 20, 2010 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-7735-9106-6 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/These_Mysterious_People.html?id=e8LOWmjQFJgC |language=en}}</ref> The Marpole Midden was the location of {{lang|hur|c̓əsnaʔəm|italics=no}}, the largest village in Musqueam some 2,500 years ago.<ref name="Klashinsky 2018"/><ref>{{cite web|title=c̓əsnaʔəm, the city before the city|url=https://museumofvancouver.ca/csnam-the-city-before-the-city/|publisher=Museum of Vancouver|access-date=February 9, 2024}}</ref> The changing river delta prompted its inhabitants to move to the present site of the Musqueam 2 reserve starting approximately 1,500 years ago.<ref name="Klashinsky 2018"/> Musqueam 2 has a residential area called "Musqueam Village"; the reserve formerly had a second residential area, the village of Ma Li ({{lang|hur|maləy̓|italics=no}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=Musqueam Village (IR2) Plan – Community Update, December 2022 |url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Community-Newsletter-Dec-2022-FINAL.pdf |publisher=Musqueam Nation |page=5 |date=December 2022}}</ref>

The Marpole Midden is also the location of a sacred Musqueam burial ground which was desecrated by archeologists in the late 19th and early 20th century.{{sfn|Roy|2010|pp=18, 22}} Harlan Ingersoll Smith, an archaeologist from the [[American Museum of Natural History]] participating in the [[Jesup North Pacific Expedition]] from 1897 to 1900, unilaterally excavated from the midden the skeletal remains of as many as 75 Musqueam ancestors, taking them with him back to New York City to be unceremoniously displayed and researched.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Harlan Ingersoll |title=Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition |journal=Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History |date=1903 |volume=4 |issue=4 |page=187}}</ref><ref name="Musqueam Timeline">{{cite web |title=Historic Timeline of Musqueam |url=https://www2.moa.ubc.ca/musqueamteachingkit/history.php |website=Musqueam Teaching Resources |publisher=Musqueam Nation and the Museum of Anthropology at UBC}}</ref> The belongings of those buried at the site, including tools, jewelry, carved artworks and ceremonial objects, were also excavated and taken without consultation of or permission from the Musqueam people. The midden consisted mostly of layers of [[Biofact (archaeology)|biofacts]] such as shells and non-human animal bones, which were not taken.{{sfn|Roy|2010|p=18}}

In 1913, the Canadian federal government and BC provincial government jointly established the [[McKenna–McBride Royal Commission]] (officially the "Royal Commission on Indian Affairs") to finalize the boundaries of [[Indian reserve|reserve lands]]. The Musqueam people gave testimonies to federal and provincial commissioners in which they reasserted their rights to live, fish, and hunt on their traditional, unceded territories.<ref name="Musqueam Timeline"/> In his testimony, Musqueam chief Johnny ({{lang|hur|χʷəyχʷayələq|italics=no}}) contrasted the Musqueam people's traditional ways of fishing and hunting with those of recently arrived settlers:<ref>{{cite web |title=Increasing First Nations' Participation in BC's Forest Industry: Presentation by Grand Chief Edward John |url=https://fns.bc.ca/our-resources/increasing-first-nations-participation-in-bcs-forest-industry-presentation-by-grand-chief-edward-john |date=June 7, 2004 |website=First Nations Summit}}</ref>

{{Cquote| quote = I have a few words to say yet. It is indeed true what the Chairman said, the Indian's custom of taking fish was only by the means of a small net, and they only caught very few, so as not to destroy the fish with a net only 3 feet wide. This is the reason I say that I did not destroy the fish. It is the Whiteman that brought the long nets and catches all kinds of fish. That is the reason the fish are all going away. Whenever we go out and hunt for the deer, if we get one we bring it down and use all the meat{{snd}}we do not waste any of it, only the guts and the tripe is left behind. The Whiteman goes out hunting for the deer, sometime they shoot a buck and just take the horns or maybe just take the skin off and leave the meat there. It is a living for the Indians, it is a pleasure for the whites, and about the ducks it is the same way. When the Whitemen go out, they shoot all descriptions of ducks and leave them floating in the sea, but when the Indians go out shooting, they know when they have enough but the Whiteman never knows, and about the fish it is the same way. The Whitemen use a long net, and whenever they get so much fish that they cannot sell them, they throw them overboard{{snd}}but the Indians do not do that whenever we get or catch fish, we know when to stop and we eat or sell all we catch. These are the grievances I bring before you commissioners, and I say that the food of the Indians is being seized and destroyed.}}

He also reasserted the Musqueam people's right to fish along the Fraser River, saying:<ref name="Musqueam Timeline"/>

{{Cquote| quote = When I want to go fishing, the two parties are also holding on to each end of my boat{{snd}}there are initials and numbers on the bow and initials and numbers on the stern, and I know that I own the water{{nbsp}}... When I want to catch fish for my living I do not want to be interfered with at all.}}

== Territory ==

=== Musqueam Declaration ===
On June 10, 1976, the Musqueam people collectively made the Musqueam Declaration, which was ratified by then Musqueam chief, Delbert Guerin, and the five members of the Musqueam band council.<ref>{{cite web|title=Musqueam Declaration|url=https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/musqueam_declaration.pdf|date=June 10, 1976|access-date=August 18, 2023}}</ref> The Musqueam Declaration described the traditional territory of the Musqueam people as follows:

{{Cquote|The lands, lakes and streams defined and included by a line commencing at Harvey Creek in Howe Sound and proceeding Eastward to the height of land and continuing on the height of land around the entire watershed draining into English Bay, Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm; South along the height of land between Coquitlam River and Brunette River to the Fraser River, across to the South or left bank of the Fraser River and proceeding downstream taking in the left Bank of the main stream and the South Arm to the sea, including all those intervening lands, islands and waters back along the sea shore to Harvey Creek, AND, the sea, its reefs, flats, tidal lands and islands adjacent to the above described land and out to the centre of Georgia Strait.}}

=== Reserves ===
{{GeoGroup}}
The [[Indian reserve|reserves]] under the administration of the band are:<ref>[https://fnp-ppn.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/FNP/Main/Search/FNReserves.aspx?BAND_NUMBER=550&lang=eng Indian and Northern Affairs Canada – Reserves/Villages/Settlements detail]</ref>

* Musqueam 2 ({{lang|hur|xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|italics=no}}), at the mouth of the Fraser River to the north of [[Sea Island (British Columbia)|Sea Island]], 470 acres (190.40 ha).<ref>{{BCGNIS|64421|Musqueam 2}}</ref> {{small|1={{coord|49|14|00|N|123|13|00|W|name=Musqueam Indian Reserve 2}}}}
* Musqueam 4, to the east of Canoe Passage near [[Westham Island]], 142 acres (57.30 ha).<ref>{{BCGNIS|64422|Musqueam 4}}</ref> {{small|1={{coord|49|04|00|N|123|07|30|W|name=Musqueam Indian Reserve 4}}}}
* Sea Island 3 ({{lang|hur|sqʷsaθən|italics=no}}), on the northwest corner of Sea Island, 16 acres (6.50 ha).<ref>{{BCGNIS|64417|Sea Island 3}}</ref> {{small|1={{coord|49|12|35|N|123|12|00|W|name=Sea Island Indian Reserve 3}}}}

== Language ==
The Musqueam people speak Hunquminum ({{lang|hur|hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓|italics=no}}), the downriver dialect of the [[Salishan languages|Salishan]] language [[Halkomelem]]. The Musqueam people are closely related to neighbouring peoples of the lower Fraser River. The nearby [[Kwantlen First Nation|Kwantlen]] and [[Katzie First Nation]]s just upriver share the same dialect, while the upriver [[Stó꞉lō|Sto:lo people]] speak another dialect, Halkomelem ({{lang|hur|Halq'əméyləm|italics=no}}) or the upriver dialect. The Cowichan, Chemainus, Snuneymuxw and neighbouring [[Coast Salish peoples]] of [[Vancouver Island]] and the parts of the [[Gulf Islands]] of the southern [[Georgia Strait|Gulf of Georgia]] speak a third dialect, Hulquminum ({{lang|hur|Hul'qumi'num{{'}}|italics=no}}), often called the straits or island dialect. It is not to be confused with [[North Straits Salish]], which is a group of related dialects to the south.<ref>{{citation|url=http://maps.fphlcc.ca/musqueam|series= Aboriginal Languages Initiative (ALI)|title=xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam)|work=First Peoples Language Map|publisher=First Peoples' Heritage Language and Culture Council (FPHLCC)|year=2011–2012|access-date=December 4, 2013}}</ref>

In early 2018, the [[University of British Columbia]] (UBC) installed 54 Hunquminum-language street signs at its main campus, located in the Point Grey area. UBC's satellite campus in Okanagan had already put up signs in Nsyilxcen, the language of the Okanagan Nation.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Seal |first1=Andrew |title=UBC adds Musqueam language to street signs on campus |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/education/article-ubc-adds-musqueam-language-to-street-signs-on-campus/ |access-date=February 25, 2019 |work=The Globe and Mail |date=April 4, 2018}}</ref>

== Flag ==
[[File:Musqueam flag raising ceremony (cropped).jpg|thumb|Musqueam students Grace Point (left) and Brett Sparrow (right) raise the Musqueam flag at UBC's Point Grey campus, February 25, 2019.]]

The Musqueam flag was designed by Musqueam artist [[Susan Point]], who also helped design the [[flag of Nunavut]].<ref name="RaisingUBC">{{cite web |title=Raising the Musqueam Flag: Acknowledging the past, recognizing our future responsibilities |url=https://president.ubc.ca/blog/2019/02/19/musqueam-flag-raising/ |publisher=University of British Columbia |accessdate=April 9, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Bramham |first1=Daphne |title=Daphne Bramham: By reflecting the past, Susan Point's public art defines the urban landscape |url=https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/daphne-bramham-by-reflecting-the-past-susan-points-public-art-defines-the-urban-landscape/ |accessdate=April 9, 2020 |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=March 17, 2019}}</ref> The design of the flag is a white [[Canadian pale]] on a teal field, with an arrowhead in the centre depicting a [[salmon]] leaping above a net.

The flag was permanently raised at UBC's Point Grey campus during a public ceremony on February 25, 2019. The act was meant to symbolize the university's commitment to furthering their partnership with the Musqueam people, as the Vancouver campus is located on unceded Musqueam territory. Musqueam students Grace Point and Brett Sparrow were invited to raise the flag. Musqueam chief Wayne Sparrow and then UBC president [[Santa Ono]] were in attendance.<ref name="RaisingUBC"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Musqueam flag raised at UBC |url=https://salishseasentinel.ca/2019/04/musqueam-flag-raised-at-ubc/ |accessdate=April 9, 2020 |work=Salish Sea Sentinel}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}} of the Musqueam Nation
* [https://www.bcafn.ca/first-nations-bc/lower-mainland-southwest/musqueam-nation Musqueam Nation at British Columbia Assembly of First Nations]
* [https://vancouver.ca/people-programs/musqueam-territory.aspx xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory] by the [[City of Vancouver]]
* [https://guides.library.ubc.ca/Musqueam xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam)] guide by the [[University of British Columbia Library]]
* [https://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/u_fabric/pre1890.html History of the University of British Columbia (pre 1890)]

{{Coast Salish}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Coast Salish governments]]
[[Category:First Nations governments in the Lower Mainland]]
[[Category:Sea Island (British Columbia)]]