Musqueam
The Musqueam or Musqueam Indian Band are one of the Canadian First Nations in southwest British Columbia . You live in the Metro Vancouver area . Its traditional territory includes the grounds of the University of Vancouver, the University of British Columbia .
The name Musqueam is derived from a river grass called m-uh-th-kwi . They belong to the coastal Salish and speak H-un-q-uh-mi-n-uhm or Hunquminum . 1,232 people were recognized as members of the tribe in January 2010.
history
Early history
.jpg)
The traditional area includes what is now Vancouver and its environs, including North Vancouver and Richmond . It reached in the north to Crown Mountain and in the south to the southern estuary of the Fraser River . Villages existed on Jericho Beach, in what would later become Stanley Park and on False Creek. Their neighbors were the Coquitlam , Squamish , Tsleil-Waututh and Tsawwassen .
The Musqueam are also traced back to C'simlenexw and his tribe, which originally belonged to the five tribes of the katzie.
Simon Fraser, July 2-3, 1808
On May 28, 1808, a group of 24, led by Simon Fraser, left Fort George in four canoes . Fraser notified the tribes further downstream to inform them of their imminent arrival and good intentions. But not far from what is now Vancouver, on Saturday, July 2nd, he came across the Musqueam who chased the group, as did the neighboring tribe of the Kwantlen , who later drove them to Hope .
Fraser traveled the Strait of Georgia for a short time , but then visited the place "Misquiame" (Musqueam) on July 2nd. But in the village, which Fraser describes as 1,500 by 90 feet , and whose long houses, with few exceptions, were lined up in rows, were only old men and women. After one of them showed them around a house, he advised them to leave the place soon, otherwise they would be attacked. After an hour they found their canoes in the ebb mud and tried to pull them into the open water. The "Masquiamme" warriors tried to take advantage of this situation and approached in their canoes to the howls of wolves and drums. However, the 24 men were able to reach the open water and rowed to a second village, the location of which is unknown. However, they failed to visit the village and turned back. At the height of the first village they met the enemy canoes again, while on the bank the Indians were calling for war. It was only when Fraser's men pointed their guns at them that they broke off the chase.
The tribes on the upper reaches had also changed their attitude in the meantime - Fraser was forced to cheat the chief out of his canoe, whereupon the 700 warriors prepared to use force - and the return journey was more like an escape, which they took on August 6, 1808 Fort George finished. There were repeated attempts to steal parts of the equipment, to intimidate the Europeans with belligerent behavior, and then to negotiations about the sale of the canoe. Apparently even warriors were smuggled in after the Indians realized that some friendly Indians traveled with the whites and were received just as kindly.
A memorial has stood on the western border of the Musqueam Reserve since 1931, commemorating Fraser's journey.
Shift in the balance of power among the First Nations
The European traders who visited the Pacific coast before Fraser came first because of the otter pelts , which they could sell on in China with enormous profit margins. They supplied metals and other goods, as well as weapons. The yields and muskets changed the balance of power between the tribes dramatically. The fur traders , who soon switched to beavers after the otter population had completely collapsed, initially delivered their weapons to the Indians who lived in areas rich in fur animals. The most powerful among them quickly formed a kind of monopoly. The weapons, which spread through potlatches and robbery, gathered around them . The coastal Salish, who, in contrast to the Kwakwaka'wakw and the Nuu-chah-nulth, benefited little from the fur trade and suffered early from the epidemics, sought their salvation in alliances. The Snuneymuxw (English: Nanaimo ), Saanich , Songhees , Esquimalt , Musqueam and Squamish allied against the Indian tribes who went out with their new weapons on robbery and slave hunting, such as the Lekwiltok . They lured the Lekwiltok into a trap in Maple Bay. The largest tribal alliance in Western Canada's history wanted to attack Fort Victoria in 1843 , but a peace agreement was reached.
Reservations
Joseph Trutch , Commissioner of Lands and Works , not only reduced the land claims of the Indians in the Vancouver region a few years after the devastating smallpox epidemic of 1862 , but also reduced the claim per family to 10 hectares. In 1870/73 it was proposed to concession 20 hectares which was still well below the British Columbia average. In 1876–77 two reservations were assigned, and in 1879 a third. From 1888/89 the Musqueam were only allowed to fish for their own use. They were not allowed to sell or trade them.
The city of Vancouver
The rapid growth of the city of Vancouver increasingly threatened the livelihoods of the Musqueam. After they, like all First Nations , were assigned a reservation and the university was founded in 1910, the deforestation of their area began. From 1865 to 1951 the income was used to finance the university, among other things. In 1865 Vancouver Island Spar , Lumber and Sawmill Company Limited (later the Hastings Sawmill Company ) received a 21-year logging license.
The remaining forests, which, as second and third growth, represented a sizeable stock of trees after one or more deforestation, were finally placed under protection and today form the 763 hectare Pacific Spirit Park (1988/89). For centuries , where the Museum of Anthropology stands today, there was a lookout that was connected to the villages by forest paths for the runners and was important for the timely warning of raids by the Squamish or Haida , for example . In the First and Second World War guns were set up here.
In 1960 the First Nations gained the right to vote and gradually closed the residential schools , in which the forced assimilation of all Indians in Canada was attempted.
In 1976 Musqueam reclaimed their traditional territory, which they had never given up. In 1984 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the government had to respect that the First Nations were there before the Canadian state existed. Therefore, the state must protect their interests.
In 1958, on behalf of the Musqueam, the government leased part of 1.7 km² of land (0.7 km²) to Shaughnessy Heights Golf Club for the construction of a golf club. As it turned out later, the terms of the contract were communicated to the tribe in a falsified form. It was not until 1970 that this became clear, and the Musqueam sued because the government alleged it was under no obligation to disclose the full contents. The Supreme Court, however, found her duty to do so and sentenced the government to pay $ 10 million in reparation. But the tribe failed before the Court of Appeal and then turned to the Supreme Court in Ottawa . This committed the Canadian state to a special loyalty obligation and confirmed the condemnation of government behavior.
The University of British Columbia and the leaders of the Musqueam agreed in 1984 to establish a First Nations House of Learning and Long House after the university had declared that it wanted to share representation and educational opportunities with the Indians . Later, the collaboration with the Völkerkundliches Museum, the Museum of Anthropology , the Musqueam Weaving Program was initiated and the Musqueam 101 education project .
In 1992 the government accepted a special fishing right for the Tsawwassen and Musqueam. In 1993, the Musqueam began contract negotiations with the British Columbia government as part of the BC Treaty Process .
In 1965 the Musqueam had offered the land on southwest Point Gray for an average annual lease of around CAD 400 per property (approx. 3,000 m²). The Department of Indian Affairs had negotiated; the tribe only found out more when the land was awarded from 1970. Large estates were built there, the size of which was increasingly disproportionate to the amount of the rent, but the tribe was hardly allowed to increase the rent. After thirty years, however, the Musqueam were allowed to adjust the rent to current market prices, which, after heated disputes, led a court to set the average rent at CAD 22,400. This affected 75 households. Since almost everyone refused to pay, the Musqueam threatened the Supreme Court with an eviction order. In 2000 this court set the rent at 6% of the value.
reserve
The Musqueam have three reserves. They are on the north arm of the Fraser River , in its estuary, and on Sea Island , right next to the International Airport. Musqueam 2 , which lies on the north side of the Fraser north arm, is the largest reserve with 190.4 hectares, followed by Musqueam 4 with 57.3 hectares, which lies south of the Fraser south arm. There is also Sea Island 3 in the northwest corner of Sea Island . The reserves have a total area of 250.7 hectares.
In January 2010, 635 state-approved musqueams were living on the reservation, 103 on other reservations, and 493 outside the reservation. A total of 1,232 people were registered as members of the tribes.
Current situation
All in all, the Musqueam, who live in the middle of the booming Metro Vancouver region, are considered economically quite successful.
On November 26, 2004, the chiefs of the Squamish, the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation , the Musqueam and Lil'wat bands signed a contract that should secure them greater participation in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver .
Since 2005, the Musqueam have been in the third stage of the BC Treaty Process , so that a final treaty with British Columbia is drawing closer. In the same year, the Supreme Court made it clear that while the government was not forced to take objections from the Aboriginal groups into account, it was nevertheless obliged to provide adequate consultations. This particularly applies to the early start of the consultation. The companies, here the gas and oil industry, are obliged to negotiate in a similar way to the way they negotiate with shareholders.
In early October 2007, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the need to consult the Musqueam on large sales of government buildings in Vancouver. That decision affected the Sinclair Center and another building on Burrard Street. The judge’s decision is a continuation of an earlier decision that the Haida must be consulted on all issues affecting their traditional territory.
The current chief is Ernest Clark Campbell.
literature
- The Letters and Journals of Simon Fraser 1806-1808, Toronto 2007, ISBN 978-1-55002-713-6
- Wayne Suttles (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 7: Northwest Coast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1990, ISBN 0-87474-187-4
Web links
See also
- History of the Coastal Salish
- History of British Columbia
- First Nations history
- List of Indian tribes recognized in Canada
Remarks
- ^ Victory Through Honor. The Ellen Neel Kwakwaka'wakw pole returns to its home at the University of British Columbia ( Memento of the original dated February 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Simon Fraser, 125.
- ↑ See the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada: Guerin v. The Queen, 1984 CanLII 25 (SCC) .
- ↑ The judgment of the Supreme Court: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ According to the information from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development , First Nation Profiles: Musqueam ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Report in The Globe and Mail: Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated November 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
