Musqueam First Nation

The Musqueam Nation is a 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" (/ˈmʌskwiəm/ ^ⓘ MUS-kwee-əm) is an anglicization of the Hun'qumi'num name xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, which means "place of the river grass" or "place where the river grass grows" (məθkʷəy̓ being the Hun'qumi'num name of the plant).

"Musqueam" is derived from the Hun'qumi'num name xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, which is itself a derivative of məθkʷəy̓, the Hun'qumi'num name for river grass. River grass was historically abundant in Musqueam territory; xʷməθkʷəy̓əm accordingly means "place of the river grass" or "place where the river grass grows".

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 (sʔi:ɬqəy̓) which lived in Camosun Bog (xʷməm̓qʷe:m). The serpent was so massive that its winding path created the Fraser River (stal̕əw̓). All living things that crossed the serpent's path were said to have died, and from the serpent's droppings bloomed new life – river grass – which grew abundantly around the serpent's home. The people of the area therefore named the land xʷməθkʷəy̓əm.

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. Archaeological evidence taken from the Marpole Midden (or Great Fraser Midden) attest to the Musqueam people's thousands-year-old history in the area. The Marpole Midden was the location of c̓əsnaʔəm, the largest village in Musqueam some 2,500 years ago. The changing river delta prompted its inhabitants to move to the present site of the Musqueam 2 reserve starting approximately 1,500 years ago. Musqueam 2 has a residential area called "Musqueam Village"; the reserve formerly had a second residential area, the village of Ma Li (maləy̓).

The Marpole Midden is also the location of a burial ground sacred to the Musqueam. It was desecrated by archeologists in the late 19th and early 20th century. 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 up to 75 Musqueam, taking them with him back to New York City to be researched and exhibited. The belongings of those buried at the site, including tools, jewelry, carved artworks and ceremonial objects, were also excavated and taken. The midden consisted mostly of layers of biofacts such as shells and non-human animal bones, which were not taken.

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 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. In his testimony, Musqueam chief Johnny (χʷəyχʷayələq) contrasted the Musqueam people's traditional ways of fishing and hunting with those of recently arrived settlers:

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 – 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 – 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: