{"id":898239,"date":"2026-04-10T12:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/musqueam-first-nation-signs-aboriginal-rights-deal-with-ottawa-read-the-full-agreement\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T12:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T17:20:02","slug":"musqueam-first-nation-signs-aboriginal-rights-deal-with-ottawa-read-the-full-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/10\/musqueam-first-nation-signs-aboriginal-rights-deal-with-ottawa-read-the-full-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Musqueam First Nation signs Aboriginal rights deal with Ottawa \u2013 read the full agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Musqueam First Nation has signed three agreements with the federal government recognizing Aboriginal rights in Metro Vancouver.<\/p>\n

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According to a release from the government, the agreements also strengthen Musqueam\u2019s roles<\/a> in fisheries, stewardship and marine emergency management.<\/p>\n

Thomas Isaac, chair of the Aboriginal law group at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, called it \u201can acknowledgment of rights and title within a very large area of the Lower Mainland that includes waterways.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess it\u2019s the third largest metropolis in our country, and is an area of significant overlap with other First Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The details of the agreement were not immediately made clear, but have since been provided to Global News and the full agreement is embedded below.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is, from a process point of view, it\u2019s, and I\u2019ll say it again, absolutely unacceptable that public democratic governments are entering into agreements acknowledging Aboriginal title in any form when it\u2019s an exclusive right to land, according to the Supreme Court of Canada, without consulting in some way with their constituency, which is the public,\u201d Isaac said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaac said this is not the way toward reconciliation or economic stability.<\/p>\n

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On Aug. 7, the \u00a0B.C. Supreme Court confirmed that the Cowichan Tribes hold Aboriginal title over\u00a0more than 5.7 square kilometres of land on the Fraser River in Richmond, south of Vancouver.<\/p>\n

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That created confusion and anger among homeowners in the affected area, despite the Cowichan Tribes insisting<\/a>\u00a0it has no intention of stripping private title holders of their property.<\/p>\n

In a release on Monday, Spencer Chandra Herbert, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, and the Cowichan (Quw\u2019utsun) Nation Chiefs, among others, said they remain in negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cowichan Nation respectfully did not seek to invalidate any privately held fee simple titles,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

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\u201cInstead, the Cowichan Nation sought and received a court declaration that the British Columbia government has a duty to the Cowichan Nation to negotiate in good faith the reconciliation of these continuing Crown granted fee simple interests with the pre-existing Cowichan Nation Aboriginal title, in a manner consistent with the honour of the Crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth parties are also proceeding with their appeals to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. For transparency, neither the Cowichan Nation nor British Columbia are seeking to invalidate any privately held fee simple titles on the Cowichan Title Lands through the negotiation or appeal processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

A separate B.C. Supreme Court ruling in September<\/a>, which upheld the Haida Nation\u2019s Aboriginal title over the Haida Gwaii archipelago in B.C., affirmed a deal between the First Nation and the province that would allow Aboriginal and private property rights to coexist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely appalling this was done secretly and that they have not released the agreements given what the province is facing on the Haidi agreements, the Cowichan decision, the UNDRIP legislation, the heritage conservation act proposed amendments, it just seems to be one wave after another of things to try to upset the economic apple cart that is our province,\u201d Isaac added.<\/p>\n

Chief Wayne Sparrow of the Musqueam Indian Band told Global News that the agreement signed with the federal government does not include private properties in that region.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt does not include third party, it does not include land,\u201d he said. We have an agreement with the government with MST (MST Development Corporation), which is in the core territory of all three in crown land and it does not include private properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations Canada also stated that the Musqueam Agreements do not affect privately owned land.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Incremental Recognition Agreement provides general recognition that Musqueam has Aboriginal rights and title within their Territory and establishes a framework for ongoing discussions and future negotiations to define how and where those rights and title could apply,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

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Isaac said governments have to come up with a better way of engaging in reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what title means at law, there\u2019s no debate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s the exclusive right to that land over and above everyone else, including the Crown government, according to the Supreme Court of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full agreement below and here is a link to the uploaded document<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Musqueam First Nation has signed three agreements with the federal government recognizing Aboriginal rights in Metro Vancouver. According to a release from the government, the agreements also strengthen Musqueam\u2019s roles in fisheries, stewardship and marine emergency management. Thomas Isaac, chair of the Aboriginal law group at Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, called it \u201can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":898240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[673,148766],"tags":[5719,148765],"class_list":{"0":"post-898239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-first","8":"category-musqueam","9":"tag-first","10":"tag-musqueam"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}