The University of British Columbia’s Point Grey campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.
So begins all official meetings at UBC today. It didn’t use to be that way. For many years UBC acted as though this was their land and the history here started with the Great Trek. University officials have come to acknowledge they had a duty to consult with Musqueam in areas that infringe upon Musqueam rights and title.
The university sector was actually a couple decades behind the industrial sector. As early as the 1980s forest companies in BC appreciated they would need to engage with First Nations to continue logging. They did so with joint venture firms that brought First Nations into the sphere of operations and control.1 Universities started arriving at the same place when they began to appreciate many types of research would be disrupted if they didn’t include First Nations and appreciation of their rights and title under Canadian law.
Many Canadians do not appreciate that under Canadian law (as protected in section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act) existing aboriginal rights and title are acknowledge and affirmed (rights refer to the capacity to do something, title to ownership over land and waters). Any potential infringement upon a right or title requires consultation with the affected First Nation and accommodations need to be made. First Nations are the only legal entity in Canada with whom the Crown (that refers to both the gov’t of BC and Canada) has a fiduciary duty to consult and accommodate.
In most parts of Canada there are treaties which define what aboriginal rights and title are. The wrinkle in BC is, for the most part, there are no treaties. This leaves the nature and extent of aboriginal rights and title undefined. Thus a large apparatus of consultation and accommodation processes have evolved through practice and litigation in BC. For the lay audience it is important to understand that the Crown has a legal obligation to consult and accommodate and that obligation underlies many of the various institutional inclusions of First Nations individuals and governments is all manner of decision making processes.
The Early Groundwork at UBC
At UBC a lot (but not all) of the early groundwork in establishing a positive relationship with Musqeuam had its roots in the Department and the Museum of Anthropology. Anthropologists had already encountered community-based pushback against research in the 1970s and 1980s. This experience either drove potential anthropologists into other fields of research or drew them into greater collaboration with the communities they wished to do research with. At UBC this gave rise to a unique community-based anthropological practice that extends across several generations of scholars. UBC Anthropology is known for an approach based in collaborative community involved research.2
The Museum of Anthropology, that was founded by the department in the middle of the last century, has also been at the forefront of museological transformation in which descent communities are now part of the discussion for any exhibit or analysis of belongings the museum might hold. This approach was clearly demonstrated in the planning and execution of a museum exhibit that began in 1991.
Written in the Earth was an exhibit that featured belongings from First Nations in south western BC. This exhibit set a standard for consultation with, and inclusion of, First Nations. The curators, David Pokotylo and Margaret Holm began by asking Musqueam for permission and their participation. As Margaret and David report in their 1997 paper Musqueam agreed to support the exhibit. Musqueam took a leading role in the project. David explained to me via email that the project “involved a lot of, at that time, uncharted territory in exhibit collaboration with numerous First Nations in SW BC, including Musqueam.”
Five years later MOA, in collaboration with the UBC President’s office and Musqueam, set up “a weekly university-level, barrier-free ‘‘Musqueam 101’’ seminar at Musqueam … cosponsored and co-supervised by representatives from both the Musqueam Band and the university” (as described by the late Michael Ames, longtime Director of the Museum of Anthropology.3 Michael Ames and Margery Fee from UBC and Leona Sparrow from Musqueam were the founding coordinators. A few years later Jennifer Kramer and Susan Rowley became the UBC coordinators and have remained so to this day.
These kinds of projects demonstrated that UBC could deliver on their promises and set the table for more UBC/Musqueam collaborations.
Formal UBC/Musqueam Partnerships
In 2006 UBC signed a formal Memorandum of Affiliation with Musqueam to:
“formalize, expand and enhance the working relationship between the parties, and to set forth the principles, objectives and process for the planning and development of specific educational, community and research programs that capitalize on the respective strengths of the parties.”
The MoA sets up a ‘development committee’ comprised of equal numbers of UBC and Musqueam representatives in order to make recommendations on areas of cooperation between the two parties.
The UBC Library has provided a good resource page outlining aspects of UBC and Musqueam relations and history. The UBC Indigenous Portal also includes some specific details on UBC/Musqueam partnerships.
Most of these partnerships involve educational programs, art installations, or exhibits. The trickier relationships are economic. As of yet UBC has no public acknowledgment of economic relationships in its various agreements and partnerships with Musqueam. In this regard, UBC remains behind the lead of the province’s resource industry. It is likely that Musqueam will have a more significant role in UBC’s Campus Vision 2050 as UBC comes to terms with its duty to consult with Musqueam and accommodate Musqueam rights and title.
Aboriginal Peoples and Forest Lands in Canada, edited by D.B. Tindall, Ronald L. Trosper, and Pamela Perreault. UBC Press https://go.exlibris.link/lXwJhBNp is a nice collection that provides background on First Nation / Industry forestry relations.
M. Ames, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.musmancur.2006.06.003