Vancouver to consider transferring Marpole Midden land to First Nation
A motion before Vancouver council this week represents the latest step in the Musqueam First Nation’s decades-long efforts to regain control of an ancient village site in what is now south Vancouver.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson is expected to introduce a motion at Tuesday’s council meeting to direct staff to investigate how a city-owned parcel of land in Marpole can be transferred to the Musqueam First Nation for $1, “to provide for its ongoing heritage and cultural protection.”
The city-owned property is currently a parking lot beside the old Fraser Arms Hotel. The Musqueam Indian Band bought the hotel property in the early 1990s with the stated purpose of protecting what’s beneath the ground. The properties are within the so-called Marpole Midden lands, an area of great cultural and historic significance to the Musqueam First Nation.
The Marpole Midden originally covered 4.5 hectares near Southwest Marine Drive at the southern end of Granville Street. Located in the Musqueam’s traditional and unceded territory, the ancient village and burial site dates back at least 4,000 years.
The Musqueam First Nation has been in talks with the City of Vancouver about the transfer of this site since Larry Campbell was Mayor more than a decade ago, Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow said Monday.
“We’re trying to eventually get the whole midden back in our control, so I really commend Gregor for putting that motion out,” Sparrow said.
While there’s been talk over the years of turning the land into a cultural park, Sparrow said the Musqueam community has yet to decide on long-term plans for the site, and “there’s no plans of developing it or putting anything on there.”
A nearby plot of land in the Marpole Midden lands made headlines back in 2012, when a developer was excavating it — against the Musqueam community’s protests — and found human remains. The Musqueam band negotiated to buy the property from the developer.
That property, on Southwest Marine Drive just off the Arthur Laing Bridge, has sat empty for years. But Sparrow said Monday there are plans to put grass and sprinklers on the site in the coming months “so it’s not an eyesore.”
Wade Grant, a Musqueam councillor from 2004 to 2014, said that if the Musqueam do any work on the land, it will not include excavation or digging.
“The Musqueam have been adamant that they will be protecting that site for future generations,” said Grant, who’s hoping to run for city council in this year’s election with the NPA. “It’s the last real connection the Musqueam community has to thousands of years of history.”
If Tuesday’s motion is approved, city staff will be directed to report back to council by July on how the transfer can proceed.