By Cara McKenna

The concept of reconciliation is often thought of as improving relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. But it also means fixing things between First Nations.

That was the message from Wendy Grant-John when she told the annual Joint Gathering about reconciliationbetween Vancouver’s three nations – Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh.

Wendy Grant-John

“We sat down as three families, we got the lawyers out of the room, and we said ‘OK, how did we live together before?’ And we got an agreement and accord amongst ourselves. Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh (people) all come from the same families. We are now operating that way.”

Grant-John is a Musqueam Indian Band councillor. She was also three-term chief of Musqueam First Nation, the first woman elected regional chief to the Assembly of First Nations and a former associate regional director-general for the then-named department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

The Joint Gathering, held in mid-January, was co-hosted by the BC First Nations Leadership Council and the BC region of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada.

Grant-John said that after reconciliation between the three communities took place, they then began to involve government.

“They no longer can keep us apart and fighting,” she said. “We are together
saying ‘No, this is all of ours’… We probably have the largest land holdings, value-wise, in Canada right now because of where it’s situated.”

The three nations together have purchased 90 acres of real estate in Vancouver’s Jericho neighbourhood, one of Canada’s most high-end neighbourhoods. But hundreds of years ago, it was a shared travelling site between the three nations.

“We’re developing those lands based on our values,” Grant-John said. “We have more green space, we’re looking at revitalizing creeks in our community. The bottom line is not necessarily the revenue, it’s creating jobs for our people.”

She concluded by saying that nations must find their own ways to build reconciliation.

“It doesn’t mean for us to put our teachings into (the government’s) structure. It means for their structure to adapt to ours. We’re defining what topics we want. We’re saying what we feel we want to be able to explore with the government.”

Two NmTC nations in the spotlightCanada’s associate deputy minister of Indigenous and Northern Aaffairs Canada (INAC) highlighted the work of Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council nations during the Joint Gathering.

Diane Lafleur was in BC at the end of 2016 for a meeting with the Snaw-naw-as (Nanoose) and Tsawwassen First Nations.

“I continue to be inspired by the leadership of B.C. First Nations, whether it’s with comprehensive community planning, land management, financial management or education and health service delivery,” she said.

Lafleur also spoke about the Tla’amin treaty coming into effect in April 2016 and the grand opening of Tsawwassen Mills shopping centre.

“In addition to the mall, other examples of economic development are evident,” she said. “Like in T’Sou-ke, which is the most solar intensive community in Canada.”

Lafleur spoke of the highlights at the beginning of three days of engagement meetings between Indigenous leaders and federal government officials. Meanwhile, INAC officials said they welcomed critiques from First Nations leaders about their operations, something community representatives weren’t shy about offering.

Judy Wilson of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs said that despite a new federal budget with unprecedented investments in First Nations, not much has changed.

“Seventy-five per cent is still retained within Indian Affairs machinery. That’s where funding goes, to keep those systems up and running,” she said.

“And what hasn’t changed is we’re still wards of the government… In our territorial lands, the Crown still owns in BC, 95 to 98 per cent of it.”