Musqueam Protest Creation of Pacific Spirit Park

On April 23, 1989, parts of the University Endowment Lands became Pacific Spirit Regional Park, but it wasn’t a day of celebration for everyone. While Premier Bill Vander Zalm and other dignitaries were here for the official handover, the Musqueam nation protested the park's creation on their ancestral territories.

The Musqueam had submitted a land claim three years earlier, in 1986, describing their historical use of the area. A 1984 document even detailed how it was becoming difficult for them to conduct spiritual ceremonies because of joggers and other park users. When the park was created in 1989, elders organized protests, highlighting that the park was established without proper acknowledgment of Musqueam ancestral lands.

Gail Sparrow, who was 67 at the time of the article, remembers it as one of her first protests. She said the elders gathered trucks, cars, and people, and set up chairs. They brought drums, wore traditional clothing, and had speakers who directly addressed Mr. Vander Zalm. Sparrow called the event the Vander "Slam." The speakers emphasized that this land was unceded Musqueam territory. When park supporters asked the Musqueam protesters, "Where are your papers?" one Musqueam lady responded, "Open up the earth. Dig down. You'll find village remnants. Our people's bones are in there. That's who owned the land."

Sparrow, who later became a Musqueam chief, said the protest inspired her to delve deeper into the land's history. She notes that traditionally, they don't think of it as Pacific Spirit Park; it's Musqueam land, a Musqueam village site. She says their people occupy and live here and never left, though they were relocated to reserve allotments from these areas and pushed into 400 acres.

Since the park's creation, there have been changes in the relationship between the Musqueam and the province. In 2006, the Musqueam signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of British Columbia. Then, in 2008, properties like the university golf course and 20 hectares of land in Pacific Spirit Park were returned to the Musqueam under a land settlement with the province. Sparrow believes these outcomes are a direct result of those protests and the elders who stood and claimed the land, asserting, "We're still here. We never left."