Reflections on Vancouver, British Columbia and other topics, related or not
Nation to nation
Throwing off foreign control, the Musqueam
demonstrate Indigenous self-responsibility
Greg Klein | March 7, 2026
A very minor item in Canada’s payouts to the sovereign Musqueam nation
provides recently announced funding for fisheries access, vessels and equipment.
The agreement also supports the band’s “nation-to-nation” opposition to
Canadian foreign interference. (Image: Musqueam nation)
“Forget all that crap about federal money for fishing gear and stuff,” says Musqueam spokesperson Willie Jim Yellowbird. “It’s a smokescreen. The key words in our recent agreement with Ottawa are ‘nation-to-nation.’”
Yellowbird was referring to last week’s news reports that stated his south Vancouver band would receive taxpayer funding from Canada for a fishing industry that’s rejecting foreign interference from Canada. February’s “historic” agreement with its neighbouring country acknowledges the band’s claim to most of metro Vancouver and confirms the band’s “nation-to-nation relations with Canada.” The recently elected hereditary shaman-for-life honorary knowledge keeper called a news conference today to clarify a contradiction that was missed by politicians and media alike.
“Our sovereign nation doesn’t need Canada’s money,” Yellowbird explains. “As we’ve been saying since the 1970s, we reject any and all foreign control or restriction. In doing so, we’ll show the independence, self-responsibility and initiative Indigenous people are known for.”
So all-encompassing has been the foreign control that it’s difficult to itemize, he pointed out. But a partial list includes foreign provision of electricity, water, sewage treatment and communications infrastructure; medical services (“No hospitals on stolen land!”); education; Canadian federal, provincial and municipal government payouts; private sector payouts; preferential treatment in Canadian law, health, education and employment; and almost countless other rights, privileges and entitlements across almost 10 million square kilometres of foreign territory.
“Think we need any of that?” Yellowbird asks. “No, of course not. We’re Indigenous. We’re known for our self-responsibility.”
Once the Musqueam take their rightful ownership of Vancouver International
Airport, the nation’s self-reliant workforce will conduct all operations including
administration, security, customs, immigration and air traffic control.
(Photo: YVR Airport Authority)
He says it’s been an “open secret” all along that Indigenous people have had no significant participation in any of the declarations, legislation and court decisions, or any of the government and private sector policies, that lifted aboriginals to the top of Canada’s ethnic hierarchy. “UNDRIP, DRIPA, acts of parliament and legislatures, land settlements, the native veto, Gladue, the other court decisions, the business deals, the mega-projects, DEI, all that special treatment, all that money, money, money—everything came from non-Indigenous, mostly white people and their foreign control.”
In its place will be an independent state based on self-reliance, Yellowbird maintains. “We’ll build our own nation our own way,” he vows. “We’ll build our own educational system to train our own people to work at real jobs with real qualifications, real skills and real expertise. We’ll build and operate our own infrastructure, staff our own hospitals, look after our own law and justice, create our own industries, grow our own economy, look after our own people and, above all, take care of our own families.”
Impressive indeed. But Musqueam goals don’t stop there.
The Musqueam’s Canadian-acknowledged land claim conflicts with the Squamish
nation’s claims, as well as British Columbia’s foreign-imposed cession of territory
to the Cowichan nation. As sovereign states, these three countries will reconcile
their differences without foreign diplomatic assistance, let alone
foreign peacekeeping troops. (Map: Musqueam nation)
“We’ll manage our own foreign affairs too, not just with Canada but with the Euclataw people, who owe us reparations for the coastal slave trade,” Yellowbird adds. “We’ll guard our borders with our own military. Woe unto the Squamish, Burrard, Cowichan or anyone else who challenges our sovereign territory. We’ll show them what real genocide means.
“So Canada can θkəy̓əm its foreign control up its condescending q̓ʷal̕təl̕t. Canadians will watch with awe and envy as the mighty Musqueam, all 1,500 of us, take our place among the nations of the world. That’s going to happen definitely for sure, absolutely, you can count on it, you bet, any day now—just as soon as my life skills coach says we’re ready.”