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Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations have looked after their respective territories for millennia and continue that work today, yet the City of Vancouver has historically failed to recognize their Title and Rights.

Only recently, thanks to OneCity Vancouver City Councillor Christine Boyle’s Motion, co-developed with Indigenous partners, to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), has the City begun to respect these rights and there is a long way to go towards healing the harm that’s been done. OneCity acknowledges the Title and Rights of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations and will turn UNDRIP into actions here in the City.

We will challenge the stark inequities that face the Urban Indigenous community, including the urgent need for Indigenous housing. On City Council, School Board and Park Board, OneCity will celebrate Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh culture, language and history. Together, we will build a city which is welcoming, inclusive, affordable and safe for Indigenous peoples, women, youth and elders.

Key frameworks guide our work with and for Indigenous peoples:

  1. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  2. The Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
  3. The Strategic Actions of the Aboriginal Housing Management Association’s British Columbia Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing Strategy.
  4. The Calls to Action of the Red Women Rising Report.
  5. The Calls to Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
  6. British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
  7. Canada’s United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
  8. City of Vancouver UNDRIP Task Force Recommendations.

Recognize Indigenous Title and Rights 

  1. Fund Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and representatives from the Urban Indigenous community to continue the work of Vancouver’s UNDRIP Task Force and commit to implementing its recommendations.
  2. Host a Summit gathering to develop a fulsome process to engage the Urban Indigenous community in the UNDRIP Task Force’s work and to build critical relationships between Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh and the urban Indigenous community
  3. Develop an action plan together with Indigenous partners and the provincial government to fund the implementation of the UNDRIP in the school district.
  4. Ensure that future city planning supports the ongoing collaborative work of reconciliation, and complements developments by Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, such as the Sen̓áḵw, the Heather and Jericho Lands projects.
  5. Partner with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh on any planning and decisions about land held in trust by the Vancouver School Board.
  6. Support Indigenous-led or co-governance and other co-management models put forward by Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh for management of park lands in their territories, including with capacity funding for their leadership, building upon the success of Indigenous Protected Conserved Areas throughout Canada.
  7. Explore opportunities for Indigenous Guardian programs to steward and manage parks across Vancouver. 
  8. Work and consult with the Urban Indigenous Peoples Advisory Committee on park planning and priorities.
  9. Develop a funding protocol process and revenue sharing agreements to ensure Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh are adequately resourced to participate in this work. 

Correct social inequities facing Indigenous peoples 

  1. Prioritize Indigenous participation in procurement for all city projects.
  2. Apply an equity lens to budgeting decisions, ensuring that critical resources for Indigenous communities are not perceived as “optional” investments in a City of Reconciliation.
  3. Work with provincial and federal governments to fully implement Jordan’s Principle to ensure Indigenous children and youth benefit equally from city programming and expenditures. 
  4. Work with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, the Vancouver Port Authority, and the Urban Indigenous community to build an Indigenous Healing Lodge at Crab Park.
  5. Work with the provincial and federal governments to support the provision of Indigenous healthcare workers and retain as many as possible operating in the Downtown Eastside and across the city. 
  6. Develop a city plan to collect and publish data on the criminal victimization of Indigenous people, including data related to homicide and family violence. 
  7. Urgently implement and adequately fund the recommendations of the June 2022 report to Council in response to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
  8. Ensure Indigenous peoples living in unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable housing in Vancouver receive proportionate funding that reflects the city’s higher cost of living. 
  9. Support the maintenance of existing homes managed by Indigenous housing providers.
  10.  Prioritize employment opportunities for Indigenous peoples.
  11. Develop targets for subsidized Indigenous-owned and operated housing units over the next 10 years, which must include targets for land allocations.
  12. Recognizing that UNDRIP Article 23 states: “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development. In particular, Indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes through their own institutions.” OneCity will co-develop a support plan that identifies and implements  Indigenous housing priorities, giving Indigenous people better access to housing.
  13. Fund culturally appropriate wraparound services and encourage cultural recognition within housing.
  14. Modernize social housing frameworks to remove impediments for housing providers raising revenues and disincentives for tenants to find income.
  15. Remove barriers to accessing housing for Indigenous people.
  16. Work with the provincial and federal governments to properly fund the Aboriginal Housing Management Association and to establish a fourth stream within the National Housing Strategy for Indigenous people living in urban settings.
  17. Fully support Indigenous-led justice and community safety initiatives, such as the Bear Clan Patrol called for in the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre's Red Women Rising report.
  18. Reallocate funds from police-based responses to health and social issues, and invest instead in community organizations and outreach services trained to provide mental health support or help with substance use issues.
  19. Work with provincial and federal governments to ensure those with substance use disorders have ready access to harm reduction supplies, services, and supports.
  20. Fund services that allow people who are unhoused to store their belongings, and direct city crews to avoid disposing of people’s possessions.
  21. Demand greater municipal control and democratic oversight over the VPD’s annual budget and training related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.
  22. End street checks.
  23. Explore programs to support safe schools to replace the terminated Vancouver School Board’s School Liaison Officer Program.
  24. Work with the provincial government to standardize and collect race-based and demographic data to address systemic discrimination in policing.
  25. Include people who use drugs on city advisory committees and in civic engagement.
  26. Support peer-led organizations that build social connections and a sense of belonging among people who use drugs and within the broader community.
  27. Establish more overdose response teams, including people with relationships and experience in the communities affected by the drug poisoning emergency.
  28. Call on the provincial government to increase the availability of trauma-informed and culturally safe mental health and substance use services.
  29. Support next steps from the Park Board’s colonial audit.

 

Educate Vancouverites on Indigenous peoples’ histories, cultures and rights

  1. Support Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh to create a historical atlas book with educational resources. 
  2. Require anti-racism and Indigenous cultural safety training for all city employees. Local knowledge holders will develop and lead this training as approved by Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. It will be adapted to various roles and responsibilities, providing a basic understanding of Indigenous rights, history, anti-Indigenous racism, and what respectful relations look like. 
  3. Provide culturally relevant human resources supports including conflict and complaint resolution.
  4. Assert the presence of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations with naming, renaming and commemoration of city assets that share stories and histories of the land.
  5. Build on city work around procurement of public art and local architecture to maintain Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh presence and reflect their culture, language and history in the public realm. 
  6. Develop a process and require permitted event organizers to engage and partner with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh. This includes city staff when hosting events or when the Nations wish to host events.
  7. Make a portion of funding to major institutions like the art gallery or space centre dependent on their ability to demonstrate meaningful partnerships with artists or organizations working to advance Indigenous justice and confront the climate emergency.
  8. Fund the City’s Cultural Services department to use arts and culture to confront the climate emergency and advance Indigenous justice.
  9. Help communities that have faced discriminatory land use policies protect their cultural assets.
  10. Foster and protect cultural hubs of small businesses serving communities who have faced discriminatory land use policies. 
  11. Support Indigenous language programming in schools in consultation with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh.
  12. Collaborate with the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations on a new name for Gladstone Secondary School.
  13. Listen to how Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh want to see their history, ongoing connection, and title reflected in parks through signage, design, names, and management models.
  14. Recognize the contributions of Indigenous athletes to sport.

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