{"id":100515,"date":"2025-12-19T09:20:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:20:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100515"},"modified":"2025-12-19T09:20:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:20:44","slug":"musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/19\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Musqueam chief says talks may be way out of Cowichan Aboriginal title dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Nono Shen The chief of the Musqueam Indian Band says the nation is ready to go to the Supreme Court of Canada as it fights the landmark Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title ruling \u2014 but he also see another way out of the dispute that he says has triggered an outpouring of racism. Asked if he&#8217;s open to negotiations with the provincial government, private land owners and the Cowichan tribes, Chief Wayne Sparrow says the band is &#8220;willing to sit down and have discussions.&#8221; Sparrow says that since the Aug. 7 ruling, the Musqueam have had no communications with the Cowichan, whose claim over the 300-hectare title area on the Fraser River in Richmond, B.C., was disputed by his First Nation, as well as the province and the City of&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F19%2Fmusqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nono Shen The chief of the Musqueam Indian Band says the nation is ready to go to the Supreme Court of Canada as it fights the landmark Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title ruling \u2014 but he also see another way out of the dispute that he says has triggered an outpouring of racism. Asked if he&#8217;s open to negotiations with the provincial government, private land owners and the Cowichan tribes, Chief Wayne Sparrow says the band is &#8220;willing to sit down and have discussions.&#8221; Sparrow says that since the Aug. 7 ruling, the Musqueam have had no communications with the Cowichan, whose claim over the 300-hectare title area on the Fraser River in Richmond, B.C., was disputed by his First Nation, as well as the province and the City of... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F12%2F19%2Fmusqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Musqueam chief says talks may be way out of Cowichan Aboriginal title dispute - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/19\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Musqueam chief says talks may be way out of Cowichan Aboriginal title dispute - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nono Shen The chief of the Musqueam Indian Band says the nation is ready to go to the Supreme Court of Canada as it fights the landmark Cowichan Tribes Aboriginal title ruling \u2014 but he also see another way out of the dispute that he says has triggered an outpouring of racism. Asked if he&#8217;s open to negotiations with the provincial government, private land owners and the Cowichan tribes, Chief Wayne Sparrow says the band is &#8220;willing to sit down and have discussions.&#8221; Sparrow says that since the Aug. 7 ruling, the Musqueam have had no communications with the Cowichan, whose claim over the 300-hectare title area on the Fraser River in Richmond, B.C., was disputed by his First Nation, as well as the province and the City of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/19\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T14:20:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/19\\\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/19\\\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Musqueam chief says talks may be way out of Cowichan Aboriginal title dispute\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T14:20:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/19\\\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":570,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/19\\\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/19\\\/musqueam-chief-says-talks-may-be-way-out-of-cowichan-aboriginal-title-dispute\\\/\",\"name\":\"Musqueam chief says talks may be way out of Cowichan Aboriginal title dispute - 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