Musqueam First Nation to receive a share of federal revenues from Vancouver airport
In pre-pandemic 2019, Vancouver Airport Authority’s ground lease to the federal government was $60.3 million. Based on the airport authority’s most recent audited financial statements, its ground lease was $50.8 million in 2022 and $69.1 million in 2023, with ongoing annual payments for deferred ground lease amounts from early on in the pandemic.
Through this new agreement, the First Nation will benefit financially from YVR’s revenues, with the federal government now allocating a percentage of the annual ground lease revenues it receives from the airport authority to the Musqueam Indian Band. The exact percentage was not immediately disclosed, but it follows lengthy negotiations.
This also builds on Vancouver Airport Authority’s 2017-signed, 30-year reconciliation partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band, which already provides one per cent of YVR’s non-aeronautical revenues to the First Nation, along with education and job opportunities for the First Nation’s members and cultural and archeological protection resources. In the first year of this previous agreement, this First Nation received over $5 million directly from Vancouver Airport Authority.
Following today’s agreement signing, Musqueam Indian Band will benefit from two YVR-related revenue streams.
“Today marks an important step forward in our partnership with Musqueam. The Revenue Sharing Agreement reflects our shared commitment to honouring their vision for self-determination,” said Gary Anandasangaree, the federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, in a statement today.
“Revenue sharing is a tangible way to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and support Musqueam’s vision for a strong, sustainable future. We will continue working together to uphold rights, strengthen self-government, and build lasting prosperity for generations to come.”
Musqueam welcoming figure installed outside YVR Airport Station. (Vancouver Airport Authority)
Musqueam Chief Wayne Sparrow added, “By signing this landmark agreement, Musqueam and the Crown are taking a significant step towards a renewed relationship that recognizes our unique relationship to our territory. Musqueam acknowledges the federal ministers and negotiators who worked hard on behalf of Canada to successfully conclude this phase of negotiations.”
“This incremental measure will undoubtedly provide significant and real benefits to our community over the years to come,” continued Sparrow.
In November 2024, Tamara Vrooman, the president and CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority, announced the airport authority’s financial performance was now very strong and had fully recovered from the pandemic. She shared that 2023 was the highest year on record for the airport authority’s revenue and that YVR now has the highest credit rating of any airport in Canada.
The airport authority’s operating revenue reached $631.6 million in 2023, representing a surplus of over $75 million from its expenses of more than $556 million. In 2022, its operating revenues were $492 million, producing a surplus of $9.5 million.
This is reflected by YVR’s strong post-pandemic recovery in passenger and air cargo volumes.
YVR recorded a total of 24.9 million passengers in 2023, and it saw 26.2 million passengers in 2024, marking the airport’s second-highest year ever for passenger volumes — just shy of breaking the all-time record of over 26.3 million in 2024.
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