In 1879, the federal government allocated four reserves to people from "All Coastal Tribes", and designated the "common reserve" as the New Westminster Indian Band, which included on Poplar Island. The reserve on Poplar Island was used as an Aboriginal smallpox victim quarantine area and a cemetery. Informants from the New Westminster Indian Band identified the reserve as a site of burials for people from the Kwantlen First Nation. For decades, the Poplar Island reserve was designated as belonging to "all coast tribes".
