More than four months after the Squamish Nation elected its new leadership, a swearing-in ceremony for the new councillors is set for Sunday, April 22 at Totem Hall.
Previous ceremonies had to be cancelled due to deaths within the Nation’s membership.
The delay hasn’t kept the chiefs and council from getting to work.
On April 18, the newly-minted council made some significant decisions involving housing, governance and education.
“The council wants to follow through on promises that were made during the election,” the Nation’s spokesperson Khelsilem (Dustin Rivers) told the Squamish Chief. “A lot of our people have asked for things to be done differently, and we see that these changes are a big part of that.”
The council has approved the allocation to its members of 15 new homes for the 2018/2019 fiscal year.
With the Squamish Nation housing program, historically, the Nation built 15 homes per year, but because of cutbacks to infrastructure funding from the federal government’s Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada several years ago, the Squamish band hasn’t been able to keep up with allocating housing, Khelsilem said. The Nation now has more than 1,100 members on a housing waitlist.
Currently, the band has lots in a subdivision on its North Vancouver Capilano reserve and its Waiwakum reserve in Squamish.
Members who are allocated the housing will get to pick where they want to live.
The Nation’s council meetings will soon be livestreamed. The band will be buying high definition cameras and using livestreaming.com for its regular council meetings.
The meetings should go live within the next 30 days, according to Khelsilem,
Council also had a review of its Governance Manual done by Vancouver law firm Clark Wilson LLD.
“It included cosmetic edits, changes to ensure the policy meets standard legislative drafting practices, and changes to the document, so it conforms to principles of statutory interpretation, and alters the title of this document to Governance Policy,” according to the news release.
“One of the big issues during the election that the community really, really didn’t like was that council had passed a number of rules for themselves, that was written by themselves. The membership felt that the community needed to be involved in any decisions about the rules and decisions at council, including the council salaries,” Khelsilem said, adding it was an issue the new council wanted to address.
Two community meetings on the now-titled Governance Policy will take place before June 30, according to the Nation, with dates to be announced next week.
The Nation will also hold a referendum on Dec. 6, 2018 on the draft Election and Referendum Law that was prepared by its electoral commission.
An election reform process began in 2015 and a draft electoral reform document was created in 2017.
“It was presented to [the previous] council to request a referendum before the last election, that request was not accepted, so we went into the last election using the same election regulations from 1981,” said Khelsilem.
Before the referendum, the electoral reform commission will present the draft to members and see if there are any major changes to be made.
If 50 per cent plus one of the members vote in favour of the new law, it will come into effect before the next election in four years.
Council also recently approved a request from its Education, Employment, and Training Department to update its post-secondary student funding policy.
According to the Nation news release, the updates will “allow for more flexibility and support for students who seek to attend post-secondary schooling.”
On a personal note, Khelsilem said he is settling into his role as spokesperson for the Nation, having taken over from hereditary Chief Ian Campbell after the election.
“It is a role I feel confident with and useful with,” he said.
It is an exciting time for the new council, with major projects underway and the prospect of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, which the Nation has vigorously opposed.
“We are getting briefed on a lot of things,” Khelsilem said of the new council. “A lot of risks and challenges lay ahead that we are going to have to solve, but it is what it is — the world, the markets, the economy, all of it impacts us.”
The new council will be sworn in this weekend at a ceremony at Totem Hall starting at noon on Sunday.
