In his first public statement since last month’s lockout, Sechelt (shíshálh) Nation Chief Calvin Craigan talked about how the week-long protest impacted the band’s operations and announced the upcoming signing of a reconciliation agreement with the province.
“This band is probably going to be one of the first three bands to sign a reconciliation agreement within a month,” Craigan said during a 30-minute press conference held June 20 in the band office.
“We’re one of the three bands because we have a high profile, we are self-governing and past leaders have chosen to be self-governing because they knew they were stepping into a new era. They knew they had to be part of the system.”
The B.C. Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation confirmed this week that it expected to sign a reconciliation agreement with the Sechelt Nation “in the coming weeks” and that the ministry has been working with the Nation on the agreement “for quite some time.”
“The reconciliation agreement,” Craigan said, “is going to involve some of our lands being given back – huge tracts of land, huge resources are being given back – and those are just the beginning.”
The chief said he wanted to get the reconciliation agreement signed before December, with the possibility of a new provincial government taking power in 2017.
“We want to wrap this up in 30 days and then move on, on a broader scale with reconciliation and governing the rest of our land and all of our resources,” he said.
He noted the one-week lockdown of the Sechelt Nation offices last month caused some delay in the process with the province and stalled some economic opportunities that he had hoped to solidify.
“It’s caused such a huge delay. It set us back probably six weeks because of the meetings that were set up with different high-level proponents that we were supposed to deal with. The agreements got put off for another month, so now we’re trying to catch up,” Craigan said.
“The other thing it cost us is over $200,000 so far in lost equity amongst our staff. We had to bring other staff in to try to fill in the gaps to try to catch up.”
The lockout also caused a delay in services for elders.
“Some of the elders have really suffered because of this and those elders have spoken out that the chief should never let this happen again – so we have to take into consideration, what the elders are saying,” Craigan said.
An audit is now being undertaken by a lawyer hired by the Nation to investigate a list of nearly 30 concerns tabled by protesters during the lockout. Concerns ranged from the alleged withholding of information to questionable spending practices by the leadership.
Craigan said that audit is nearly complete and hasn’t turned up anything irregular to date.
Coun. Randy Joe said the lockout and lingering anger from it has been trying on the leadership and the Nation as a whole.
He pointed to the stroke suffered by Coun. Garry Feschuk the day after the locks were removed from the administration offices as an example of the stress.
“He can’t walk yet,” said Joe. “He’s still in the Lions Gate [Hospital]. He’s going through physiotherapy right now, but he’s in contact with us all the time. He’s speaking better.”
While Feschuk is mending, he can’t continue in his role as an active councillor or as the Nation’s point person for the day scholar class action lawsuit, a portfolio Joe has taken over for the time being.
“We had a meeting with Minister [Carolyn] Bennett a few weeks ago and it went good. We’re going to try to keep it out of the courts. We just want to negotiate with the government,” Joe said, noting Feschuk is being kept up to date on the progress being made.
The Sechelt Nation leadership is a little thin at the moment with Feschuk in hospital and only Craigan, Joe and Coun. Chris August on active duty. August was away during the lockout but has recently returned from sick leave, Joe said.
One more councillor position, previously held by Ben Pierre Jr., remains vacant and a byelection will be held for that seat on Saturday, June 25. The candidates (as of June 22) are: Robert Joe, Warren Paull, Benedict Pierre, Amanda Dixon and Dionne Paul.
Craigan said he hopes things will move forward in a positive way after the byelection, but also noted he’s thankful for the strife that has surfaced recently.
“It was bound to happen sooner or later and I’m glad it’s out there,” Craigan said. “I’m glad that open sore is exposed and I’m glad I know where it is and I’m going to focus on healing it.”
Craigan said throughout the entire ordeal he has continued in his role as chief, most recently attending a ceremony in honour of the Korean teen who lost his life near Malibu Rapids on June 8.
