The first part of our contest has come to a close, and it's been a great week of reading your hopes and dreams. We want to thank everyone for their encouraging entries. It was truly a pleasure to read them, as all your entries are inspiring for St'át'imc members everywhere. All entries were put into a draw and the winner of the iPod Touch is... Beth Purcell of Samahquam. Congratulations Beth! We've narrowed the entires for the iPad winner down to the top 15. To read and vote for your favourites, visit http://tinyurl.com/snh-contest-vote Once again, thank you so much for all your entries! We wish our top entries good luck! Brent PS Voting is open until Friday at 4pm, so be sure to vote now!
N’Quatqua
3rd Round Info Session
April 5, 2011
4:00- 9:00 pm
Community Hall
Rumour: It would be better for us to pursue a deal in court.
Our Chiefs weighed all options before going through with this, and negotiating with BC Hydro was the best option. Some members think the proposed settlement is pocket change compared to what they might get in a court action lawsuit, but the fact is that this agreement is one of the largest settlements in Canadian history that DOES NOT involve giving up title and rights to our land.
We investigated a lawsuit, and whether or not it would be more appropriate than negotiating, but discovered that court action was not ideal to reach a fair settlement. First, it would've been extremely expensive for our nation to go to court. Second, the courts have upheld First Nations title and rights, but have told everyone that settlements need to be meaningfully negotiated. Courts have sent parties back to the negotiating table.
While the courts would have agreed that we had a claim, they would've never agreed to an appropriate amount for settlement. They would've reached a decision, but not a dollar amount.
When it came to this agreement, all avenues of action were seriously considered before making the decision to move forward with negotiations. The nation looked at the issues with BC Hydro from 5 perspectives: political action, legal action, negotiations, direct action, and the spirit of the people (unity).
In this agreement we have achieved:
Bottom Line: Our Chiefs negotiated a historic agreement that would not be possible through court action. The agreement includes much more than money, such as big changes to benefit salmon and a relationship agreement that gives us a say in all future BC Hydro plans in our territory.
Be sure to check out the other "Word on the Street" posts: