The meeting in Ts'kw'aylaxw (Pavilion) was held from 4pm on January 13th in the basement of the community band office until 7pm. Community members showed up and were greeted by members of the Hydro Agreement team including Jenilee McDonald and Lorrinda James. Each household was provided with one full set of agreements, and everyone received an information package complete with agreement summaries. People who know about the agreement circulated with community members and answered questions on a 1-to-1 basis.
Chief Clifford Alec opened the meeting with a welcome and introduction to the agreement. Elder Gary Harry set the tone with a prayer, and everyone enjoyed a great meal prepared by Della Alec and her daughter.
The presentation started after dinner, and the bulk of the presenting was done by St'át'imc legal council Raymond Phillips. Raymond lead everyone through the agreement summary and answered many questions from the floor. Some of the questions asked and answered were:
- "Is BC Hydro dictating how we spend the money?" (answer: no, the St'át'imc Chiefs agreed on the creation of a Trust as the best way to manage, invest, and spend the money on behalf of members. The chiefs came up with the very broad purposes for spending the money like health, culture, education, and jobs)
- "Do we have to come vote here or can we vote on other reserves?" (answer: yes, you can vote in any St'át'imc community. There will be 11 ballot boxes in each community)
- "What about members who are in jail?" (answer: not sure, will look into it. They should be able to vote.)
- "What if BC Hydro is privatized?" (answer: The agreements would be assigned to the new company, and also the BC govt' is guaranteeing the payments no-matter what.)
- "Exactly what are we going to lose in this agreement?" (answer: nothing is being given up, only settlement for impacts of current facilities. No rights or title or ownership is being extinguished)
We heard feedback that members have not been receiving enough information, and we'll be working on getting more information out to members, quicker. It was asked if we could come back to the community more than the two planned meetings to give more information to members, something that we're certainly open to!
Overall it was a very spirited meeting. We are looking forward to our next visit to Ts'kw'aylaxw!
Jacob Beaton
