Vancouver Meeting Summary

The Vancouver meeting was held at the Native Friendship Centre on Tuesday, January 25th. This was our second urban meeting and it was very well attended by over 60 interested St'át'imc members. The meeting was opened with a prayer and song from elder Tom Oleman from Tsalalh. After introductions and opening remarks from key negotiators Mike Leach (St'át'imc) and Tom Molloy (BC Hydro), we launched into the presentation with St'át'imc legal council Brenda Gaertner covering the summary of the agreements.

After the bulk of the overview presentation, we broke for dinner. Blessing for the meal were provided by Chief Art Adolph from Xaxlip. The meal was excellent, although there were so many people that there was a big food lineup, and space for eating was cramped. This was the second meeting where we received more people than expected, and future meetings in urban locations will be in bigger spaces and have more food!

After the meal, we reconvened to finish the info presentation. An overview of the projected value of the Trust was given, and Chiefs handed out projected settlement amounts to their members.

Some of the top questions during Q&A revolved around the benefits to all members, concern over the amount of time left to review the agreements before a vote, and having everyone's current addresses so we can get them information packages.

There were a wide range of questions that were answered by St'át'imc representatives. Toward the end of the meeting, the focus of questions and comments settled on how to be prepared for the jobs, contract opportunities, and how to use the settlement to best benefit members.

Chief Perry Redan gave a rousing speech about the importance of working together. He held up his community as an example, as they need help from other community members to respond to opportunities and move forward.

Overall the meeting went very well and ended on a positive note with many forward-looking and uplifting comments from St'át'imc members.

Jacob Beaton