VIDEO –Tla'amin (Sliammon) First Nation crossed into a new era after a majority of its members voted in favour of a treaty agreement.
The final poll in the treaty vote was held on Tuesday, July 10 at Sliammon Salish Centre. The threshold to pass was 50 per cent plus one of those who enrolled to vote. A total of 615 people enrolled, which meant there had to be 308 yes votes to pass.
There was silence in the gym as Fred Schiffner, the chief electoral officer, read each ballot out loud: yes or no.
When the votes were tallied, 318 voted yes while 235 voted no.
As the results sunk in, the approximately 60 people in the gym hugged each other; some smiled as tears streamed from their eyes. Brothers Erik and Drew Blaney started drumming and singing and people gathered around them, clapping their hands and raising them in thanks. At the end of the song, people applauded, cheered, hugged each other some more and wiped away their tears.
Tla'amin becomes the eighth first nation to ratify a treaty under the BC Treaty Commission process. Tsawwassen and Yale first nations and five Maa-nulth first nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island have ratified treaties.
The community has been negotiating a final agreement since 1994. Provisions include 8,300 hectares of land and approximately $30 million, as well as self-government.
The vote proceeded on Tuesday despite attempts by treaty opponents to stop it.
A group that called itself Protectors of Sliammon Sovereignty had blockaded the centre on June 16, preventing community members from voting. The band obtained an injunction preventing protestors from blocking the rescheduled vote, but the opponents went to BC Supreme Court on Monday, July 9, seeking an injunction to stop it. A judge denied their request and upheld the injunction stopping the protestors from holding up the vote again.
The dissidents had a range of concerns about the treaty, such as the amount of traditional territory the first nation would be giving up if the treaty were ratified, and the process, including allegations of voting irregularities and bribes.
RCMP were on site all day Tuesday at the polling station, but everything went smoothly and no enforcement was needed.
Tla’amin Chief Clint Williams reminded the community that the vote result was not a victory, but another step toward building a strong nation. “It’s great to be happy, to rejoice and celebrate a bit, but we must have humility with this,” he said. “There is much healing and much work ahead of us in the community.”
Roy Francis, Tla’amin chief negotiator, has been negotiating on behalf of the community since the beginning of the process. “Tonight I’m so proud to be Sliammon,” he said. “Our community has been through tremendous heartache and pain, but it’s all for the good. Change is hard to come by and Sliammon as a nation has stepped up. We’ve taken responsibility for our own future. It may not be easy, but it’s in our hands to do and I am so proud of each and every person who is in this room tonight, even those who may have voted no. We’re all family, we’re all community and our community needs so much to be better than we have been. Tonight is the first step in that direction.”
Denise Smith, a Tla’amin negotiator and former chief, said she was happy with the outcome. “I’m glad to see that so many people did vote and participate and that it wasn’t a small margin,” she said. “It was a good margin and I’m happy to see that. It’s a loud and clear message from the community that this is what they wanted, they want to move forward with the treaty.”
Elder Dr. Elsie Paul said she was happy as well. “People have worked very hard to see this happen over a lot of years,” she said. “I’m really glad. I don’t think there’s any other way to go. We have to move forward from here. Hopefully, with a lot of hard work, people will achieve the goals they need to achieve.”
Paul also said she didn’t think the work ahead would be easy. “I don’t think anyone thought it was going to be easy,” she said. “But we have to go there. It’s a new beginning, but we all have to work together.”
Canada and BC negotiators were also present for the vote count. Tom Molloy, chief federal negotiator, said the vote result was a great opportunity for Tla’amin to move forward and to “get themselves out from under the Indian Act and to develop their self-government.”
Tom Ethier, chief provincial negotiator said, he was “absolutely ecstatic about the results.” He said he was honoured to be there and proud of how Tla’amin has conducted its affairs “throughout a fairly difficult time. I’m very happy for the people who have chosen this future for themselves. I think it’s just a great result and it’s a great result for British Columbia as well.”
BC Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister Mary Polak congratulated Tla’amin in a statement. “This is a clear sign that the treaty process is alive and well and a ‘yes’ outcome to the vote helps build momentum in negotiations across BC,” she said. “Community support is important as we move toward treaty. This vote is a milestone in the journey to a treaty that will bring many benefits to the community and see Tla’amin become a full, self-governing treaty nation.”
The final agreement includes provisions for governance, land, capital, natural resources, fish and wildlife management and cultural and heritage stewardship. The total value of the treaty is estimated to be over $100 million, according to the BC Treaty Commission.
The treaty provides $8.5 million in annual funding for governance, programs and services; $6.9 million for economic development; and $662,000 in annual resource revenue sharing.
There is also $1.74 million in funding for a new administration and cultural building and approximately $834,000 for culture and language programs.
Brandon Peters, one of the treaty opponents, said the results did not surprise him. “We were expecting the worst,” he said. “There was optimism within the group, but I knew deep within my heart we weren’t going to win.”
Peters pointed out that about one third of Tla’amin band members, which he defined as people registered with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, did not enrol in the process. He said he thought all band members should have been allowed to vote without enrolling. “Essentially we have ignored one third of Sliammon’s membership,” he said.
All of the court proceedings were formalities, Peters also said, adding he wasn’t surprised by the judge’s ruling to not grant an injunction to stop the vote. “The judge wasn’t going to grant the injunction because if he had, he would have set a legal precedent,” he said. “Other bands coming up after us would have been able to use that to their advantage.”
Opponents to the treaty were at a disadvantage, he added. “The Sliammon Treaty Society had a lot of money, all the money in the world, actually, to get the things done they needed to do. The no vote hasn’t. That is something that is going to arise for bands all over British Columbia, all over Canada, in the near future. Money and position talk.”
While the opponents don’t have any major plans at the moment, “we aren’t dismissing this either,” Peters said.
One of the options the group is looking at is appealing the vote. “The judge has stated in the court case that appeal is an option,” he said.
Other first nations require a 70 to 75 per cent approval rating, Peters also said. “I thought the threshold should have been higher because the constitutional rights of a group of people are being changed. My rights and my freedoms are being redefined, what I have claim to and what I don’t are being redefined.”
In academic circles, 57 per cent is considered a C-, Peters pointed out. “It’s no great victory considering they had millions of dollars to work with.”
Peters said he wanted to congratulate the government and non-aboriginal land owners on acquiring 95 per cent of Tla’amin’s traditional territory. “It’s yours, it’s theirs, it’s fee simple,” he said.
He also congratulated the BC Treaty Commission on running a zealous campaign. “And congratulations to Canada for extinguishing the rights, title and claim of the first people.”
The Tla’amin treaty will now go to the provincial legislature for ratification and then to the Parliament of Canada to be ratified.
