The BC Treaty Commission is condemning the actions of a small number of Tla’amin Nation members who halted a treaty vote this past weekend.
“The small number of Tla’amin members who blocked the doors to the polling station in Sliammon village near Powell River have trampled on the rights of the Tla’amin people,” said chief commissioner Sophie Pierre in a statement.
The incident, which occurred Saturday, June 16, caused the vote to be postponed.
Mary Polak, B.C. minister of aboriginal relations and reconciliation, has also issued a statement condemning the blockade.
“This is not a First Nations issue,” she said. “This is about democracy. Voting is a fundamental right of every Canadian.”
She added that the B.C. government has been working with the Tla’amin Nation since 1994 to negotiate the treaty that was to have been voted on.
“In Canada, self-determination has and always will be obtained through the ballot box – not through intimidation.”
Polak added that the province will work to reschedule the vote, and work with the parties and the RCMP “to prevent a repeat of today’s affront to Canadians’ democratic rights.”
Details of the yet-to-be-ratified treaty agreement were released last fall. (See “Tla’amin negotiators initial treaty final agreement” – October 24, 2011.)
