A response to Marilyn Gabriel

Today, the lawyer for Marilyn Gabriel released a letter to the Band at large, stating their view of the election on November 27th.

They made many statements on Kwantlen tradition which are at odds with statements made previously by Ms Gabriel, and which are contradicted by the written record. This type of thing is no surprise to Band members, who are used to this kind of talk by Ms Gabriel.

We are particularly concerned about their suggestion that there isn’t currently a “true” consensus on Kwantlen’s governance. It’s insulting to say that after years of third party mediation and consultations. It’s disrespectful to the time and work Kwantlen people put into those consultations - consultations, which we should remind you, Ms Gabriel didn’t participate in. As far as we can tell, she has never reached out to the people to ask their views of her rule, or her system - though her lawyers claim in their letter that this system has wide support.

Re-doing the General Assembly

That all aside, one thing that does stand out in the letter is the identification of certain issues they had with the vote on November 27th. Our lawyer has sent Ms Gabriel a response today, offering to work in partnership with their legal team to re-do the November 27th vote. We will work with them to bring in more band members, to add a secret ballot, and other measures to make the vote as inclusive as possible and to address every single one of their concerns about the vote. We have proposed December 22nd as the date for the new General Assembly.