Legal Update: 11 January, 2023

Written By Kwantlen Communications

Your Kwantlen Band Council continues to work for you, in accordance with our nation's customary laws.

Meanwhile, Marilyn Gabriel and her gang seek to overthrow the laws of our nation, and maintain hereditary rule over Kwantlen. This is being done, in spite of the stated opinions of:

Time and time, and time again, the Kwantlen people have made their wishes clear. Marilyn Gabriel's absolute hereditary rule over Kwantlen does not have our support. Marilyn Gabriel and her gang can point at no other example where she has won the support of the Kwantlen people, not since the 1993 vote in the people's General Assembly she seems to want us to forget about. She might want us to forget about that, because the General Assembly held on November 27th, 2022 - in which she was removed - was done in accordance with the 1993 vote, and so is in keeping with our customary laws.

Marilyn Gabriel and her gang don't want to respect our Nation's customary laws. They don't respect the will of the people.

In 2019, when we asked Marilyn why hereditary rule was good, she replied - on audio tape:

"when we work with many many the government and big corporate companies, they’re very grateful that they have consistent councils, it’s not, because they have to, a lot of times the businesses, the economics are kind of unsettling for a lot of the business groups and the government, because of the turnovers within the council. Having it every 2 to 5, 4 years election."

So what is the main benefit for hereditary rule? It's, in Marilyn's words, for non-Native government, and for big corporations. It's not for you. And this is why your wishes don't matter to her, and why she is fighting so hard to thwart your wishes - the wishes you have expressed again, and again, and again? It's not about you, it's about the people Marilyn serves: non-Native government, and big business - the people who in a very real sense, pay her, and pay her a lot more than any other chief in this region.

Today, Marilyn's lawyers, lawyers paid for with your money, sent a letter to the Kwantlen council demanding that we shut down our website, shut down the council elected under our nation's customary governance rules, and turn everything over to her. She went out of her way to oppose the off reserve services agency - an independent agency designed to provide support for band members who don't live on McMillan Island - and live within sight of her house. Why would someone who cared about the Kwantlen people, want to refuse services and supports to them? Maybe it's because these supports wouldn't go through her?

Please click below to see the attached letter from Marilyn's lawyers. As usual, it contains falsehoods. It says a governance code has been ratified by this Council. That has not been done. That is for you to decide in a vote. Marilyn’s letter makes major errors about the nature of the off reserve services agency, but that's what we can expect from them.

This council absolutely rejects the letter from Marilyn Gabriel and her gang. We represent the will of the Kwantlen Nation, as expressed through our customary laws. And we will stand before you on any day of the week, any place, any time, and we will ask you for your support - and if we lose your support we will leave, because this is your nation. It isn't our private property, and it certainly isn't Marilyn's. A nation belongs to it's people. We have called a referendum to begin on January 22nd, because we are willing once again to stand and be judged by you. If Marilyn's case is so strong, her support, so firm - why is she afraid to do the same? We've asked her, again and again. We've tried to hold talks with them. They won't talk. There is only one way for Marilyn and her gang - and that's her way.

Well, that's not the Kwantlen way. The Kwantlen way is the way of the Kwantlen people. And we will stand before you and prove it, and if needed, we will stand before Canada's courts - with the support of experts, and other Nations, and defend it.

Think about this, if Marilyn truly has the support of the law behind her, why did she send a letter to you that she claimed was from the Sto:lo Tribal Council? The media showed that was false, it wasn't from the Sto:lo Tribal Council. Why hasn't she said anything about it?

Think about this, in 2019, when a petition of band members asked Marilyn to leave, she launched a series of consultations on governance reform. The nation participated in huge numbers, and in 2021, the mediator came up with a final report. Marilyn's gang promised to produce a new governance code and bring it to a vote. What happened with that? It called for a larger elected council, and a more constrained hereditary chief. And then it disappeared. As recently as last fall, Marilyn's gang was promising to bring it forward. Now they say it wasn't legitimate, and they want to do new consultations to - it seems - create a governance code for a permanent hereditary government. That's not what Kwantlen people told them we want. So how are they even able to do this?

How can Marilyn do this, and even afford these lawyers? It's because of the Indian Act. Marilyn likes to suggest that her group represents sovereignty, and the 70%+ of us who want reform, are colonized and want Indian Act rule. The truth is, that the Indian Act, and the ministry it created are the only things keeping Marilyn in power. Again, as she has said - she serves Government, and Big Corporations.

We serve you. We stand before you for judgement on January 22nd. And Marilyn's gang is doing everything they can to stop us, and by extension, to stop you from expressing your wishes on how you will be governed. They’re using Kwantlen’s money – your money – to do this. We will not let them. We will continue to fight.

Kwantlen Communications
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Legal Update: 12 January, 2023
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