Treaty open house well-attended by entire Prince George community

Dozens showed up to an open house hosted by the Lheidli T’enneh, the province and the federal government on the Lheidli T’enneh treaty.

The First Nation will vote on their treaty for a second time this October.

“We agreed on the content of the treaty in 2006,” says consultant Richard Krehbiel, who served as Director of Treaty Policy and Research during that process. “The First Nation voted in March, 2007 on whether or not they would agree to approve the treaty and they defeated the treaty by about 12 votes, a narrow margin.”

Krehbiel says there were a few reasons that first vote failed.

“There were a number of reasons that people voted against the treaty. Many of them voted because they didn’t understand it and so they didn’t want to take a chance. Most people that voted against it believed that Lheidli T’enneh wasn’t ready to take on the responsibilities of a treaty yet and that was a bit of a surprise. What’s going on now is we’re going through the process of re-explaining to members and explaining to new members, what the treaty’s all about – it’s very complicated – what it means for the Lheidli T’enneh people to be a treaty first nation and some of the upsides and downsides of that.”

The open house featured maps of lands and resources that will be covered by the treaty if it is adopted.

In order to pass, the treaty must have the support of at least 51% of eligible Lheidli T’enneh members.

“I’m really gratified by what I’ve been hearing of the turnout, says Prince George City Councillor Susan Scott. “We have a commitment in our city and we want to know more.”

She says understanding the treaty is important for all members of the Prince George community.

“I hope that everybody takes the opportunity to check out the website and to examine all of this and to better understand what’s going on so that we can, as a whole community, support one another and support the process.”

You can find out more information on the treaty here.