Snuneymuxw First Nation members are voting on whether to accept $42 million in federal compensation for the government’s failure to protect the southern part of the nation’s historic Teytexen village on the east side of the Nanaimo River as promised in a treaty.
The nation’s chief and council are recommending that members vote in favour of the proposed settlement.
The funds would compensate the nation for the loss of 58.3 acres, including homes, gravesites and displacement of members from the village.
Half the money would go to individuals — the chief and council have endorsed a plan to give $10,000 to each nation member. Funds would be held in trust for minors until they are 18.
“We are committed to ensuring that the remainder of funds will directly benefit all members of Snuneymuxw and our future generations,” said an information package from the chief and council.
It did not say how many eligible voters there are, but the nation has a population of about 2,000.
Members can vote in person on March 2 and 3 in the Snuneymuxw gym at 1145 Totem Rd. in Nanaimo. Online voting began Feb. 3 and members can also vote by mail.
For the agreement to pass, 25 per cent of all Snuneymuxw voters plus one must take part in the vote and a majority of those who vote must be in favour, the package said.
The agreement does not include any new land and would not affect Aboriginal title and treaty rights, it said.
The nation could acquire 58.3 acres elsewhere and apply to have it added to the reserve.
Under the 1854 Sarlequnn Treaty between the Snuneymuxw and the Crown, the nation’s villages and cultivated fields were to be surveyed and protected for the nation, but the Crown breached its legal duties and obligations, the package said.
The northern part of the village was reserved in 1860 for the nation but the southern portion was given to settlers, it said.
“It was taken from us and this is what we are being compensated for,” it said. “It is an important village site where Snuneymuxw practice our culture and way of life.”
The village of Teytexen, which means to “go upstream,” was part of the nation’s cultural, kinship and economic and traditional legal systems, and the southern portion was important for cultivating potatoes, hay, camas and fishing, the package said. The Snuneymuxw filed a claim for compensation in 2001. The federal government offered $5 million but the nation wasn’t satisfied and negotiations continued.
To arrive at a compensation figure, the First Nation and federal government carried out joint studies between 2020 and 2023 to estimate the land’s current market value, and to calculate losses related to land, fisheries and coal.
The Snuneymuxw sought compensation for other losses, including gravesites, displacement, loss of homes, distress due to tensions with settlers, and the loss of timber, agricultural, harvesting, travel routes and cultural areas, the package said.
The chief and council are working with the Petroglyph Development Group — the First Nation’s economic development arm — and the Thlap’Qwum Trust on a 10-year financial plan to improve the quality of life for the nation.
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