Last weekend, Squamish Nation members voted to strip two elected representatives of their seats after an independent investigation revealed $1.5 million worth of emergency funding was not properly accounted for.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, approximately 306 Squamish Nation members attended a scheduled general meeting for band membership at Chief Joe Mathias Centre in West Vancouver. It was the first public forum in which members were able to ask chiefs and council questions regarding the investigation, Squamish Nation member Beverly Brown said. The audience did get some answers regarding the report, however chiefs and council withheld a lot of material due to confidential clauses, Brown said.
“We are shareholders under corporate structure for our own-source revenue, so they [chiefs and council] need to give us full disclosure,” she said.
Squamish Nation customs allow the will of its people “to be expressed by way of motions passed at two duly convened meetings” of Squamish Nation membership. The membership motioned to have Krisandra Jacobs, the former band services department head and elected councillor, and Glen Newman, elected band manager, vacate their elected positions because of details surrounding the band’s “emergency fund.”
The investigation for the band council by lawyer Nazeer Mitha revealed Jacobs and Newman spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in three years from the Squamish Nation’s emergency fund without keeping proper records about who was given the money, what it was used for or providing adequate supporting documentation.
The investigation stated that while the band had a proper process for assessing who should get emergency funds and providing that money, most of the time, Jacobs and Newman ignored that. Instead they had cheques made out to themselves personally, which they cashed to provide money to band members without keeping proper records.
“One fact that is clear from the information, is that cheques were made payable to Mr. Newman and Ms. Jacobs on a very frequent basis,” wrote Mitha.
Jacobs and Newman abused their positions of trust using Squamish Nation funds for their personal benefit, or to influence voters, Brown said. As a result, members vote initiated the process of having both individuals vacate their elected seats. The membership also passed a motion that neither individual could run for an elected position in the Squamish Nation until a full accounting and reimbursement of the suspected missing money had been made.
The membership asked that chiefs and council take any and all steps, including criminal or civil processes, to obtain a full accounting of funds received by Jacobs and Newman as set out in the investigation. They asked that the band obtain re-imbursement of misappropriated Nation funds.
The membership asked for a complete forensic audit for the last 15 years be completed, it would include all band businesses and departments, Brown said.
On Nov. 16, Squamish Nation membership will reconvene for a second meeting and hold a second vote to pass the motions.
