YOU WILL RETAIN ALL EXISTING TAX EXEMPTIONS UNDER TREATY!

We will retain existing tax exemptions and members will not pay property tax on treaty lands. These fundamental principles, which have been an essential part of our Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw treaty negotiations are now a certainty. On July 22, the Minister of Crown Indigenous Relations, Marc Millar announced that Canada is changing its approach to phasing out section 87 of the Indian Act as a requirement of modern treaties. This means that our current exemptions for taxes on our reserve lands and future treaty lands will remain.

“As the Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw negotiators have always said, our people deserve to maintain existing tax exemptions even after we ratify a nation-to-nation agreement with the Federal and Provincial Governments,” said Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw Government President and Interim CEO Chief Maureen Chapman.

According to the Federal Government announcement: “Tax exemptions for First Nations property situated on reserves have existed since before Confederation to protect reserve property. These changes bring an end to the era of First Nations community members having to trade their exemption from non-Indigenous government taxation in order to advance self-determination.”

The Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw Government negotiators had a significant role to play in advocating for this change to modern treaty making, as we know that tax exemptions are of great benefit to our people.

“We hope that this change to the federal stance on tax exemptions helps remove any barriers or concerns that our community members might have had about governing ourselves and entering into a government-to-government relationship with the other governing bodies in Canada,” said Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw Government In-house Legal Counsel Grand Chief Steven Point. “We have come a long way in our work together and look forward to taking back our jurisdiction over our lands.”

Announcing rules for Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw Government’s $500 Annual Draw and Stó:lō Signal $200 draws

WE WANT TO ENGAGE WITH YOU! WE BELIEVE IN STÓ:LŌ

We would like to encourage members to become involved in the conversation with the SXG. To encourage participation in our events, private @TheSXG Facebook Group, and other engagements, we will hold one draw for $500 every year at the Annual Gathering.

All you have to do to enter is:

• Comment on our private Facebook group posts (liking isn’t enough 😊)
• Invite your friends or family (who are SXG community members) to join our private Facebook group @TheSXG (if they accept, then we enter you and them) and/or join our group.
• Submit selfies to our Stó:lō Signal Magazine (we usually ask for themed ones, but you can be proactive and suggest a theme!) via Facebook or email.
• Come to our events (live or virtual!)
• Ask us to host a Kitchen Table gathering for you and your family and everyone that attends will be entered!
• Respond to our surveys or send us questions on Facebook or by email outreach@sxta.bc.ca.

Each interaction gets you one entry into the draw and there are no limits to the number of times we’ll put your name in.

We do have a few rules:

1. You must be a member of one of our six SXG communities.
2. You must be over the age of 18 to be included in the draw.
3. Please be respectful in your communications with us.
4. Engagements immediately after one Annual Gathering and up to and including the day of the next Annual Gathering are included in the annual draw.
5. You must attend the Annual Gathering to win (on-line or in person).
6. SXG staff, leadership and contractors are not eligible for the draw.

$200 draw

We also have $200 draws that are advertised in our Stó:lō Signal Magazine. To be entered in these, you must send us a suggestion for someone to interview for a feature in our multimedia projects. If you have completed a survey, provide a photo for our selfie requests or submit a question at an event or to our Coffee page. The winner of the previous draw will be noted in each issue of the magazine.

1. You must be a member of one of our six SXTA communities.
2. You must be over the age of 18 to be included in the draw.
3. SXG staff, leadership and contractors are not eligible for the draw.
4. $200 gift card draws will happen one month following every published Stó:lō Signal.

Other draws at individual events

When draws are held at individual events other than the Annual Gathering, spouses of members may be included.

Thank you for completing our Community Engagement Survey! We had 56 responses and found out some of these great details:

• 76% of respondents came to an engagement past two years.
• Community dinners and Zoom engagements were the most popular.
• Walking, Watersports and Gathering/gardening are people’s favourite activities.
• Movies are a favourite family activity with Community dinners coming in a close second. Hiking and Castle Fun park were other popular ones.
• Our newsletter, comic book and our website are our most popular materials.
• 90% of our respondents use Facebook! And Facebook is your favourite way to receive material.
• Our email/ebulletins are also popular ways to receive updates with community dinners coming in a close third.
• 80 percent of those who responded had voted on the Shxwelméxwelh and 73% know that we will be asking the four communities who did not reach quorum to vote again.Best of all for our busy outreach team? 48 % of respondents said they’ like to help ensure we get community members out to vote again. We will be reaching out to you!

To see the full report click here.

Results of the SXTA Shxwelméxwelh (Constitution) Vote

November 17, 2020

At this time the SXTA’s Elections Official has confirmed the following voting outcomes (click the image for a larger view):

NOTICE ON THE STATUS OF THE VOTE ON THE CONSTITUTION

TO: ALL ELIGIBLE MEMBERS OF Áthelets (Aitchelitz), Ch’iyáqtel (Tzeachten), Leq’á:mel (Lakahamen), Sq’ewá:lxw (Skawahlook), Sq’ewqéyl (Skowkale), and Yeqwyeqwí:ws (Yakweakwioose) First Nations.

Dear Community Members:

An announcement of the result of the Vote on the Constitution will be made on Tuesday afternoon (November 17), following receipt from the Chief Electoral Officer of the Certified Final Outcome for each First Nation.

Please check back for updates.

The SXTA Leadership appreciate everyone who turned out to vote, and appreciate your patience as we await the official announcement of the result.

We heard you! Our leaders agreed to the following changes to the Stó:lō Xwexwílmexw Shxwelméxwelh based on our community members’ input.

XWEXWÍLMEXWÓ:LLH LÁLÉM –  YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

• The age range is amended to 14 to 25 and an alternate will also be appointed. If the youth is elected to council, another Youth Advisory Council member will be chosen.

SÍ:YÓLEXWE LÁLÉM – ELDERS ADVISORY COUNCIL

• We added a standard term of four years for Elders representatives and included an alternate.

SI:YÓ:MELH LÁLÉM – GRAND CHIEF ADVISORY COUNCIL

• The Grand Chiefs Advisory Council was removed. Villages can consult with Grand Chiefs by appointing them to the Elders Advisory Council

 DECISION MAKING

• To address concerns around representation of our varied communities at the National Government table, leadership has decided to aim for consensus or use another process that will become part of the Governance Act. This act will be one of the first laws our new nation will create once we are self-governing.

See the full explanation in our NEWS BULLETIN