At the direction of the Chiefs Executive Council, a Recognition Agreement was negotiated with the federal government to protect and advance our Syilx Nation’s collective Title and Rights. This would require the federal government to make a significant funding commitment to support the Syilx Nation’s work to develop and implement our Syilx Nation governance. Even though the agreement was approved in principle by Cabinet, the federal government has informed our negotiators that it ran out of time to get the necessary Finance approvals needed for this agreement to be signed before the Fall 2019 election. Syilx Nation level and local community discussions on the Recognition Agreement that were scheduled for this August had to be postponed.
Pending the outcome of the federal election, it’s important to keep working together in our Nation to understand the precedent-setting importance of this Recognition agreement for our people today and for our future generations.
At the same time, our Syilx Nation rebuilding and decolonization work continues through the community-led Syilx Nation Rising process. We continue the work of our ancestors to rebuild a unified Syilx Nation government guided by ankc’x̌ʷiplaʔtntət uɬ yʕat iʔ ks səctxət̕stim – our laws and responsibilities which we will create and approve together as Syilx Nation members.