Tla’amin Annual Report 2023-2024

Message from the Hegus on the release of the Annual Report.

Tla’amin Nation is in the midst of a great comeback, and it’s an honour to serve as hegus and witness our community’s strength and resurgence.

From the completion of 41 new homes this year to the launch of our first-ever ʔayʔajuθəm immersion program for the čičuy, we are a community on the move. Strengthened by self-government based on our Ta-ow, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.

This year I want to highlight work our Nation completed in two policy areas: citizenship and funeral practices.

Determining Tla’amin belonging is sacred work that should never have been the business of the federal government. I raise my hands to our all-woman citizenship committee for rewriting our law so that we, as Tla’amin people, could recapture our responsibility to determine citizenship.

The good thing and the hard thing about self-government is that our problems are ours to solve.

The second policy area was our community conversation about office closures and Tla’amin funerals. Our workforce has grown and so have the essential services that we deliver and that our citizens depend on.

I’m proud of how our citizens and workforce brought forward their ideas and proposals to find positive solutions that respect our teachings and our need to provide essential services.

The announcement of the sale of the tiskʷat site in 2023 set off a powerful chain of events, providing an opening for our reconnection to our original village at tiskʷat. A Memorandum of Understanding, negotiations with Catalyst, and acceptance of our specific claim followed. I heard it said, and truly believe, that the ancestors are putting the wind on our backs with tiskʷat.

It’s always been about the land; we belong to this place and have adapted and cared for it, and it has cared for us. We have a growing and thriving cohort of young leaders coming up, and the key to unlocking opportunity for them is a solid made-in-Tla’amin Land Use Plan. Zoning our TSL for housing, cultural, and economic uses is a key priority ahead.

We owe our ancestors and Elders a debt of gratitude to be here today. The laws, regulations, and social norms created to disadvantage and sideline our people for the last 150 years haven’t worked. I am full of hope for this year to come and wish you all a year of health and growth.

?imot

Hegus John Hackett

Download the 2023-2024 Annual Report [PDF]

Download schedule A – Remuneration