OTTAWA — The federal government is “concerned” about a tiny B.C. First Nation that has received $9.1 million in federal transfers since 2001, harvested hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of lumber, incurred more than $3 million in government loans to negotiate a land claim but hasn’t held an election since 1987. Yet Ottawa has given no indication it will break from its non-interference policy in the case of the Da’naxda’xw First Nation, despite complaints from some off-reserve members who allege there is a “dictatorship” on the remote island reserve near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. The Da’naxda’xw (pronounced Da-NUK-dah) have been ruled for a generation by Bill Glendale, who is described as a “hereditary chief” in a 1987 band resolution signed by 21 members, and his wife, Anne. Both are 83. They and their late son, Fred, have been the only council members since the resolution was passed. The only other residents on the reserve are the Glendales’ children and grandchildren, numbering 17 in total. The resolution declared that Bill Glendale would “take his rightful place as the hereditary chief,” adding that “this custom shall pass from generation to generation until such time as the tribe wishes to change it back.” Some of the estimated 200 off-reserve Da’naxda’xw have complained for years to the federal government, the B.C. Treaty Commission, and now tell The Vancouver Sun that they have been deliberately excluded from the decisions relating to treaty negotiations, lumber harvesting and band operations — a charge the Glendale family rejects. “It appears that the department of Indian and northern affairs enabled the current leadership to (be) in a position of dictatorship,” wrote band member Nicole Hajash, a lawyer, in a 2010 letter to John Duncan, the Conservative MP for the area and, at the time, minister for aboriginal affairs. Hajash, currently chief administrative officer for the Naut’samawt Tribal Council that advises 11 B.C. First Nations in areas such as economic development and governance, told Duncan that members are so frustrated, they “border on a feeling of hopelessness that we will witness democracy in our lifetimes.” Robert Duncan, who says he is one of four Da’naxda’xw hereditary chiefs and a critic of the Glendales, said the lack of consultation undermines the spirit of the treaty talks involving the federal and B.C. governments. “It really makes a mockery of this whole treaty process,” Robert Duncan, who is not related to the former Conservative minister, told The Sun. A spokesman for federal Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt, who replaced John Duncan earlier this year, said the government is looking into the matter. “We are concerned with the allegations and will be following up with the department and the First Nation to gather the facts so that we can be of assistance in resolving the dispute,” Jason MacDonald said in an emailed statement. The Da’naxda’xw is one of 343 First Nations, of a national total of 617, whose elections are governed by “custom code” rather than the Indian Act or, in 36 cases, through self-government agreements.

The federal government has a policy of non-interference in disputes involving custom code bands, declaring they must be resolved by the community or through the courts. MacDonald said the department’s policy is to only intervene to force elections in “exceptional circumstances.” Band manager Molly Dawson, one of the Glendales’ children, said the Da’naxda’xw have no interest in regular elections. “That’s how the Canadian government works, yeah,” Dawson told The Sun in a telephone interview. “Our traditional hereditary system doesn’t work like that. Ask all the First Nations: the Canadian election system isn’t working.” She also argued that off-reserve members are apathetic and haven’t shown up in significant numbers when the Da’naxda’xw called two meetings to address complaints — once in the 1990s and once in 2010. The Da’naxda’xw became a custom code band in 1972 and the resolution handing power to Glendale passed in 1987. That predates changes to the rules for custom codes in 1988. Since then, any First Nation developing a custom code election system has had to ensure its electoral formula was in compliance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Among the requirements was ensuring off-reserve members could participate, in accordance with a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision. Some First Nations have governance systems that include a role for hereditary chiefs. But experts contacted by The Vancouver Sun — including University of Ottawa law professor Bradford Morse — were not able to identify other examples of a band being run by a single family without an election for 26 years. A Senate committee report in 2010 declared that “at no time” have bands been permitted by Ottawa to revert to a “non-electoral leadership selection regime.” Sophie Pierre, head of the B.C. Treaty Commission that was established by Ottawa and Victoria to facilitate land claim negotiations, said First Nations can’t begin negotiations until they have proven they have a mandate. But, asked if the commission has questions about the Da’naxda’xw First Nation negotiator’s mandate since it entered the claims process in 1993, Pierre said the commission’s approach is similar to the federal government’s non-interference policy. It is “not our role to make a judgment call about who is rightfully at the table ... that’s up to the community.” Former minister John Duncan said he has been concerned about the complaints, and arranged meetings between dissidents and departmental officials. It’s not realistic, he said, to assume First Nation members will have the resources to take a case against a First Nation to the Federal Court of Canada. He said the federal government may need to adopt a new policy, or even pass legislation, to ensure bands stick to basic democratic principles. “The department has a long-standing policy of non-intervention and in some cases we have certainly opened ourselves up to the charge there’s a lack of transparency and a lack of democracy,” he told The Sun. “I do think it needs to be addressed so people can be assured that appropriate safeguards are in place.” The Glendales live in the village of Tsatsisnukwomi, also known as New Vancouver or “New Van,” which was abandoned in the 1960s due to a lack of public services and schooling opportunities. (That’s the band’s spelling of the village; the B.C. government uses a slightly different spelling).