Enrolment in the Kitselas Treaty is now open! You need to be enrolled if you want to vote on the Kitselas Constitution and Treaty.
As a Kitselas Member, you can enrol to vote on the Kitselas Constitution and Treaty. If you do enrol in the Kitselas Treaty, then after the Treaty’s Effective Date, you can:
- Vote in elections
- Recieve Treaty benefits
- Exercise Treaty rights
- Run for elected office
- Attend the annual Kitselas People’s Assembly
- Enjoy rights and freedoms described in the Kitselas Constitution
Enrolled members may be eligible to receive a Treaty benefit payment if the Ratification Vote is approved and possibly another payment on the Effective Date; however, no amount has been approved or confirmed.
Joining the Kitselas Treaty is up to you; you can sign up to enrol whenever you want. You don’t have to do it right away—you can wait and see how the Treaty works for Kitselas first.
FAQs About Enrolment
Q: What is the enrolment process?
A: The steps to enrol for the Kitselas Treaty are:
1) Applicants review the enrolment criteria.
2) Applicants complete an enrolment application form and submit it to the Treaty Office for review.
3) Kitselas Enrolment Registrar receives and reviews applications for completeness (including signature).
4) Kitselas Enrolment and Eligibility Committee reviews applications against the enrolment criteria.
5) Applicants are advised if their application is approved (enrolled) or not.
Q: What happens if I don’t enrol in the Kitselas Treaty and Kitselas votes “yes?”
A: You would remain a Canadian Status Indian with all the rights and benefits (programs) of any other Status Indian in Canada (tax exemptions, health benefits, etc.). Kitselas First Nation will continue to be your administrative contact. If you don’t enrol, you won’t be entitled to any new or additional Treaty benefits. You can enrol in Treaty anytime; the right to enrol doesn’t end with a Treaty vote.
Q: Who is on the Enrolment & Eligibility Committee?
A: A listing of the Enrolment & Eligibility Committee members and their policies and procedures are available here.
Q: Is there an enrolment deadline?
A: There is no enrolment deadline; if you are eligible, enrolment continues forever. But if you want to vote on the Constitution or Treaty, you must enrol to vote.
Q: Are Members who live off-reserve eligible to enrol?
A: Yes. All Kitselas Members are eligible to enrol.
Q: Why do we have to enrol before we can vote on the Treaty? Can’t we just vote?
A: As a Status Indian, you currently have Rights enshrined in the Canadian Constitution. For the Treaty, you give up those “Rights” under the Indian Act – no great loss, we think – and replace them with much stronger Treaty Rights. By signing your Enrolment Application, you legally acknowledge this change.
In addition to all individuals on our current Kitselas Band List, who are ‘automatically’ eligible for enrolment in Treaty, ‘non-Kitselas’ people excluded from membership by the Indian Act but with Kitselas ancestry or who were adopted as children may also be eligible for enrolment. Looking forward, as a Treaty Nation, we will decide who is and is not a Kitselas Member. Thus, limiting enrolment to those on an existing Band List restricts our right to choose.