Procedures
Enrolment & Eligibility
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.
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.
Ratification
For our Treaty to come into effect, it must first be ratified by Kitselas Members who have enrolled to be part of a Kitselas Treaty (Kitselas voters). To ratify the Treaty means the Kitselas Members give formal consent to the Treaty, making it official. For the Treaty to be ratified, Kitselas must have a ratification vote where the enrolled Kitselas voters will vote on the adoption of the Kitselas Treaty.
Constitution and Treaty Vote – April 10, 2025
Enrolled Kitselas voters will vote either ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on the Constitution and the Treaty. More than 50% (a majority) of the registered voters must vote for the Treaty to be ratified.
For example, if the official voter list is made up of 500 enrolled voters, 251 voters must vote for the vote to count.
Of the people who vote, 50% plus 1 must vote ‘yes’ for the Constitution and Treaty to be approved or “ratified.” If 400 members vote, then 201 must vote ‘yes’ to ratify the Constitution and Treaty.
After the Vote
If the majority votes ‘yes’ to the Kitselas Constitution and ‘yes’ to the Treaty, BC and Canada must then each pass laws to approve our Constitution and Treaty and set the date when the Treaty comes into effect—the ‘Effective Date.’
During this time, Kitselas will work on the many steps required for us to become a Treaty Nation—the ‘implementation’—from hiring many new staff to passing Kitselas Laws required by the Treaty.
If the majority votes ‘no’ to the Treaty, BC and Canada will not negotiate a better deal, Kitselas will remain an Indian Act band, and there will be no more funding for the Treaty.
Implementation
Following a successful ratification process and a ‘yes’ vote to the Kitselas Treaty, Kitselas, BC, and Canada must take steps to prepare for the Treaty’s Effective Date, estimated to be three to four years from now, and implement the Treaty.
Currently, Kitselas, BC, and Canada are developing the Kitselas Implementation Plan, which outlines each clause or step in the Treaty and who must take it to successfully implement our Treaty. Work on the Implementation Plan is well underway and will be ready in mid-2025.
Also, some steps are being taken to prepare ourselves to implement the Treaty now. For example, new job descriptions are being developed. Additional preparations for the implementation of the Treaty can only begin after the ratification of the Treaty.
Treaty Information Sessions About Procedures
FAQs About Procedures
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.
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.
A: A listing of the Enrolment & Eligibility Committee members and their policies and procedures are available here.
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.
A: Yes. All Kitselas Members are eligible to enrol.
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.
A: Enrolled Members can vote on the Treaty and Constitution in person on April 10, with options to vote online and by mail-in ballot opening mid to late March and running until April 10.
A: For the Treaty and Constitution to be ratified, a ratification vote must take place where enrolled Kitselas voters cast their votes. More than 50% of the registered voters must participate in the vote, and of those who vote, at least 50% plus one must vote ‘yes’ for the Treaty and Constitution to be approved.
A: If the majority votes ‘yes,’ BC and Canada must pass laws to approve the Kitselas Constitution and Treaty. They will then set an ‘Effective Date’ for the Treaty. During this time, Kitselas will begin the implementation process, which includes hiring staff and passing necessary Kitselas Laws.
A: If the majority votes ‘no,’ the process ends. BC and Canada will not negotiate another deal, and there will be no more funding for Treaty-related work.
A: The Kitselas Implementation Plan is a detailed roadmap developed by Kitselas, BC, and Canada, outlining each step and who is responsible to successfully implement the Treaty. This plan will be ready by mid-2025.
A: If the Treaty is successfully ratified with a ‘yes’ vote, Kitselas, BC, and Canada will begin taking steps to implement the Treaty, following the outlined Implementation Plan.
A: Yes, some steps are already being taken to prepare for the Treaty’s implementation. However, additional preparations will need to take place after the Treaty is ratified.
A: From today, the Kitselas Treaty’s Effective Date may be three to four years away, giving time to prepare for full implementation. In addition, some of the Implementation Plan has to be done before the Effective Date, but the remainder can be done after the Effective Date.