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20 June 2014
Spookw Lawsuit Against the Gitxsan Treaty Society is Dismissed
NEWS RELEASE
JUNE 20, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Spookw Lawsuit Against the Gitxsan Treaty Society is Dismissed
Smithers, BC. On Wednesday, June 18th, the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiffs’ claim against the Gitxsan Treaty Society in Spookw v. Gitxsan Treaty Society, 2014 BCSC 1100.
In the action, the plaintiffs sought the winding up of the Gitxsan Treaty Society (“GTS”). The plaintiffs had chosen not to be members of the GTS and instead came to court for relief from the outside. In dismissing the plaintiffs’ claim, Justice McEwan held that the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the GTS under the Society Act, or the incorporated references to the Company Act.
Gwaans, Bev Clifton Percival, Negotiator says: “The Gitxsan Chiefs are relieved as this closes a dark chapter where a small group of people utilized public AANDC program dollars to ask the court to endorse their differing views against the will of the majority of Gitxsan Chiefs”.
In its Reasons for Judgment the Court found no evidence that the GTS had lost the support of the Gitxsan community as a whole. The Court reaffirmed that the process adopted by the GTS to provide each House an opportunity to participate in a meeting to elect directors and to give further direction to the GTS properly balanced respect for the traditional form of Gitxsan governance and community-wide engagement.
Justice McEwan further held that the plaintiffs’ claims against the GTS were ultimately bound to fail, and ordered that the action be dismissed without the need for a trial.
The full judgment can be viewed at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/SC/14/11/2014BCSC1100.htm
The news release can be viewed in pdf form by clicking here
Gwaans (Bev Clifton Percival) office:(250) 842-6780 or cell: (250) 847-0603
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