Governance
Penelakut Tribe is governed by its elected Chief and Council and is striving towards becoming a self-governing community.
The Tribe is working towards self-governance by ratifying the Penelakut Tumuhw Land Code and signing a Framework Agreement with Indigenous Services Canada.
Self-Governance
Penelakut has signed their Framework Agreement with Indigenous Services Canada and is working towards ratifying their Penelakut Tumuhw Land Code. This is an incremental step towards self-governance as it removes 44 sections of the Indian Act. Self-governance will be done through the process of the “Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group”, which has reached Stage 5 in the treaty.
Elections
Penelakut Tribe is working on updating their election policy, but currently elections are based on the two year term that is set out by the Indian Act. In January of 2020, Penelakut Tribe will be hosting a community open house for their nominations for the upcoming election. Voter packages will be mailed out to all eligible voters, so please update contact information. The official election dates are scheduled for February of 2020.
Chief & Council
Penelakut Tribe has Council elections every two years, which allows for 9 Council members and 1 Chief Council. First, there is a community meeting that gives people the opportunity to nominate potential candidates; furthermore, this list of nominees are used for the election ballots.
Hulquminum Treaty Group
The Hul’qumi’num [HTG] treaty table is in Stage 5 negotiations to conclude the treaty.
Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group represents five communities: Cowichan Tribes, Halalt, Lyackson, Ts’uubaa-asatx, and Penelakut. HTG traditional territory encompasses part of southern Vancouver Island, a narrow corridor on the mainland to Yale in the east, and sections of the Salish Sea. In the Duncan area, north to Ladysmith, east to the Gulf Islands and west to Cowichan Lake. There are approximately 6,490 HTG members.
For more information please refer to the following website: BCTreaty.ca
Community Plans
Spune’luxutth is working to continue to grow their community by inclusive planning and utilizing our team to execute the plans. Community engagement is an important part of planning and developing together to ensure that we are all growing together with similar visions for our community.