Chief Ron Giesbrecht
On the same day Metro Vancouver's tiny Kwikwetlem First Nation voted to re-elect its controversial chief, another member relaunched a civil suit trying to claw back an $800,000 bonus paid to the band's leader in a 2013 land deal with the provincial government.
Ron Jackman refiled a statement of claim in New Westminster's B.C. Supreme Court on March 31 seeking to recover the money paid to Kwikwetlem Chief Ron Giesbrecht. Meanwhile, Mr. Giesbrecht won 30 votes to fellow candidate George Chaffee's 16 in the band's election, despite the bad press the chief's massive payout garnered last year.
Mr. Jackman and Kristina Joe, whom he said was being pressured by fellow band members, withdrew a similar claim in Federal Court last October. The lawsuit alleges the bonus came from a deal between the Kwikwetlem and the province concerning 264 hectares of Crown land on Burke Mountain, to which Mr. Giesbrecht had secretly agreed to extinguish aboriginal title. Mr. Jackman said this deal broke the chief's "fiduciary commitment" to the band, which has 82 members.
Mr. Giesbrecht was unavailable for an interview this weekend. He made national headlines last year when details were revealed, under the new federal First Nations Financial Transparency Act, of his remuneration of $914,219 (which included the $800,000 bonus) and expenses of $16,574.
Mike Hager