PROCEEDINGS OF COUNCIL

Meetings of Council

(1) The Council shall meet at least once per month and may regulate its meetings and proceedings at it sees fit.

(2) The Quorum at Council meeting shall be three (3) Suw’en Sci’em and six (6) Spokespersons exclusive of Senate Elders.

(3) No official business of the Band may be conducted unless a quorum of the Council is present at the meeting.

(4) The Councillors shall meet at the call of the Chief or any two (2) of the Councillors.

(5) Five (5) clear days’ notice of any meeting shall be given to all Councillors provided that notice may be dispensed with if at least three-quarters (¾) of the Councillors shall waive in writing the giving of such notice.

(6) The Council ‘will:

(a) endeavour to make all reasonable efforts to achieve consensus in any matters effecting the business of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation;

(b) if no consensus is reached, then the Council shall vote on the issue;

(c) if a majority of votes is reached on any particular issue, then the resolution is passed;

(d) if the vote is tied, then the Elders’ Senate will break the tie by a revote, or the Chief may break the tie as the Council may may decide;

(e) on any issue that the Elders’ Senate and the Council vote jointly, the majority decision shall authorize the Council to implement the decision.

INVOKING A FULL GENERAL ELECTION

The purpose of this Part is to allow for, in extraordinary circumstances, the dissolution of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council in its entirety and invoking a Full General Election on a day other than one scheduled for a Regular Election. Under this Part, this process can be invoked by either the Council itself or by the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Membership.

Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council May Vote for Dissolution

  • The Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council shall as soon as practicable call a Full General Election for the Office of Chief and all Offices of Councilor, when
  • four (4) of the five (5) members of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council vote in support of a motion to call a Full General Election at a special meeting of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council; or,
  • an affirmative membership referendum occurs in accordance with sections 7.8 - 7.14 of this Code to call a Full General Election.

Dissolution Vote by Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council

The Chief or a Councilor may declare at a Regular Meeting of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council that a Special Meeting of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council take place for the sole and express purpose of voting to invoke a Full General Election. The special meeting must be at least fourteen (14) days after the request, and not longer than twenty-one (21) days after the declaration. All members of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council must receive written notice of the Special Meeting. This notice will contain:
  • the Special Meeting date, time and place;
  • the reasons for declaring that a Special Meeting occur to vote on the question of invoking a Full General Election of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council;
  • the proposed date for the Full General Election; and,
  • the names of the Chief and/or Councilor(s) requesting the special meeting.
At the Special Meeting a vote will be held whereby each of the Chief and Councilors verbally indicate their vote in turn by stating "yes" or "no" to the question of invoking a Full General Election. The vote will only be successful if two-thirds (2/3) of the Snaw’naw’as First Nation Council state "yes" to the question of invoking a Full General Election. Membership Petition and Referendum
  • A referendum shall be invoked by a petition of Snaw’naw’as First Nation electors if the petition indicates thirty-five (35) percent of the eligible electors wish to hold a referendum for the purpose of invoking a Full General Election.
  • A Full General Election will be held if the referendum results indicate that two-thirds (2/3) of the eligible electors are in support of a Full General Election being held.
Petition
  • The petition must be conducted in a fair, transparent, and open manner by the petitioning party.
  • The petition process must be completed within seven (7) consecutive days, to be determined by the Electoral Officer.
  • To be successful, the petition must contain at least thirty-five (35) percent of the signatures of the eligible voters as of the last election process.

Referendum

If the Electoral Officer ascertains that the petitioning process is successful, the Electoral Officer shall post notice of a referendum to call a Full General Election. This notice will contain the date, time, and place of the Referendum, and a copy of the successful petition. The Referendum will be conducted in accordance with the general guidelines provided in this Code for the conduct of elections, with the exception that only those electors who were eligible to vote during the last election process, are eligible to vote in the Referendum.

 

The Referendum to call a Full General Election will only be successful if two-thirds (2/3) of the eligible electors vote in the affirmative to invoke a Full General Election.

||<<BACK | FORWARD>>||

||<<HOME>>||