Political tensions have not eased in Hitacu.
Last July, a group of Ucluelet First Nation members held a protest outside their government building and attempted to evict the First Nation’s president Les Doiron from the community over what they saw as a lack of transparency from their government.
Those protestors have since formed a group named Citizens for Change, which met on Sunday to hear concerns from Nation members and discuss strategies for moving forward.
After the meeting, a spokesperson for the group provided a statement to the Westerly News, explaining that frustration among the Citizens for Change has increased since the July protest, in part, because they feel transparency issues have not been addressed.
“The citizens continue to be concerned with the level of transparency and accountability,” the spokesperson said. “We feel we still have no voice within our community. We still feel unheard by the government and we still have questions unanswered regarding the decisions that are being made at the governance level. So, we don’t feel there’s been a positive change.”
The spokesperson added that the group was referred to as a “snake pit,’ by Doiron during a recent public meeting.
“That kind of sets what the tone is at,” they said. “It’s been an uphill battle and we continue to pursue all avenues and alleyways that we can.”
President Doiron, who was elected in 2015, told the Westerly News that he has “nothing to hide,” adding that his government is transparent and has fulfilled about 100 freedom of information requests from citizens.
“The money that we’ve spent on that as a Nation is around $100,000 and they found nothing. Zero. They’re looking for a thread to pull on and there’s nothing there,” he said adding he believes some of the Nation’s members are struggling to understand the changes made to the Ucluelet First Nation’s government after signing the Maa-nulth Treaty in 2011.
“We are transparent and there is a big difference between transparency and confidentiality. We are a government. We are not an Indian Act Band anymore. We are not a Chief and Council…We are a legislature and president.”
Doiron spoke to government staffing changes that sparked unrest within the Nation last summer, explaining those changes were needed.
“We had to make numerous changes inside the government. We have a treaty that needs to be implemented. We had people that were not qualified, sadly, and we made changes and brought in people that are qualified and they [the Citizens for Change] find it disturbing,” he said adding it is impossible for a leader to be liked by everyone.
“Being in the political world, one thing I learned really quick is that is not going to happen. You’re going to have that five to 20 per cent that are going to hate you because you wear black, or you wear red, or you wear glasses, or your opinion is different, or I didn’t hire their cousin or uncle or auntie. But, at the end of the day, what I need is people that are qualified.”
He said his government is focused on filling gaps that he feels were left by the Nation’s previous administration.
“We’re struggling. Our businesses are struggling because process was never followed. We’re cleaning up a really tragic mess,” he said. “It’s certainly no fault of this government, or the staff, or the crew, that’s working down there right now. This is something that was inherited.”
He confirmed that he said ‘snake pit’ during a recent meeting and said he was referring to how he feels walking into some meetings.
“I said, ‘Sometimes it feels like coming into a snake pit.’ At no time did I call any of them snakes. I said that’s the feeling we get because that’s what these people bring. They bring negativity and that’s all they bring to the table. There’s been nothing constructive whatsoever,” he said. “I welcome any constructive criticism at any time.”