‘ Finally, I can plan to bring my family back here’
She gradually became convinced that any treaty should include not just additional land and a cash settlement but also self- government and an end to the Indian Act on Tsawwassen land.
In 2007, after 12 years of negotiations, Tsawwassen members voted 130 to 50 in favour of a treaty settlement. The deal was the first urban treaty in Canada and the first modern treaty negotiated under the B. C. Treaty Commission process.
The Tsawwassen First Nation treaty took effect in 2009. Some of the community’s long- term residents and many leaders of other First Nations bands, including Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B. C. Indian Chiefs, opposed the treaty. They were troubled by the TFN’S decision to cede all further claims to aboriginal title on other land. Some band members also found it hard to give up long- standing tax exemptions.
Baird shared those concerns but concluded, “It’s a case of not letting the perfect get in the way of the good. There could always be more: more land and more money.
“But I thought losing another generation to the status quo was just not acceptable.”
Members returning
TFN member Andrew Bak, 42, grew up on the old Tsawwassen reserve, but left in the ’ 80s in pursuit of greater opportunity.
“It was a tough place to be a teenager, I’ll tell you that,” said Bak.
“There was a sense of isolation. And it was a little taxing at times to be constantly reminded that you lived in a place that was fundamentally different from everywhere else.”
Bak found work in the film sector and in the music industry as a musician and lighting technician. Bak is the drummer for the Antiquus, a heavy metal band that has toured extensively in Europe.
Bak became active again in Tsawwassen affairs in the late ’ 90s, inspired by the prospect of a treaty he believed could revive his troubled community.
“The world changed when the treaty was ratified in April 2009,” said Bak, sitting in the Si’em Café on Tsawwassen Drive across from the TFN’S main office.
“Finally, I can plan to bring my family back here. This is where they belong.”
Bak now lives in Ladner, in a condominium with his wife and two young children. He is an elected member of the TFN legislature and works in its government services section.
In the pre- treaty era, Bak was unable to use his inherited land as security to get a mortgage because he had no real land ownership, just a certificate of possession.
Now Bak has real ownership and the value of his property on TFN land has tripled over the past three years.
“Finally we’re at the point where our lands can be treated like lands in the adjoining municipality.”
Bak believes that other Tsawwassen members who live outside the community will eventually come home.
“We want to make it a community where people who left can come back and be educated, have employment and recreational opportunities, and reimmerse themselves and their children in aboriginal culture in a proper setting.”