Wednesday, April 26, 2000 —- North Shore News - 3 quamish leader takes on new role Gibby Jacob to continue negotiations Deana Lancaster News Reporter dlancaster@nsnews.com THESE are historic times for the First Nations of British Columbia. Bernween land — claims issues, treaty negotiations, planning for the funire and taking on new responsibilities inherent to self-government, native leaders face pressure. So when the Sguamish Nation Council asked Chief Gibby Jacob to take over the work of the late Chief Joe Mathias, who passed away on March 10, he almost refused. He changed his mind. “The chief (Joe Mathias} chose me for a reason. If he had confidence in me then I should step up to the mark and just be thankful he did have confidence in me,” Jacob said Jast week in the Squamish Nation offices. Mathias was the chief negotiator for the Squamish Nation — in fact, he helped set up the B.C. Treaty Commission to facilitate treaty negotiations. Jacob will now take over those negotiations on behalf of the Squamish Nation. It is currently at stage three of a six-stage process: negotiating a work agreement with the provincial and federal governments. The agreement will define the “substantive identify procedures and set out a dmetable. According to Jacob, a draft of the nation’s substantive issues has been approved by chiefs and council. The next step is to take it to the membership. “We'll be delivering a few years of work to them,” he said. Although the con- tents of that draft are not yet on the public record, he did say the band would be negoti- Te ee: NEWS photo Paul McGrath SQUAMISH Nation Chief and councillor Gibby Jacob is about to tackle land claims issues and treaty negoti- ations as Chief Joe Mathias’ successor. almost 3,000 is expected to double in 20 years. The need for housing and land is increasing. The nation will seek to reclaim some of its tra- ditional territory, of which only about 20% is now populated, he added. Jacob is as emphatic about the responsibil- ity of council to the Squamish people as Mathias was, but where his predecessor was small in stature and described as eloquent, — imposing, but with a quick wit, “Our always held the position that - i | Mathias { : | third party lands are not on H : | chief Joe the rable.” he said in answer to questions about negotia- dons for land. “My position was thar if we do go after third party lanJs, we're only going after land that is paid for, We don’t want mort- gages. “That was a joke,” he added hastily. Also defined in the treaty will be the nation’s powers of government. A constitution will dictate “what kind of owers our government will fold. Ir will dictate the responsibilities our members will have to one another.” He added thar all of these upcoming responsibilities and tasks will not be faced by him alone. The nation’s other chiefs and councillors are working with him, as well as a small group of advisers. Final decision will be made by the eneral membership. Jacob has spent all bur three of his 48 vears living on the North Shore, on the Capilano Indian Reserve No. 5. “I’m a lifer.” His career with the nation’s administrative body began in 1981 when he was elected councillor and has included roles as a maintenance supervisor, looking after the capital assets of the nation; as head of housing; and in public works, handling all of construction for the nation. Recently, he worked on land, resources and environ- ment issues, About six years ago, Mathias asked Jacob to join him at the treaty negotia- tion tabic. “(The Squamish Nation) have a vision, it’s a vision that has long been there... I issues” the parties have agreed to negotiate, establish the objectives of the negotiation, City rules in place for ods staff study a proposal to ban the proliferation of pawnshops in the city and prohibit the expansion or relocation of existing dealers. Only one pawnshop is currently located in North Vancouver, however. The pawnshop at the centre of the recent debate is the newly- opened North Shore Pawnshop on Lonsdale Avenue, operated by Ron Williams and his wife Christine Henry. Williams and Henry, who also operate a pawnshop in T angley, first noticed the vacant storefront at 91 Lonsdale months ago. “We thought it was a perfect location, right in a high-traffic area,” said Williams. “So we decided on it, filled out the proper forns and the city told us we were all set to go.” However, when he went to city hall to pick up the licence, the city refused to hand it over and told him that council was recon- sidering his application. “The paperwork was done and the licence was already paid for when they told me that,” he said. “It came across as a big con- spiracy to have this thing held up.” In the end, Willems was granted the proper paperwork and is now licensed to operate North Vancouver’s only pawnshop. Coun. Barbara Perrault woutd like it to stay that way. She believes pawnshops promote high crime rates and urban decay within cities and attract a criminal element. “We're concerned about the guy who has his bike stolen and then finds it in a window of a shop down on Lonsdale,” she said. Seaman agreed with Perrault on that count. “Pawnshops are attractive to thieves because that's a place where they can sell stolen goods,” he said. . . Williams, however, said that his store would never knowingly accept stalen merchandise. . “We need to protect ourselves as well,” he said. “Why would we accept stolen merchandise when there’s the risk of getting bust- ‘ed by the police and being shut down?” The city’s current bylaw stipulates that every licensed second- hand dealer, junk dealer or pawnbroker keep a register of all arti- cles received and that the fedger be open for the inspection of police and city officials at all mes. ; Dealers are also required to provide the RCMP with a daily used gi From page 1 ating for “money in different forms.” ¢ also sai the band’s membership of fiery and emotional; Jacob is a bear of a man will rake it as far as I can.” BN NEWS photo Mike Wakefield NORTH Van City Coun. Barbara Perrault is pushing for more stringent regulations to govern buying and sell- ing used goods. She would like to see a longer holding pericd to allow for stolen items to be recovered. report of all articles received and hold those items for a period of 72 hours. That time Jimit is far too short, Perrault believes. “Sometimes it takes a lot longer than three days for people to even realize that something’s been stolen from them. The bylaw is not designed to protect the victims.” She would like to see the holding period extended to 30 days instead. “As long as (Williams and Henry) keep their noses clean, they're OK,” said Perrault, who also heard a rumour that another pawnshop was eyeing a vacant spot on Esplanade between Lonsdale and Chesterfield. West Vancouver District has no pawnshop classification. They have nine licensed “antiques and second-hand goods” dealers, however. North Vancouver District has only one second-hand store within city limits. Williams labeled the city’s proposal as discriminatory, and said that if he had known he would be in for this sort of treatment, he wouldn’t have opened up a shop here at all, He invited Perrault and her fellow councillors to take a tour of the new store and ask questions if they had any doubts about the sort of business that takes place there. “(Perrault) has no idea what a pawnshop is all about,” said Williams. “She’s probably never been in one. I don’t buy that garbage about urhan decay,” he said. “I have plenty of seniors who come in here. Does she consider that urban decay?” He wondered why Tesla Electronics Ltd., also on Lonsdale, is allowed ty bill itself in the Yellow Pages as a pawnbroker when it is licensed to operate only as a second-hand store. City officials confirmed the store was classed as a second-hand store and not a pawnshop. Perrault admitted that second-hand stores might also merit study by city staff before any proposal could be considered complete.