SPA al PCN SRO RES OR DE ARE phe em TS, nat meet Te oh Ee Ee SED, 0 Sythe ate ot erga NV etna oak sy gpefodereek LOE ie eT ES NT FE Ps ee core Canada’s Number One Suburban Newspaper December 1, 1985 News 985-2131 Classified 986-6222 Circulation 986-1337 56 pages 25¢ , WEST VANCOUVER A VOTE today by Squamish Indian Band members will confirm whether four of 16 band council members and two council secretaries will be fired. _ The vote is the result.of a tommittee investigation into a. land’. dispute on the Capilano reservation that has arisen over the construc- tion of one band member’s Rouse on the lot .of its seoeunpstacerane tee a9 ete LO ENG draenei roe cleat . absentee owner. The controversy involves .lot transfers between family -members related to Squamish Band chairman Dave Jacobs. Also implicated in the land deals are head of hous- ing Joe Mathias, band man- ager Glen Neuman, housing cheque signer Richard Williams and council secretaries ‘Andrea Jacobs, and Bonnie Dan, Members of the committee of inquiry, who say they have conducted an extensive investigation, also say they have been threatened with violence and consequently prefer to stay anonymous. But the committee members say they will oc- cupy the Squamish Band of- fice on Monday if the four council members implicated in the land dealings are not dismissed, as recommended. ‘| Reynolds cha The controversy has arisen over a verbal agreement made in the early 80s be- tween Roger Antone, owner of band lot 47, and Melvin Jacobs, owner of adjoining band lot 46, which stipulated. that the two owners switch lots. honie on Antone’s vacant lot 47, while Jacobs would re- main with his family in an old house on his lot. When the new house was completed, Jacobs then move into it-and have his old house removed from slot 46. Ownership of the two _ properties would then be’ switched. That _ agreement original was completed without official documenta- “tion. In 1983, Stuart. Jacobs, Melvin Jacobs’. nephew and. the son of Squamish Band . chairman Dave Jacobs,: ask- ed Antone if he would switch lot 46 for an un- disclosed alternative lot. The agreement, though tentative- ly made, was not put in writ- ing. soe Jacobs subsequently ap- pealed to the 16-member Squamish Band Council for permission to begin con- struction of a house on An- tone's lot 46. Council agreed on the condition that another Iot would be made available to Antone when he was released from the Van- couver half-way house where he currently resides. Subsequent attempts by Antone’s sister Velma Baker to have the band council put ownership confirmation of that alternative lot in writing were unsuccessful. Stuart Jacobs began con- struction on lot 46 on August 2], though transfer of the property was not yet According to the agree-.” ment, Jacobs would build. a- would: completed. That transfer was arranged on Oct. 16 by Andrea Jacobs, mother of Stuart Jacobs and the band’s secretary of housing, and . Bonnie ‘Dan, secretary for the band council. ; Band member - Jo-Anne ' Aird, who has worked close- ly.” with’ the five-member committee, said Friday that Antone, who has a grade- three education and cannot read, signed the transfer agreement under pressure without understanding it. That. agreement, . which transferred Antone’s lot ownership to a smaller property, was allegedly authored by secretary Dan. On October 24, “Antone’s sister Velma appealed to the band council to have con- struction on lot 46 stopped. The five-man committee of inquiry was subsequently set up .by ‘the band council, under the chairmanship of band member Bill Williams. At a November 24 band meeting called to address the committee’s recommended . dismissals, a majority of the." 186 Squamish band members in attendance voted to hold a second meeting to vote on | the dismissals. in that se- | cond meeting, 134 votes were cast in favor of. dismissal. - But in a meeting the fol- lowing day, the band council declared that second meeting “to be illegal. : Called as a supplemental! ballot, today’s vote will decide whether the. four ccuncil members are irideed fired. “The band is set up to be a.democracy,"’ Aird said, “but right now it is a dic- tatorship.”” Indian band chairman Dave Jacobs was unavailable for comment Friday.