ENDERBY – A group of Splatsin First Nation elders has convinced the band council to call off a referendum planned for Saturday.
Voters were to decide whether to accept a federal government offer of $300,000 for the loss of an ancestral native graveyard which is now part of a farmer’s field.
READ MORE : Splatsin first nation elders plan meeting to encourage ‘no’ vote in referendum
A person at the band office confirms the referendum has been cancelled but won’t say why.
Elder Jody Leon says her group is ecstatic at the cancellation.
Leon says the band council has recognized the elders are the knowledge keepers and their input shouldn’t have been by-passed when the referendum was being considered.
The elder group wants a full archaeological study of the graveyard area and wants the land fenced and memorialized with a ceremony and monument.