{"id":87073,"date":"2024-11-18T09:24:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T14:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=87073"},"modified":"2024-11-18T09:24:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T14:24:49","slug":"blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/18\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Blueberry River First Nation Elder calls for governance reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ed Hitchins Local Journalism Initiative FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 Members of Blueberry River First Nation (BRFN)\u2019s elders council have announced the removal of councillor Shelley Gauthier during a press conference in Fort St. John on Friday afternoon. Under band custom, Gauthier represented the family of Edward Apsassin, and family members did not agree that their best interests were being represented. Family members expressed serious concerns, including an overall lack of transparency and undermining the family\u2019s trust. BRFN Elder Clarence Apsassin expressed his concern about the First Nation&#8217;s governing structure at a conference room in the Holiday Inn Express off Alaska Highway. According to Apsassin, the decision to remove has been posted in BRFN offices for at least two weeks, and the motion to remove Gauthier will be presented&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Print Subscription Only members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F11%2F18%2Fblueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ed Hitchins Local Journalism Initiative FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 Members of Blueberry River First Nation (BRFN)\u2019s elders council have announced the removal of councillor Shelley Gauthier during a press conference in Fort St. John on Friday afternoon. Under band custom, Gauthier represented the family of Edward Apsassin, and family members did not agree that their best interests were being represented. Family members expressed serious concerns, including an overall lack of transparency and undermining the family\u2019s trust. BRFN Elder Clarence Apsassin expressed his concern about the First Nation&#8217;s governing structure at a conference room in the Holiday Inn Express off Alaska Highway. According to Apsassin, the decision to remove has been posted in BRFN offices for at least two weeks, and the motion to remove Gauthier will be presented... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Print Subscription Only members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F11%2F18%2Fblueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blueberry River First Nation Elder calls for governance reform - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/18\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blueberry River First Nation Elder calls for governance reform - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ed Hitchins Local Journalism Initiative FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. \u2014 Members of Blueberry River First Nation (BRFN)\u2019s elders council have announced the removal of councillor Shelley Gauthier during a press conference in Fort St. John on Friday afternoon. Under band custom, Gauthier represented the family of Edward Apsassin, and family members did not agree that their best interests were being represented. Family members expressed serious concerns, including an overall lack of transparency and undermining the family\u2019s trust. BRFN Elder Clarence Apsassin expressed his concern about the First Nation&#8217;s governing structure at a conference room in the Holiday Inn Express off Alaska Highway. According to Apsassin, the decision to remove has been posted in BRFN offices for at least two weeks, and the motion to remove Gauthier will be presented\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/18\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-18T14:24:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-18T14:24:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Blueberry River First Nation Elder calls for governance reform\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-18T14:24:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-18T14:24:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/11\\\/18\\\/blueberry-river-first-nation-elder-calls-for-governance-reform\\\/\",\"name\":\"Blueberry River First Nation Elder calls for governance reform - 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