A B.C. Supreme court judge is being asked to rule whether or not the Squamish Nation has too many chiefs.
The case will decide whether 69-year-old Gerry Johnston, who claims hereditary chief status of the Squamish Nation, has the right to negotiate land claims on behalf of the band, or if the power rests solely with the elected band council.
Chief Gibby Jacobs and the band council are asking the Supreme Court to strike down a land claim made by Johnston back in 2003.
That claim was made at approximately the same time as one issued by Jacobs.
According to Jacobs, who also says he's a hereditary chief and was elected to his current office, the Squamish Nation needs Johnston's land claim dismissed because it is compromising council's ability to negotiate effectively with the provincial and federal governments.
Squamish Nation council also contends that elected officials should handle these types of actions.
"The band council is the only group that is capable of handling a complex and expensive legal case on behalf of the Squamish," council member Chief Bill Williams told Justice Glen Parrett during court last week. Williams is also a hereditary chief. Johnston, who also goes by the name of Chief Capilano, contends that as a hereditary chief with a lineage that pre-dates European settlement, he is the most appropriate choice to represent the Squamish Nation in any negotiations.
This is not the lone time that Johnston has come into conflict with the band council. In 2005 he lashed out against the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) for their use of the "Ilanaaq" logo. At the time he said using the logo was an attack on native sovereignty and compared it to Russia putting its flag on top of Parliament Hill or the White House.
Jacobs rejected Johnston's argument saying that he was not speaking on behalf of the Squamish Nation.
"Like everybody else here, I'd have loved to see something with a West Coast flavor to it," said Jacobs at the time. "But if it had been, I'm quite sure there'd have been someone else complaining.
Parrett has reserved judgment on the case until later in the year.
