Haisla Nation Council (HNC) is elected every two years and consists of ten Councilors and one Chief Councilor, elected on a separate ballot. Council is responsible for setting and managing the Nation’s budget and for representing the Haisla people in dealings with Canada.
Haisla people have given the elected Haisla Nation Council the authority to represent them and to act on their behalf in seeking funding support for Kitamaat Village. Haisla Nation administration currently provides municipal services and local delivery of social, educational and developmental programs.
The administration is recognized as a competent and progressive organization by all agencies with whom they do business. HNC devotes time to ensuring that all relevant government agencies and stakeholders understand and support their economic development plans.
Over the years, the elected Haisla Nation Council has worked to secure many benefits for the Haisla Nation. One of the biggest was its work on saving the Kitlope Valley, the world’s largest intact old-growth coastal temperate rainforest watershed, from further logging. For its work, Haisla Nation Council received a British Columbia Provincial Award from the Ministry of Environment in 1995.
Stakeholders Relation Committee’s role is to develop recommendations and action plans to put forward to Council for consideration. As the name suggests, they work with external groups and stakeholders with a mission to foster the creation of positive, sustainable economic opportunities to benefit Haisla members.
The Executive Committee acts as an intermediary body to ensure that the operational side of the organization is performing in a satisfactory way through monitoring. The role of the Executive Committee is to set the expectations and monitor the performance of the Administration. The Executive Committee is accountable to Chief and Council, and primary responsibilities includes developing and proposing recommendations to Council, and tracking the performance of the administration and ensure expectations are being met.
Members are encouraged to write to Council with any suggestions or concerns. Here are the steps in the process for writing to Council.
In alignment with elected Chief and Council's dedication to provide membership opportunities for engagement, and considering time constraints when tackling agenda items, discussions at our 2024 Council Retreat led to a proposal that was agreed upon at the December 2024 duly convened meeting. This proposal involved adding a second meeting date to the monthly schedule. The goal of this approach is to ensure that there is ample time for both membership discussions and for addressing time limitation concerns.
Haisla Nation Council is the elected decision-making body that sets the overall direction of the Haisla Nation in organizational and community planning. One committee has been established as a branch of Haisla Nation Council which is the Committee of the Whole (COTW).
The Committee of the Whole (COTW) serves as an intermediary body, ensuring that the organization's operational functions are running effectively and to a satisfactory standard. The role of the COTW is to set expectations and monitor the performance of the Administration. The COTW is accountable to elected Chief and Council, and primary responsibilities include developing and proposing recommendations to Council and tracking the performance of the Administration, ensuring expectations are being met. Agenda items passed at COTW level will be addressed at duly convened meetings.
Haisla Members are welcome to attend any duly convened council meeting. For those who do not wish to attend but would appreciate a meeting summary, summaries for all duly convened meetings will be released electronically for Haisla membership via the membership portal on haisla.ca and the private membership Facebook page.
The schedule for the meetings is noted below – please note dates are subject to change:
| Haisla Nation Council Monthly Meetings for 2025 | |
| Monthly Committee Meetings | Monthly Duly Convened Meetings |
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To submit a letter/email to council or to request a Microsoft Teams meeting invite please email the Clerk to Council. There is a process for letter/email submissions and emailing the Clerk to Council is the first step in the process. The Clerk to Council will acknowledge receipt of all submissions and will follow up again once the submission has been addressed.
Contact details for Duane Grant, Clerk to Council are as follows:
Email: dugrant@haisla.ca Phone: 250-639-7626
Thank you.
