31420-12-1 SAWRIDGE, Indian vs. ROLAND, Twinn et al

F14
1 membership process and chief and council is moving through membership applications in
2 anorderly, appropriate way, that the Sawridge Trustees can genuinely look at that, do
3 their due diligence, and say we know -- we know that individuals who are qualified for
4 membership are going to be recognized as members at some point over the course of this
5 process. Versus trying to avoid what may indeed be a bit of an awkward issue, because
6 ofthe history of the membership disputes in the Sawridge community, and then end up
7 back in a situation where the trust cannot function because of some of the administrative
8
9
problems that could arise.
10 And, My Lord, it’s, I think appropriate to direct the Court’s attention at this point to the
11 order of the relief we’re seeking in this regard. And I -- we’ve dealt with that on page 31
12 of our original brief. We’re hoping to be permitted to ask for information around the
13 number of pending Sawridge membership applications, including sufficient particulars to
14 determine whether the pending applications affect the interests of any minors. That’s, of
15 course, of paramount concern to the Public Trustee if it is indeed appointed as litigation
16 representative. We don’t know what the current status is, but we know in the past there
17 have been possibly hundreds of applications that are outstanding. It stands to reason that
18 we likely have minors who are affected by those applications. The Public Trustee would
19 need to be able to examine that to determine what in fact -- what group they were in fact
20
21
representing, My Lord.
22 Secondly, the details of the current Sawridge band membership criteria and process
23 including who makes membership decisions and normal timeframes for making
24 membership decisions. Those matters, My Lord, are not -- not being delved into to try
25 and launch a Constitutional challenge, not being delved into to try and launch individual
26 membership entitlement claims. They would be delved into, My Lord, to determine
27 whether or not we’ve got certainty of objects is being dealt with and whether or not the
28 Sawridge Trustees under this proposed new definition could meet their obligations to
29 identify and determine all members of the class before they conduct any form of
30
31
distribution from the trust.
32 And then the third point, My Lord, is to be able to inquire what steps (INDISCERNIBLE)
33 been taken to date by the Sawridge Trustees to look into those matters in order -- in other
34 words, is it currently functional for the Sawridge Trustees with this proposed definition to
35
36
meet their duties, to identify -- to identify the entire class of beneficiaries, My Lord?
37 My Lord, I’m just -- I’d just refer the Court to our reply submission where we respond to
38 some of our friends’ comments on relevance of questions on membership. And that
39 portion of our brief runs from paragraph 62 through to paragraph 78. Turning to
40 paragraph 72 of that submission, My Lord, we certainly noted that in paragraph 123 of the
41 Sawridge Trustees’ brief they appear to acknowledge and accept that there is some duty to