Since the rise and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments throughout the world have worked quickly to adapt to the situation, and Tsawwassen First Nation is no different.
On March 26, all TFN employees who could work from home began doing so, working diligently to adapt to the unique circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. With most work now occurring remotely, including a range of different government meetings, risks to staff and the community have been reduced.
Executive Council has taken steps to further mitigate risk to residents on Tsawwassen lands by limiting access to the Member Housing Area by non-residents. Funding has been made available to members to support them with the negative financial impacts of the pandemic and programs and services have adapted to continue to provide all necessary supports to members.
One governance area that has received a great deal of attention from governments across British Columbia and Canada throughout the pandemic is taxation. With a range of amendments and new approaches being enacted by other governments to mitigate negative economic impacts, the Tsawwassen Government has also considered what similar steps may look like for TFN.
As any potential amendments to the Property Taxation Act falls under the responsibility of the Legislative Assembly, Executive Council has called a special session of the Legislature running from May 11th, 2020, to May 15th, 2020. Meetings of the Legislature are planned from 5:30-9:00pm on Monday, May 11th, and Wednesday, May 13th.
In order to accommodate a meeting of the Legislative Assembly, given the circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the meetings of the Legislature will be held electronically using Zoom software. TFN is following other levels of government who have similarly engaged in such special protocols.
TFN staff are working to ensure that the electronic format will run as smoothly as possible and in as cohesive a manner to ordinary legislature meetings as technology will allow. As usual, members of the public will be able to join the meeting online, with details on that to follow.