the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en are opposed to tmx, but the elected chiefs have signed off on it. Please explain their government structure

Question

the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en are opposed to tmx, but the elected chiefs have signed off on it. I am not understanding the weight and voice these unelected chiefs have on a matter debated and decided by their elected chiefs. So can someone please explain how their band government structure works

This is also not supposed to be a debate about tmx, just my seeking to understand a very loud groups role in the process of it being built

In: Other

Answer 1

Basically elected chiefs were created out of the Indian Act, and are essentially the governing authority for the reserves. Hereditary chiefs, as the name implies, are titles that are passed down through families, and that “chain” of titles pre-dates the Indian Act.

As you might expect given the history behind the role and the title, hereditary chiefs still command a lot of respect and influence. I understand that part of the issue in BC is that lot of land there hasn’t specifically been ceded by treaty but is still subject to indigenous claims, and so there is an argument that the authority of the elected chiefs doesn’t apply to those lands, and so the hereditary chiefs have jurisdiction there.