Thank you to the Cheam people for supporting me in the role of Chief. I am honored and humbled to hold this position and am committed to the betterment of our community and our people. I am prepared to make the necessary sacrifices and stand strong for each and every person from Cheam. There is much work ahead of us. I intend to work hard to earn the trust of the Cheam people.
The new Cheam Council has skills and experience that bring a lot of value to our community, I look forward to working alongside them for the next two years. I am optimistic that we can help support positive change for our community and people.
The protection of Cheam’s inherent rights and title, and our traditional lands, water and environment are important. We, as Cheam people, have a rich history and hold inherent rights and titles to a vast territory. This is part of our sacred inheritance, and it is our responsibility to protect and exercise our jurisdiction over these lands, solh temexw. We have been alienated too long from solh temexw, and I intend to work with all of our people to gain our rightful place back as it relates to this.
Our people need to have the opportunity to heal from the intergenerational traumas that many of us hold. This healing work is ongoing. Let’s work together to heal and also build ourselves up strong so we can create a future that has our people healthy, happy, educated and prosperous. We need to come together and support one another and work with our Sto:lo relatives from other communities to thrive within our solh temexw once again. We should recognize that we are not each other’s enemies, for too many years we have been played against one another, forced to fight over the scraps that have been left to us by colonialism and the theft of our land and resources. Let’s work together to gain back our rightful place here in solh temexw. We owe it to our ancestors and our grandchildren to heal, be strong and stand in our rightful place here in our homelands. This is a vision I know many of us share.
We will be building proper communication with the Cheam people. We intend to hold monthly meetings, which will start in February 2024. As well as other community meetings, and community participation to get direction and foster positive discussion about how we move forward on important topics that affect all of us.
I understand my role and look to our matriarchs and our elders to help guide me through these next two years. I want to support our youth and help build them up through the creation of sports teams and activities for all youth and Cheam members.
Let’s work together and create the positive future we all deserve.
Yalh ye kwas hoy
Eyteleq Darwin Douglas Chief of Cheam