An internal shakeup at the Skin Tyee Nation has left the community without access to nearly $4 million from its Royal Bank of Canada  (RBC) bank account for more than three months.

According to elected councillors Gabriel Tom and Shirley Wilson the crisis began in August 2024 after the band manager was removed by the council. Shortly thereafter, Skin Tyee Nation's elected chief, Ryan Tom, who had assumed office in April, was voted out by an overwhelming majority of band members during an emergency meeting vote in October, Gabriel Tom said.

Chief Ryan Tom, councillors Gabriel Tom and Shirley Wilson were listed as signing authorities for the bank account along with the band manager. All banking authorizations require two signatures at any given time.

After chief Ryan Tom's exit, amidst the organizational shakeup, the two remaining councillors, Gabriel Tom and Wilson, found out they had been removed as bank signatories.Gabriel Tom said he and Shirley Wilson's access to Skin Tyee's internal IT services was also revoked, locking them out of their email accounts. 

The Skin Tyee governance consists of an elected chief and two councillors. To remove any of the three signing authorities would require signatures from the other two members of the council. Gabriel Tom, who is now the deputy chief, said neither he, nor Shirley Wilson were aware of such a decision.

Upon raising this issue with the bank and asking to be reinstated as signing authorities on behalf of the band, RBC froze the band's account with nearly $4 million in it, Gabriel Tom said.

Councillor Gabriel Tom said when they asked the bank to unfreeze the account, RBC asked the First Nation to provide a judicial statement, signed by a Supreme Court judge, which would list a signing authority.

But with no access to the band's account, Gabriel Tom said there was no money to pay lawyers.

And without money, the First Nation is also unable to hold a by-election to elect a new chief, said Skin Tyee hereditary chief Helen Michelle (Ludooks).

"We can't do that until we have access to our Royal Bank account... We're waiting, our people are waiting, everybody is out of wood out here," Michelle said.

"We have no garbage removal, we've got nobody plowing the roads for us here, we have a lot of elders that are living in this community that are out of wood. No garbage removal. People are hurting," she added.

RBC has declined to comment citing privacy concerns.

"While we cannot speak to the specifics of this matter, we can share that we are communicating with our clients directly," RBC spokesperson Jim Payne said in an emailed statement. 

The situation has left the Skin Tyee Nation unable to pay employees, including band councillors, and more urgently, has prevented members on income assistance or disability from receiving vital payments, councillors Gabriel Tom and  Shirley Wilson said in a statement. 

Families are unable to afford basic necessities such as groceries, diapers, and medicine, they said.

Meanwhile the councillors want the federal government to intervene and want RBC's regulators to restore access to the band's accounts.

Lakes District 亚洲天堂 also reached out to Indigenous Services Canada to request information on the governance structure of Skin Tyee Nation and the impending by-elections.

Indigenous Services Canada official Sylvain-Nicolas Bourgeois said Skin Tyee Band鈥檚 leadership is determined through its own electoral system outside provisions of the Indian Act.

"The department has no role in how the community鈥檚 leadership is selected," he added.