Help save Virginia and Styx's home

The Kwantlen chief is trying to take my mother's house from our family, and has gave us 32 days to get out, just a few weeks before Christmas.

My mom, Virginia Jago, had a rent-to-own home on the Kwantlen reserve. A little house on a street next to her grandkids. She lived there with her partner, Styx. She watched the kids almost daily, cooked for the community, and Styx helped out all over rez. When she got sick, Styx took care of her.

Before she died, she told everyone that she wanted to make sure that Styx would be able to stay in the house for the rest of his life, and then pass the house on to her granddaughter, Jackie. After she passed, we talked with the band about this, and the band councillor confirmed in writing that Styx could stay. The chief confirmed this to Styx in person.

But 2 weeks ago, the band called Styx in and told him he had to leave - and they gave him 32 days notice. They did this a day after he got out of hospital, after being rushed there by ambulance from work on reserve. Styx is sick, he has serious health conditions that prevent him from working full time. He has no savings because of the long time he spent off work grieving and then dealing with his health. He has no resources to move, and the family doesn't have enough resources to manage this in such a short period of time.

Because the band had previously promised that he could stay, there was no time to save money or prepare for the move. We appealed the decision, citing the band's promises to us - but they rejected it and at the same time, moved up his moving date by several days.

We have spoken to lawyers, and they've told us that what the band has done, dealing with this in a secret meeting, giving less than 30 days notice now, and going back on their promise - all to evict a sick person with strong ties to the community - none of this will stand up in court, and if we pursue this in court, he would be allowed to stay. If this were off reserve, we could go to a housing tribunal, but for reserve, the only option is court.

So we are asking for your help to cover some of the legal costs, because the retainer is too much for us to cover at this point. We need to file the court case this coming week, in order to get an 'interim order' stopping the eviction. Any donation will help. What the band is doing is wrong, and it shouldn't be allowed to stand.