The keynote speaker at the governance workshop was Satsan (Herb George). Before serving six years as the BC regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, he was a key figure in the Gitxsan and the Wet’suwet’en Nations. He was a strategist for the successful Delgamuukw decision before the Supreme Court of Canada. Trained in both law and education, he currently is president of the National Centre for First Nations Governance. The following are excerpts from Satsan’s talk to NmTC leaders.

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I couldn’t help but sense something really, really important coming from you. In business terms, it is called ‘critical decision time’. Sometimes an opportunity comes along just once in a while and if you miss it, you have to wait a long time before that opportunity comes along again. I get from you a tremendous sense that this your Critical Decision Time. There is a real good feeling here… a generosity of spirit around.

It is a testament to the fact that: we’re still here; we’re maturing; we’re looking in the right places which is our own traditions, our own history, our own law, our own language, our own lands. All these things define you as a nation. I would like to comment on that because you don’t run across it every day. I think you need to grab a hold of that while you’ve got it.

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I look around and see a lot of young leaders here. You’re not future leaders. You are leaders today. It is nice to see this happiness coming from you. Don’t let anybody take that away. It belongs to you.

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When it comes to leadership, there are three broad elements to keep in mind. You have to have vision… not just looking to the future - Vision is also about utilizing everything that comes before you… Walk on, walk on in the breath of Grandparents. Our Grandparents are always with you. They are always talking to you and guiding you. They are helping you to overcome difficult times and allowing you to have a clear mind for the future.

Being able to bring it forward so people can understand. So that they can be part of it. They want to be taking action with you, not waiting around in the background. That leadership can cause a people to follow and be with you.

The third element is good judgment. In the potlatch hall, that is one of the key things we learn, because if we’re not going to have good judgment, we’re not bringing forward and carrying out a vision and we’re not going to be able to convince people that this is theirs. We need them to be involved.

The most effective form of leadership, that our elders have told us again and again, is to be able to give it up to the people so that they are empowered. If we just keep it to ourselves, we end up walking by ourselves.

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Our elders say, there is nothing new when it comes to self governance. And they are right, because we had it for thousands and thousands of years. It was interrupted for a time, but the collective memory is still there.

It comes down to getting organized, and that is what I sense here today. That you are ready to get organized. You’re raring to go.

The bottom line on getting organized… the land and the resources and the right that we hold belongs to all of our people – the collective right. Then it makes sense, that we should be talking to our people. The vision we go forward to should be the collective vision that hold that right.

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We have regained our jurisdiction… Courts said that ancestral rights and treaty rights are special and are recognized and protected by the Canadian Constitution. There it is. That’s the magic.