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From the Chair

Friday, 02 October 2009 08:59 Terry Sampson
From the Chair

Economic development is a big challenge and a bigger opportunity

The Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council workshop on economic development has been Number One on my calendar for several months. I was looking forward to participating in exciting discussions and learning ‘best practices’ from all my relations in other Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council communities.

It is no secret that our nations have really ‘stepped up to the plate’ in the last few years when it comes to creating jobs and solid partnerships. One only has to look at what has occurred at Sliammon, Klahoose and Homalco in their relationships with Plutonic Power Corp. The run-of-river energy projects has put much-needed money in bank accounts, has created work and many training opportunities for our people.

The message here is that we can’t do everything by ourselves. We need to forge strong relationships with companies in the private sector to build everything from resorts to housing and infrastructure. Companies are lining up to partner with us. They see us as becoming real players in the economic revival that is on the horizon.

No one thinks that the big changes ahead will happen overnight. Look at Snunemuxw and its huge Sandstone development south of Nanaimo. That project could take anywhere from 10 to 15 years to complete. The same long-term planning is taking place at Tsawwassen Nation with its industrial developments around Delta Port. Malahat doesn’t have as much control at its neighbour, Bramberton Properties. But it has been talking to the developers since the beginning, ensuring that it can maximize the benefits to its community as development takes place.

Our natural resources will continue to be at the heart of our culture. And they will also figure highly in future jobs and revenues. The new shellfish tenures at Snaw-naw-As Nation and the on-going harvests at Halalt are evidence of that. So too are all the things Tsleil-Waututh is doing up at Indian Arm in its traditional territory.

Sustainability is the byword in all these things that are going on in our nations. We are not after the quick money. We want to involve ourselves in things that do not harm the earth while providing our future generations with opportunities at least equal to ours.

Before we even begin , we have to be able to recognize what is a legitimate opportunity and what maybe shouldn’t even be considered. We need the tools in our communities to create economic development plans and to move forward once they are in place. We need the capacity to be able to read proformas and financial statements. We need policies and procedures that deal with things like conflict of interest.

That was why the NmTC workshop was so prominent on my calendar.

My regards,


Terry Sampson,

Chair - Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council

 

From the chair

Wednesday, 13 May 2009 14:33 Terry Sampson
From the chair

Custom election codes make a lot of sense

My own nation’s voters were asked to vote on whether to adopt our own custom election code or stay with the INAC election system when they cast their ballots in our elections on April 28.

Although, at the time that I am writing this, it is too early to say which way that vote will go, just the fact it was on the ballot made me start thinking long and hard about this issue. I have been both chief and a councillor for many years at Chemainus First Nation. It never made a lot of sense to me that terms for our elected officials only last two years.

When I was first elected to office, it seemed like I was just getting to grips with what governance really meant when I had to go back into election mode and run for office again. That’s the biggest reason I supported the new election code in my nation this year. That extra year will not only give new councillors an opportunity to ‘learn the ropes’. Three years in office will also give our government a chance to think in longer terms when it comes to our policies. Two years just wasn’t long enough.

But that wasn’t the only reason I supported our custom election code. Our code also specified a set number of nine councillors plus a chief on our council. That would effectively do away with the INAC rules that have one councillor for every 100 registered band members.

Our nations are some of the fastest growing populations in Canada. It made little sense to me that Chemainus’s council could grow to have 20 members in the years ahead as our membership reached 2,000. That was just as unappealing as a two-year term in office.

The Chemainus election code contained a number of other things that I thought made sense. But the biggest reason, for me, why I hoped voters approved it was that our elections, and our governments, would be finally controlled by us rather than some outdated policies created decades ago in Ottawa.

So, at this writing, I’m not sure what the outcome of the vote was, but I am sure that the community’s voice was heard. And that’s the single best reason for developing our own governance and election structures – to reflect the will of our people and not the regulations of a far-off government in Ottawa.

My regards,


Terry Sampson,

Chair - Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council

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