On Tuesday, May 27, 2003 in Regina the Commission on First Nations and Métis Peoples and Justice Reform held a roundtable on Governance & Community Development. In attendance were the Commissioners and staff plus invited guests from a wide range of service and government organizations. An open discussion was held throughout the day.

The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss the linkages between governments and community development. The last part of the day was spent discussing ideas for an implementation vehicle. Participants were posed the following questions:

1. Governance and Community Development
   • What are they?
   • How do they work together?
   • How do you build a relationship between them?
2. Provide examples of where connections are being made and where communities are working to develop their own priorities.
3. Where do we go from here? How do we work with governments towards acceptance and respect for community development? I.e. respect towards other forms of knowledge beyond formal education.
4. Implementation Vehicle - How do we ensure that the recommendations will be implemented?

• Governance is the ability of individuals to affect the impact decisions have on their lives.
• Governments need to give community the control to do this because governments do not know the direction that community wants to go in. Aboriginal people have been excluded from these positions.
• Good governance requires knowledge and commitment. If good governance requires knowledge and commitment it is difficult to see how outside governments can govern Aboriginal communities well if they do not have knowledge about communities, and at times their commitment has been highly questionable.
• Good government also needs to be recognized as legitimate by the communities being governed. Again, this is not the case with Aboriginal communities. Government is seen as an obstacle to community development, as it has not always supported Aboriginal needs.
• Government funding for programs seems to be short term and then the community is left to find alternate funding or drop the program.
• For the government and communities to work together, there needs to be a sense of equality and listening on both sides.
• Governance and community development cannot be separated. In order to accomplish true development, governments need to relinquish paternalistic control.
• Developing respectful partnerships requires governments to stop hoarding power and to start to respect and trust communities.
• Governance and community development cannot be separated one from the other because community development is not possible in any positive way without governance.
• Governance is the ability of individuals to effect the decisions that impact on their own lives.
• Governance is about allowing communities to take control over determining what they need and then going about finding the means to realize those needs.
• Governments need to relinquish control to allow communities to find their own way, allowing them to possibly make mistakes, but to still respect the process and help if asked.
• The vision is communities having their own priorities, choosing what they are going to focus on, having the ability and the resources to be able to follow through on that.

• Community Tripartite Agreements in Northern Saskatchewan
• involved community training
• minimal policy development
• communities determine priorities example: Community Development Corporation in La Loche
• many communities in these communities see the police as partners
• Aboriginal Youth Justice Committee
• New North

• There is a need for focus on priority setting. We have to realize that not all partners have access to equal resources whether it is in the form of financial or human resources.
• There is need to work towards common understandings. For example, justice includes more than just the criminal justice system; you need to look at housing, jobs and education to name a few.
• Low-income home ownership programs, ten houses for ten families, makes for community building.
• There is a need for more coordination to make resources more accessible to communities. A community can be successful, that properly developed, properly empowered, community can succeed.
• Community keeps you accountable, there is too much time spent on reporting for accountability purposes. The funding structure itself is government’s way of saying that they know more than community. The funding structure shapes how community approaches priority setting and problem solving, and the expertise does not necessarily lie with the group providing the funding.
• Governments need to come together and make their funding applications and budget cycles more congruent. At the community level there should be one form for accountability of the different programs so that more time can be spent on the program and not on the administration process.
• Communities should be allowed to integrate services as they see them fitting.
• There is a fear that the federal government will use the concept of "community development" to off-load their programs. In community development, partnerships need to be developed to facilitate mutual decision-making.
• Being sensitive to Aboriginal issues really translates into being aware about issues of power and control, and about how Aboriginal communities are marginalized in relation to sources of power and control.
• Aboriginal leadership must be willing to work with community, and willing to admit that there are problems. Along the same lines, communities have to be cautious about developing
• partnerships with governments that lead to dependence. Aboriginal communities need to identify and establish true partnerships and governments need to take on more of a facilitation role and not interfere.
• You need a leader or a Champion for Change in the community to push the vision.
• Governments themselves need to work more closely together.

• The vehicle needs to be independent and objective.
• The vehicle needs to use performance indicators to ensure change is happening; yet it cannot simply be a measurement tool.
• The vehicle should also be proactive and something that will make government accountable. It is too easy to create the appearance of meeting quotas. Should be like the Children’s Advocate to monitor progress and advocate on behalf of communities.
• Champions of Change - it is useless to write recommendations without having first identified those who will push implementation. This involves identifying institutions as being responsible for specific actions. This identification should by no means be limited to non-Aboriginal governments.
• In the past, implementation of commission’s recommendations has been weak when it comes to actions.
• SchoolPlus is one such approach that strengthens families and communities.
• A shift in dollars is required to make sure that money makes it to the front lines.
• There is a political role in that politicians can keep pushing for change.

Where do you see the province in the future?

• In 20 years:
  • The income gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people could close.
  • Aboriginal ideas about justice will be a part of mainstream ideas about justice.
  • The level of violence in communities will drop, communities will be safe and beautiful.
  • First Nation governments will be advanced under Canadian jurisdiction free from domination.
  • Young families will be able to invest in their own homes and will be building communities and investing wealth into the economy.
  • In twenty years if everyone is employed, housed and self-sufficient, and if racism is defeated then justice will take care of itself.