by Tricia Thomas

“Think big!” and “Remember who you are”.

Those were two key messages to delegates from Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council nations who attended a three-day Exploring Self-Government workshop in Nanaimo in early March.

The big-thinking advice came Kim Baird. She is the former Tsawwassen First Nation chief who saw BC’s first urban treaty implemented at her nation in 2009. The ‘remember’ advice came from Gwen Phillips of Ktunaxa Nation.

Those two along with Chris Derickson, a Westbank First Nation councillor, headed a spirited panel discussion about ‘Knowing where you want to go’ on day two of the event. They later were facilitators as delegates sat with them, rolled up their sleeves and talked about the many issues involved in moving from the Indian Act to self-governance.

Derickson stressed the importance of effective continuous community engagement strategies. And Phillips said: “Don’t forget who you are and where you came from… and work traditional values and principles into the self-governance model.”

More great advice came from Regional Chief Jody Wilson-Raybould who talked about the BC Assembly of First Nation’s governance toolkit.