New leaders in Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council nations will be getting some high-level training, thanks to a new initiative.

News of funding for the leadership development project came in early July from the New Relationship Trust and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. A project team has already started contacting the eleven member nations to set up interviews that are key to the new program.

Governance advisor Valerie Cross-Blackett said support for the project came from the tribal council’s board of directors as well as the councils from all nations.

“This project is the result of a long-standing interest of the board to support leadership capacity development and good governance throughout our nations,” she said. “It will be designed to be both functionally and culturally relevant and will benefit future generations.”

She said the project, which began on July 4, will be completed by March 31. Training will be delivered in person and on-line depending on the preference of participants. The training will be accredited by the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and will be recognized across Canada.

The project will be based on the naut’sa mawt (working together as one) philosophy and culture shared by the tribal council’s nations, she said.

“We will take advantage of the current best practices in Indigenous leadership. The foundation of the training will be the traditional shared leadership systems in our nations.

“We will also make use of the governance names based on the languages used by our members.”

Project partners include Carden Consulting and the Nicola Valley institute of Technology. On the project team with Cross-Blackett are: community planning advisor Bronwen Geddes; housing advisor Eric Blueschke; and executive assistant Nicole Pelland.