Building Relationships

By Edwin D. Kolausok

On April 8-9, 2010 Aboriginal government and business representatives met with representatives of the Canadian mining industry in Vancouver to share their experiences related to the important mineral industry in Canada. The host of the event was Learning Together Inc., a not-for-profit organization established in 2007 with a vision to, “Engage Aboriginal communities and advocate on behalf of Aboriginal Peoples respecting values, building trust and educating as an independent Aboriginal organization.” Learning Together Inc.’s website states, “We believe in the positive economic impact exploration and mining development can bring to Aboriginal communities, so our role is to ensure that all communities across Canada have access to this information from their peers, and to bring communities together to share experiences and best practices.”

A lot of sharing happened at the event which started off with a traditional opening prayer followed by a welcome from Elder Red Baker (Chief Lex-Wei-Acha) whose great grandfather was Chief Joe Capilano of the Squamish Nation. Chief Lex-Wei-Acha spoke about how he remembered as a youth his people living all throughout the Vancouver area. He stated, “We used to paddle through here. We used to have a great time here when I was a kid playing on the beach and there was lots of food from the land.”

He also spoke about how his people kept getting relocated starting from being moved off their traditional territory at Stanley Park as developers moved in and eventually ending up getting pushed all the way to Squamish where he lives today. But the Elder was very truthful and respectful as he observed, “It is a real honour to see our people getting ahead now in many areas including business. It is good.”

Chief Glenn Nolan, Learning Together Inc. President then provided brief opening remarks.

Jack Blacksmith, Chairman & President of Cree Regional Economic Enterprises Company (CREECO Inc.), a four year board member of Learning Together also addressed the participants by sharing some of his insights. He stated, “It is good to hear stories about how communities face industry. There are some really good stories.” Keynote Speaker Paul Gull of the Waswanipi First Nation provided an excellent story. Following is some highlights of what he stated, “Our past mining experience since the 1950s and early ’60s was that we were employed in line cutting and brush clearing and then dismissed. Thankfully, much has changed since then… our ancestors were resilient…we had a treaty, but we had considerable difficulty implementing our treaty… in 2002 we signed another treaty. It was sort of like settling the outstanding issues of the first agreement. Right now the agreement provides a sharing of revenue from natural resources.

“The Cree Mineral Exploration Board was created from the agreement. It has helped us to create healthy partnerships. History is history and the Cree people are ready and involved in resource development. We have to be involved at every step of the way. That way if we need to take things to court because sometimes it is a reality, we will. We can’t be marginalized or shunted to the side.”

Paul Gull set the tone of the conference by telling the truth and letting all participants know that Aboriginal leadership was no longer going to be marginalized or left out of the benefits that have supported the development of Canada over the past several hundred years. The tone was not negative, rather it was one of professionalism whereby the traditional land owners were seeking what any rightful owner would seek, and that is real and respectful involvement, partnership and benefits that come from responsible development.

Participants also had the opportunity to attend many interesting interactive workshops such as Mining Agreements 101: IBAs, JVs, MOUs and EAs; Introduction to Mineral Exploration: A Native Approach; Early Engagement; An Oral History of Aboriginal People; and, several very interesting Case Studies provided by: Taku River Tlingit; T’Kamloops First Nation; Wemindji; Yellowknives Dene – Deton’Cho; and a presentation entitled, “Healing with the Land.” All presentations were incredibly informative with both First Nations and Industry representatives speaking without holding back their feelings. The discussions clearly demonstrated that there can be accommodation and that with good relationships all parties can realize good benefits.

Peter Kirby and Chief John Ward of the Taku River Tlingit First Nation provided an excellent overview of their Tlingit Government’s history with the mining industry. In the early years the people were simply ignored and the land was mistreated but now it is a different situation and the Tlingit are more actively involved in developments on their traditional territory. “Ever since we started there is less and less conflict. There are improvements by getting involved… roll up your sleeves and get involved… define yourselves through your participation. Each First Nation can define their own selves in accordance with their own beliefs and values. We learned from this project [Yellowjacket gold project] that we had to get involved, had to define ourselves,” stated John Ward.

Today progressive First Nations that are actively honouring their ancestor’s stewardship ways, such as the Taku River Tlingit, are setting a standard in relationship building while not compromising their beliefs and values. The Learning Together Conference was definitely an eye and ear opener as it provided industry and Aboriginal participants with an incredible wealth of knowledge, understanding and learning together. Next year’s conference will be held in Saskatchewan before it heads north to the NWT in 2012.

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