Kamloops

Voices from the Interior, BC.

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The Kamloops meeting was held in the Sk'elep School of Excellence, and was attended by more than 50 people from the region and beyond. Attendees sat in a large semi-circle in the school's gymnasium and most stayed until the meeting ended in the afternoon. Nathan Matthew, Chair and Interim CEO of the Trust was on hand to answer some questions and share ideas currently being worked on by the board of directors. There was debate on key issues such as whether to spend the money now or invest it, and how to target the money. Opinions and recommendations were wide ranging, but despite differences the overall discussion was very positive and respectful.

Common priorities continued to be put forward at this meeting, including economic development, healing, and culture. Attendees were evenly split regarding the question of whether to spend the money now or invest it. Concerns regarding the lack of change on the part of the BC government at all levels were also raised.

Early in the meeting, food for thought was provided by Gloria Morgan and Clarence Louie, who offered differing perspectives on what the priority of the trust should be, as well as how the money should be managed. Gloria reiterated the need for healing, and underlined the philosophy of putting the health of individuals ahead of upper-level capacity building. Without healthy people, capacity building will be built on a weak foundation, she warns. In terms of management of the fund, Gloria says "spend it now ... if we spend it now we can get the real basic things going in our community now ... If we invest this... it will keep very few of us happy and do very little good, and keep us quiet until past 2010."

Chief Clarence Louie presented a different perspective. Chief Louie argues that economic development must come first (you can read more on Chief Louie's perspective elsewhere on this web site). Chief Louie argues that Nations must get away from the mentality of "spending money" and move to the mentality of "making money." He encourages an economic development focus with the ultimate goal of funding social programs such as healing and culture through business profits. "Everything is underfunded ... [and] everything is a priority. The reality is that ... those bands with economic development have fewer social problems... it all comes down to economic development... everything costs money." When it comes to managing the money, Clarence was clear on the need to invest the fund for today's generation and future generations, and said it should be used for creating wealth. He argued that with wise investments the fund could be grown significantly, and be more effective.

Another local Chief called for policy and way of thinking to be based on ancestral laws and philosophies. He says "we need to incorporate First Nations values ... the government's values and ways aren't working." It was emphasized that First Nations are of the land, and therefore work should be done from that perspective, and land should be a focus. Other leadership also supported language and culture as a top priority, including values and tradition.

The need for healing was raised by a number of attendees, and discussion continued to come back to the need for healing in communities. The question: "how can we measure healing?" was posed, and some discussion ensued. The concern raised by Nathan Matthew is that healing is continually raised as a priority, but unlike economic development there are no obvious ways to measure healing in a community. Attendees suggested that numbers such as suicides, domestic violence, abuse, children in foster care, incarceration rates, and calls for help that go answered / unanswered were quanitiable values that could all be used for measuring the success of a healing project.

A concern that was raised again was that government is expecting bands to go to the Trust to get funding for referral processes. It was clarified at the meeting that the fund is not to be used as a replacement for any existing funding or responsibilities of government or industry.

In summary, the Kamloops meeting was well attended and discussion was thoughtful and respectful despite varying views and opinions. The school was an excellent host, and many people travelled in to take part in the meeting.