Transcript Breathing Life in Say’t K’ilim Goot

Breathing Life into
Say’t K’ilim Goot
Celebrating our Successes, Giving Hope
& Inspiring our Communities”
First Nations Social Development
Conference February 10th, 2011
In 2006/2007 the Nisga’a Elect identified the
following as barriers to progress:
• Loss of Nisga’a language and the need to
incorporate culture into our way of doing
business
• The importance of economic development
• The need to ensure that programs and services
are meeting the needs of the Nisga’a Nation
3
• The lack of communication between various
levels of government and its effect on trust
• The importance of education
3
Nisga’a Lisims
Government
4
• 30+ Wilp Si’ayuukhl Nisga’a
• 10 Executive Members
• 6+ P&S Committee Members
Nisga’a Village
Governments
• 4 Different Governing Systems
• 4 unique management
systems
and decision making bodies
• 4 unique SD Departments.
Programs and
Services
Directorate
• Programs and Services
Director
• NLG SD Advisor
• Nisga’a Social Development
Policy
Utilizing our culture to empower development
OUR FOCUS
5
One heart, one path, one nation
In the spirit of Sayt K’il’im Goot, the
Nisga’a Nation is a place where
• Our Ayuuk and Language and culture are the
foundation of our identity,
• Learning is a way of life,
• We strive for sustainable prosperity and selfreliance,
• We inspire trust and understanding through
effective communications, and
• Our Governance and Service evolve to meet our
peoples’ needs.
Looking to our ancestors for
strength and guidance
An overview of Nisga’a Lisims
Government Social Development
Change Initiative
The Collaborative
• Began in April 2009, to address the varied and
complex issues of operating SD and the desire for
a new policy model.
• The group is comprised of members from each of
the four Nisga’a community’s Village Government
Administering Authorities. Approximately 10
people particpate in this work.
• The workplan emphasized the desire to learn and
incorporate princples of Nisga’a culture this is
where partnerships with the Ayuukhl Department
began.
Relationship Building
• Relationships were viewed as essential to
becoming a ‘community of practice’.
• This required numerous dialogue sessions to
share information and experiences in a safe
enviornment.
• The overall objective was that all
communications between the group were
founded upon the principle of respect.
Potential Outcomes
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Public Policy Framework
Approach to problem-solving
Decisions
Actions
Work ethics
Communications
Etc…
Potential Outcomes
NLG Culture
Individual
Perspectives
& Community
Culture
4 Village
Government
Culture
Outcomes
Public Policy
• This work is critical to achieving results for
sustainable economic development.
• The need to view the work holistically is
essential to progress.
• Institutional outcomes and resulting high rates
of dependancy should not be left to holders of
the social development portfolio to solve
alone.
Policy Work is Complex and
Complicated Work
SD
VG’s
NLG
Which require a common guide and understanding to
develop comprehensive solutions
Valuing the Nisga’a vision and
principles.
1. On paper the principles are concepts based
on higly innovative and adaptive societies.
2. They are invisible social strengths
3. They are actionable in terms of building
‘community’ cohesiveness an indicator of
community health.
4. They are guides for processing issues and
ways of thinking.
Diversity in the Cultural Mix
How to
achieve
change
How we
influence
peoples
lives
Resourcing
Practices
Strategic
Planning in
diverse
contexts
Management
Systems
Public Policy
– what we do
or don’t do
Outcomes
Culture
• ‘On the ground’ there are many different
cultures at play.
– Different backgrounds, beliefs, attitudes, schools
of thought on all of the important issues which
can either contribute to or hinder progress.
• Without a common guide to process the work
we do, we are at risk of not achieving
sustainable solutions.
The Essence of S’ayt K’ilim Goot
is Unity
• There are different perspectives of this vision
but the most important one is how do we
incorporate into an actionable resource to
guide our processes?
Unity is difficult to achieve
• There are many players involved.
• Unresolved conflict can halt all
communications and progress.
• There are political positions within and
without.
• Resulting in isolation.
Isolation is a dangerous place
• When efforts are halted by conflicting cultural
elements – isolation is a result – or silos.
• Being isolated leads to a different way of
being. It leads to:
– individualism
– competitive mentalities rather than collaborative
– destructive rather than positive life giving energies
• Working in a way that is not as effective as
collective action.
Threads of Understanding
• If relationships do not play a significant role in
communications it effects the ability to honor self
and those we serve.
• Approaches and processes of different
worldviews as opposed to indigenous worldviews
are fragmented by isolating symptoms and
disecting parts with hopes to arrive at lasting
solutions.
• Assumptions about what is wrong are at the core
of these approaches – and results in treatment
of symtoms not the root cause.
Breathing Life into
Sayt K’ilim Goot
Quotes on
valuing indigenous knowledge
A Presenation by the Nisga’a
Social Development Working Group
Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and
Heritage: A Global Challenge
“Indigenous languages reflect a reality of
transformation in their holistic
representations of processes that stress
interaction, reciprocity, respect, and noninterference.” (Battiste etal, 133)
Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and
Heritage: A Global Challenge
“Eurocentric science has made many mistakes in
trying to understand the world. Since
Einstien, however, the world of knowledge has
been viewed through a new lens, which sees
all things as being connected and related.”
(Battiste etal, p 124)
David Bohm, Physicist
“extended the scientific proof of
interconnectedness.
Scientific reflection is moving away from analysis,
which splits and fragments experience, toward
wholeness and holistic thinking.
According to Bohm, “science it self is demanding a
new non-fragmentary worldview, in the sense
that the present approach of analysis of the
world into independent existent parts
does not work very well”
(Battiste etal, 124)
A Dialogue Experiment
http://www.davidbohm.net/dialogue/experiment.html
Special thanks to
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Abby Stewart, Gingolx Village Government
Rachel Robinson, Laxgalt’sap Village Government
Margo Munroe, Gitlaxt’aamix Village Government
Nita Morven, Ayuukhl Nisga’a Department, NLG
To all other group members who could not
attend:
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Arlene L., Gingolx
Akim O., & Tereasa Y., Laxgalt’sap
Alvin A., Gitwinksihlkw
Ruth R. & Lorna D., Gitlaxt’aamix
By Fern Scodane © 2011