Comprehensive Community PlanningHighlights

Gwa’sala ‘Nakwaxda’xwFirst Nation

Hi! I’m Jessie Hemphill, coordinator of the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Comprehensive Community Plan that I worked on from May 2008 until 2010.

The Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw First Nation is based in the Tsulquate Reserve, adjacent to the town of Port Hardy on the northern end of Vancouver Island.

Originally we were two separate tribes, with different dialects, practices, and territories. The Gwa’sala were

mainly based in Smith Inlet, while the ‘Nakwaxda’xw originated in Seymour Inlet, the Deserters Group, and Blunden Harbour.

Our people are renowned for our striking traditional art, sophisticated social ranking system, our incredible seafar-ing abilities, and many other characteristics which give us pride and strength to this day.

In 1964 the Department of Indian Affairs forcibly relocated the Gwa’sala and the ‘Nakwaxda’xw tribes to our current home, and amalgamated us with the Kwakiutl First Nation. The Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw were later separated from the Kwakiutl, but we also remained separated from our territories

by a large stretch of open water. This was a traumatizing event with negative ef-fects that persist to this day.

In 2008 the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw First Nation received funds from the Government of Canada under the Specific Claim program as compensation for the relocation, and a Trust was established to fund community revitalization. It was because of this Trust that we undertook a community planning process, in the hopes that we could come up with a solid, community-driven plan for our future.

While there is much work still to be done, many aspects of our community plan-ning were innovative and succesful. This document should give you some back-ground information on some of the interesting and effective things we did during our community planning, and will hopefully inspire you to be creative and en-gaging in your own endeavours:

Ba’as Village

Takush Village

Tsulquate Reserve

CCP Timeline

Winter 2007 Received funding from the First Nations Infra-structure Fund (INAC)

May 2008Hired CCP staff

Summer 2008Preplanning (reviewing past research and planning, setting up office, preliminary inter-views with staff)

Autumn 2008 - Summer 2009Community meetings, workshops, surveys etc.

Autumn 2009 - Spring 2010Writing and reviewing draft CCP (community and staff input gathered)

Summer 2010Finalizing CCP & official approval

Four elements of our CCP process are responsible for its success««

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• CCP DVD• Community Meetings• Family Meetings• Dotmocracy

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Partnership Building

• UBC SCARP• Mt. Waddington

Health Network• VIHA & MCFD• Local Government• Forestry Industry

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Communi-cation

• CCP Newsletters• Posters & Notices• Facebook Group• Twitter• CCP Design

Capacity Building

• Rec. Development Project

• Trail Mapping Project• Research Assistant

Training

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communityengagement

Community Engagement

CCP DVDI worked with children and staff from the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Elementary School to cre-ate a 5-minute DVD describing the CCP process, to show at a community dinner. Over 30 children involved, and the DVD has received much attention as a CCP best practice. It took about three weeks to make the DVD: one day to write the script; two days to film the shots with the kids; two days to film shots of the community, staff, nature etc.; two weeks to edit the film, including subtitling; one day to burn copies of the discs and make the covers. Because so many children were involved, at the CCP launch dinner where this DVD was premiered we had over 200 community members attend, many of whom were there mainly to see their children in the DVD.

Cost = $6 per 10 DVDs (film equipment, filming & editing were donated by our on-reserve elementary school’s media program)

DotmocracyWe used this technique to get quantitative data from 70+ community members on 48 differ-ent topics in a community meeting. See the website www.dotmocracy.org for more informa-tion about this technique. This activity is a little bit complicated, so at a small advisory com-mittee meeting (~12 people) we practiced using coloured stickers (instead of pencilling in dots, to allow for colour coding and for more dots) on dotmocracy posters that had questions about the CCP process itself (to give me feedback). Then, when we had the larger dinner (70+ people), those original 12 people were asked to teach the method to others present, instead of me doing a plenary presentation on it. The colour coding made the activity fun, while empowering those who were teaching it. The sheets of paper with the dot stickers on them, once all the stickers were used, were used for a door prize draw once people had writ-ten their name on the back.

Apprx. Cost = $50 for stickers, plus the colour printing costs

Family MeetingsWe held a few meetings where we would go to the home of an individual family, provide them with groceries and help cook dinner, and then answer their questions about the CCP or listen to their concerns, ideas, stories etc. These meetings were an excellent way to build trust and deeper relationships with members of the community, especially those disinclined to partici-pate at larger meetings.

Apprx. Cost = $80 for groceries

Community MeetingsWe held many community meetings (~20) to discuss the CCP. Had the best meeting atten-dance of any project in Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw history according to many community and staff members. Average attendance of 20 community members (from a community of ~400 people) at weekly meetings, with up to 70 attendees. Larger dinners, held at the community hall, had up to 300 attendees, with an average of 100. Attendees represented all ages and aspects of the community.

The process designed for these meetings was very effective:

- We always provided a meal. Catering was too expensive, so CCP staff cooked the meals ourselves for the smaller meetings, which was very labour intensive.

Apprx. Cost = $70 to feed 25 people

- Childminding and kids’ activities were always provided, which allowed parents to come.

Cost = $30 per meeting for one childminder

- Most people show up about 30 minutes after a meeting is supposed to start, though some show up on time. In order to deal with this lag time, short questionnaires on the same topic as the meeting were handed out to people as they arrived, to give them something to do before everyone else arrived. These questionnaires also helped focus attention on the issues to be discussed and helped guide ensuing discussion. It was interesting that although people were often hesitant to voice dissenting opinions orally, they would share stronger opinions through the questionnaires, giving me more balanced input. Also, the questionnaires gave me quanti-tative as well as qualitative data. No cost.

- We established ‘house rules’ at the start of the CCP process, which were enforced consistently throughout. They included a 5-minute speaking limit, a speaker’s list, and zero tolerance for disrespectful behaviour (swearing, yelling, personal attacks). No cost.

- During the discussion part of the meetings, I facilitated while writing down what everyone said on flipchart paper, so everyone could see how their words were being represented. This built trust.

Cost = $8 worth of flipchart paper per meeting, plus markers

- Honoraria was provided to elders. I created an honoraria policy at the start of the project for transparency. We paid $25 for planning meetings, $50 for advisory meetings and for elders who did prayers or presentations at the dinners. This practice was partially responsible for the incredible elder participation in our CCP.

Cost Varied ($100 to $600 per meeting)

Partnership Building

UBC SCARPWe developed a rich collaboration with the University of British Columbia’s School of Com-munity and Regional Planning (SCARP) which resulted in two graduate students moving to Port Hardy from Vancouver to offer months of pro-bono work on our CCP.

Johanna Mazur and Jeet Chand are the two students who moved to Port Hardy. Because of their involve-ment, we were able to take $20,000 of our CCP bud-get which had been designated for consultants, and use it to train four community members as research assistants and then hire them to assist Johanna and Jeet on their projects. This was a great capacity build-ing initiative.

Johanna’s project involved looking at community planning efforts in the community that were initiated by community members, such as a traditional singing group, the annual Easter egg hunts, annual candlelight memorials, the CCP itself, and many other succesful activities. Participants in those efforts were interviewed, interviews were transcribed, and a ‘community planning best practices’ document was produced which is an incredible celebration of the strengths in our community that also highlights important elements of successful community

development for the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw com-munity.

Jeet and Johanna designed an innovative hiring pro-cess for the four research assistants. Instead of the traditional job interview, all applicants went through three days of research assistant training together to give us time to evaluate their abilities and potential. At the end of the three days, applicants evaluated each other and themselves, and hiring decisions

were made.

Other SCARP students and faculty also helped by creating the CCP’s glossary, coming to Port Hardy to provide graphic record-ing at a workshop, allowing me to at-tend an SCARP facilitation course at UBC for free, and developing a fund-ing proposal to do housing research.

Silena George, Jessie, Xainya George, Johanna & Jeet

late Victor Walkus, Donna Williams, Johanna and Stephanie Walkus during R.A. training

Graphic recording of visioning workshop,

by Aftab Erfan

Mt. Waddington Health NetworkWe coordinated with the Health Network to host a Network meeting (which are held monthly in different communities across the Mt. Waddington Regional District) in the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw community, which they had unsuccesfully been trying to do for two years prior to my hiring. This meeting allowed Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw community members to become famil-iar with the Health Network, and partially led to the creation of a region-wide suicide prevention campaign.

VIHA, MCFD & Other StakeholdersMet one-on-one with several staff members from the Vancouver Island Health Authority and Ministry of Child and Family Develop-ment to talk about CCP-related issues and build a working relation-ship. This networking has led to MCFD staff assistance with several Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw youth events, such as a recent regional floor hockey tournament. Also met with the Port Hardy Museum staff, Chamber of Commerce, School District #85 staff, and many other people across the province to let them know that we were do-ing a CCP and try and find ways to collaborate or share information and resources.

Local GovernmentMet with local governments including the District of Port Hardy and the Regional District of Mt. Waddington to let them know we were working on a CCP and to try and find ways to collabo-rate. This has led to my involvement in many local events and initiatives, the most recent one being my role on the planning committee for the BC Rural Communities Summit held in Port Hardy in March. As a result of my work for this summit, I have been appointed a Director on the BC Rural Network.

Forest IndustryAt the request of Ted Stevens, Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Forestry Coordinator, I helped organize

a forestry forum to give community members a chance to meet people from all six of the forestry companies working in our tradi-tional territories, and learn more about their activities. Due to the great need for more information around forestry, one forum led to two more, which generated a list of goals that the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw First Nation and forestry companies could work towards.

Communications

CCP LogoAt the beginning of the CCP we held a logo contest. There were no entries, so I commissioned Wayne Walkus, a young man from our community, to design a logo. This logo is used on everything CCP-related and has built recognition of the project in the community.

Cost = $100

CCP NewslettersI designed an aesthetically pleasing newsletter format in full colour, with photographs, lots of graphics, simple writing, and articles about the CCP, Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw staff updates, upcoming events, etc. At least two pages of every newsletter were devoted entirely to pho-tos, and I was told that many people especially liked that feature.

Apprx. Cost = $250 of colour ink per 100 newsletters (3 double sided legal-size sheets) plus $20 for paper and $25 for house-to-house delivery

Posters & NoticesI designed many unique and engaging posters and notices to be displayed and delivered in the community. When possible I did them in colour, but when they were in black and white I tried to use contrast and graphics to the best advantage.

Negligible costs for small runs.

Facebook GroupI created a Facebook Group for the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw CCP with has about 100 mem-bers and allows me to provide updates and information related to the CCP on the internet.

TwitterCreated a Twitter account for the CCP. Since few, if any, Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw community members use Twitter, I use this account mainly to link to interesting news and research re-lated to community development. I have ~140 followers on my Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw CCP, mostly from other community development or First Nation organizations and groups.

CCP DesignI am designing the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw CCP itself to have several features which make it easier for people to navigate and use. Some of these features include colour coding sections of the CCP, using large text and lots of white space to ease reading, lots of photographs, and user guides.

Capacity Building

Recreation Development ProjectWe got a grant from the BC Healthy Living Alliance to hire a Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw community mem-ber (Silena George) as a Recreation Coordinator. In addition to organizing recreational activities for the community, she has also conducted a recreation needs assessment to be included in the CCP. The

person hired for this job developed (and alreadyexhibited) many excellent project management skills. Her work on this project has in part led to her appointment as our new Elders’ Coordinator.

Trail Mapping ProjectFour community members (the late Vic-tor Walkus, Adam Munn, Harry Puglas and Jackson Walkus) were hired at vari-ous points in this project to do GPS work around our community, compile it into

a map, and do a transportation needs assessment of the community to be included in the CCP. The individuals who worked on this project learned GPS and computer skills, including touch typing, as well as learning how to conduct interviews, compile the results, and produce charts showing the data.

Research Assistant TrainingSee ‘UBC SCARP’ under ‘PARTNER-SHIPS’ for more detail about this proj-

ect. Four individuals from our community (Natasha Walkus, Christy George, Donna Williams and Cathy Swain) were hired to be research assistants to two UBC graduate students, and they gained skills in research methodology, conducting meetings and interviews, working on the computer with docu-ments and audio files, transcribing, etc. For one of the research assistants, this experience led to her being hired as a research assistant for our treaty office, which is a well-paying long-term job.

Silena and her daughter Xainya

Elders at the local gym

VictorHarry, Jackson and Victor

Cathy Natasha & Christy

Donna

Other Successes• Over the course of our CCP I received over $38,000 in grant funds to do various projects

• With the original budget, I was able to create ten additional jobs for community members, not including the frequent child minding and catering jobs that resulted from CCP meetings.

• For almost all of the meetings I rented our elders’ centre, which meant that rental fees went straight back into our community. I also hired community members for all of the catering jobs, again putting thousands back into the community.

Some random resourceswww.good.org Excellent infographics, I get a lot of inspiration from this site

www.sparcbc.ca SPARC BC is currently developing a community engagement matrix which is a MUST HAVE tool for CCP coordinators! Their workshops are also great

“Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making” by Sam KanerIndespensible resource for facilitating

Very Useful Software:• CorelDraw and Adobe InDesign for all of my communication stuff• Picasa for photo management• Google Calendar and Docs

Other necessary tools:• Pentax K10D SLR camera (my own personal camera, but it’s been indispensible during the

project and is definitely worth the investment for other CCPs)• Good-quality audio recorder (we use the M-Audio MicroTrack II recorder)• Durable laptop with good graphic capabilities• Portable hard-drive (I back up the CCP laptop very often)

A bit about meLots of people have asked me about my personal background and what kind of training I had going into this community plan. I had no formal training in planning or community development, but I have always been involved in a ton of different things and I think it’s that breadth of experience that has really helped with the ‘Comprehen-sive’ aspect of this planning process.

I grew up in Port Hardy B.C. We lived off-reserve while I was a child (though I went to school on-reserve) and then lived on-reserve while I went to high school off-reserve. After graduating in 2003 I went to the University of Victoria where I received my B.A. My major was linguis-

tics and my minor was indigenous studies, and I planned to go into indigenous language revitalization. I took many electives at UVic, including English, environmental studies, art history, and philosophy. While at UVic I became the spokesperson for the Native Students’ Union and succesfully advocated for aboriginal issues on a national level while also serving on the University of Victoria Students’ Society Board of Directors.

During my university years, I worked in field camps during the summers to pay my way through school, one year doing silviculture and four years doing fisheries work in Smith Inlet. I also waitressed at Denny’s, mentored new students at UVic, did some research assistant work and even a bit of professional photography.

When I moved back to Port Hardy, I went right into the CCP job as it seemed to be a more effective method of community development than just focusing on one element, like lan-guage. Since being in Port Hardy I have done some professional music gigs, some contract graphic design and photography work, a week of archaeological surveys, and contract re-search & consulting as well as getting married. In my spare time I like to grow things, cook things and make things, plus do a lot of visiting.

I am the fourth generation of my family to be involved in linguistics, so I come by that inter-est honestly. My mom, Colleen Hemphill, is the Chief Treaty Negotiator for the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw and has spent her life fighting for aboriginal rights, and my dad, Robert Hemphill, is an artist and a communications guy who has worked for the Vancouver Island Aboriginal Transition Team and the First Nations Health Council. He also designed, milled the lumber for, and built our family home (without being a professional architect, millwright, or carpenter), so I guess my parents raised me and my two siblings to feel like we can take on any task, as long as we do the research. I feel very lucky to have contributed to my commu-nity by working on this community plan.

jessieh@gwanakplan.org

PO Box 998Port Hardy BCV0N 2P0Twitter: @gnccp