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Working Together for Transformative Change
The EOED pilot has been a journey with the MNFC, to explore how inclusive participation and reconciliation can manifest in neighbourhoods. Throughout its development, we have applied and learned from valuable approaches and practices that have been researched and effectively implemented through the work of Participatory City in East London, UK. The local team in Kjipuktuk-Halifax worked alongside Participatory City Tutors, who shared their experiences and insights related to the co-design process and working to build participatory culture. We have also gained valuable insight into the implications for this work if reconciliation is to be centered. In some cases these learnings have been applied in real time - such as through the development of communications tools, integrating Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, and practices to enhance cultural exchange among residents. In other cases, they have been integrated as key questions and recommendations that could inform future iterations of this work in Kjipuktuk-Halifax and beyond.
Since its inception, the EOED pilot has been supported by a Strategic Group (SG) that is made up of cross-sector partners who came together to guide early phases of the work and provide support via existing infrastructure and systems. Together, this collaboration is deeply invested in the potential to create transformative social infrastructure that can help to nurture new forms of participatory culture across Kjipuktuk-Halifax and Nova Scotia. The MNFC has acted as lead delivery partner for the pilot and the relationship between the SG and the MNFC is one of mutual learning and partnership.
If reconciliation could be done quickly, or by any one group alone, it would already be done.
- Executive Director, Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre
Early in the development of the EOED pilot, the SG set out to develop a set of guiding principles that could support new ways of working and measuring progress, as a means to explore reconciliation in practice, through the lens of governance. This work was woven throughout our meetings with focused time for learning and reflection around Indigenous knowledge alongside one of the Elders at MNFC. One outcome of this work was a set of guiding principles, informed by the Seven Grandfather/ Grandmother teachings to help draw insights around how we work together as a critical indicator of success.
