June 23 2008
Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw Comprehensive Community Plan Questionnaire for Band Manager June 23 2008 Yo, Recently the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nation received funding to complete a Comprehensive Community Plan, or CCP. This is a planning process being undertaken by many other First Nations in Canada, with a great deal of success. A CCP is meant to include the voices of all community members in a unified plan for the community which covers many areas, including history & culture, social systems, infrastructure, health, governance, economy, and lands & resources. By trying to include as many community members as possible in the planning process it is hoped that this CCP will help give community members a sense of inclusion in GN administration, as well as giving GN staff a good sense of community members’ issues, gifts, wishes, and goals for the future. One of the outcomes will be a Vision Statement for the community, as well as action plans for the areas of concern that arise from the community consultation. Currently the GN First Nation is in the information gathering stage of the Comprehensive Community Plan (please see attached brochure for a timeline of the various stages in the CCP). The information gathering stage involves finding out what resources, plans and systems the band already has in place, so that some or all of this information can be communicated to community members during the community consultation & information sharing portion of the Comprehensive Community Plan. This stage will also give the CCP staff (myself and Doug Johnny) a good idea of what planning has been done in the past, and what systems/protocol are already in place for when we get to the planning phase of the CCP. Please help with the information-gathering by answering the following questionnaire about your department. You can answer on this document or in a separate one, either by bringing the answered questionnaire to my office (upstairs in the band office) or by e-mailing it to ccp@gwanak.info. I will be putting hard copies in staff mailboxes as well as e-mailing copies to each staff member. If you would like me to pick the questionnaire up after you have filled it out, or if you have any questions, please call me at 902-2306. Gila’kasla, Jessie Hemphill Comprehensive Community Planning Research Coordinator
June 23 2008
CCP Questionnaire For Band Manager (Feel free to answer on a separate piece of paper)
1. Do you have any Strategic Plans (5 yr), Operating Plans (1 yr) or other type of plan on file for your department? 2. Are there Job Descriptions on file for any of the positions within your department? 3. Is there Policy in place for your department? 4. If you answered ‘no’ for any of the above questions, would you benefit from having plans, job descriptions, or policy for your department? 5. Do you know of any existing ‘outside’ plans (i.e. from INAC or any other departments within the government) that affect the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nation? 6. What are the programs & services offered by your department?
7. How many staff members, including yourself, work for your department? 8. Describe the interaction between INAC and the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw First Nation (i.e. what kinds of funding the band receives/could receive, what kind of information we have to give back to INAC, etc.)
9. Are you aware of any community-based groups that get together for a specific purpose or activity? (i.e. a singing group) 10. Do you have or are you aware of any existing ‘timelines’ for this community, with dates & information about milestones within the community? (i.e. the date that the Receiving Home opened) 11. If you answered ‘no’ to question 10, do you know where to find this kind of information?
12. Do you have any major concerns about your department? (i.e. not enough funding, too much work for the number of staff, etc.)
June 23 2008 13. What is your ‘wish list’ for your department? (i.e. specialized equipment, an assistant to help you, more interaction with community members) Please rank your wish list items from most important to least important
14. Would you like to sit on the Comprehensive Community Plan Advisory Committee? (draft terms of reference are attached, short meetings would be held once per month over dinner)
15. Do you know of anybody, such as an elder or youth, who might want to sit on the Advisory Committee?
16. Do you have any additional comments or concerns? (i.e. questions about the Comprehensive Community Plan)