YO!
UPDATE ON HOME LAND PROJECTS In the Yo! News from Feb. 7 you may remember we wrote about the three TRM projects that are happening right now: 1. Reconstructing Ba'as 2. The Ba'as Lands Plan 3. The Strategic Forests Management Plan.
News
In the Yo! News from Feb. 21 we gave some more information about the forestry-related activities that have been happening for these TRM projects. This is a quick update on activities that have been happening since then.
(Please note that, while these activities focus heavily on the Ba'as area, similar work is planned for Takush.)
3-4 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UPDATE 5-8 GOOD FOOD BOXES UPDATE 9 ELDERS UPDATE 10 G-N RECYCLING FACILITY 11 THINK YOU MIGHT BE DIABETIC? 12 PUBLIC WORKS UPDATE 13 SPORTS AND RECREATION UPDATE 14-19 ABORIGINAL HONOUR PROUD MILITARY TRADITION 20 FREE LEGAL CLINIC 21 INTERESTED IN A CAREER IN HEALTH CARE 22 ABORIGINAL ART & STORIES COMPOTISION 23 NAMGIS COMMUNITY SERVICE JOB OPPORTUNITY 24 THE NEW ADDICTIONS COMING TO TOWN! 25 BIRTHDAY WISHES/ REQUEST 26 LOCAL JOB POSTING
On February 24 we had the second round of community meetings. We had a daytime meeting with the elders and council, and an evening meeting that was open to anyone. There were over a dozen attendees for the daytime meeting, and about 20 community members at the evening meeting. The purpose of these meetings was to talk about the Reconstructing Ba'as project, and answer questions like: If we could build ONE thing in Ba'as, what should we build there? What kind of things DON'T you want to see there? Do you see yourself moving to Ba'as to live? Moving there to work? It was really nice to talk about these questions. Our elders shared some stories of what it was like to live in the home lands when they were younger. Bird (Alfred Rufus) emphasized the challenges of living off the land: "You can't just stay home and put the TV on. You gotta work, all the time. You gotta get up early in the morning." Mostly the elders agreed that they would rather see some small projects happen RIGHT AWAY than wait for a big project. They suggested the following ideas: Clear land to make a better camping spot Get a portable sawmill out there to create lumber Focus on building a dock and "loading zone" where people can unload their groceries and gear Betty stressed the need to make any cabins or structures comfortable, so that people WANT to stay for long trips and don't want to go home after just one night over there.
At the evening meeting we did a short survey and talked about how difficult it is for community members to visit the home lands. Terrisa said that if there were scheduled trips she'd love to go visit. Ollie talked about how awesome it would be to have community members working over there to gather and prepare our traditional foods for the elders. Ernie agreed, pointing out how expensive Overwaitea is. Wade talked about we should try and make sure whatever gets built is wheelchair accessible so it's easy for the elders to visit. Peewee suggested that we could start basic, with a dock and boardwalk, then extend it sometime in the future. Some of the ideas that the rest of the group came up with included: Cabins A big house
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GWA’SALA-’NAKWAXDA’XW NATIONS YO! NEWS
March.7 2014
Rediscovery camp for all ages (learn survival skills, culture) Healing lodge/activiteis Thomas Henderson Sr. spoke to everyone about the traditional protocols of returning to the home lands. There was agreement that whatever happens over there can't be guided by the government, it has to belong just to our people. The TRM project team is taking these notes and suggestions and will be creating a business plan for some kind of multi-use structure that includes a lot of the features discussed at both meetings. The next community meetings are this coming week, March 13-14. Location and time will be posted asap, hope to see you there! Gila'kasla, Colleen Hemphill and the Treaty Team
03/07/2014