Mississauga First Nation in final stages of constitution development

By Faye Sabourin
Martin Bayer, legal counsel for the Restoration of Jurisdiction Department at the Union of Ontario Indians and the Special Project Coordinator attended Mississauga on Feb. 28 to assist the Mississauga Constitution Committee with the final edits of the First Nation’s draft constitution.
Bayer explained the legalities surrounding accountability, delegation of authority, conflict of interest, reasonable limits, law-making powers and the law-making process, public and governing institutions and the ratification and amendment process.
He also noted that the committee and community members are engaged in the process and learning all they can about the constitution development process in their community.
“This committee has been working very hard over the last few months trying to complete their draft constitution; they have been editing, re-arranging, streamlining the legalities and deciding what is essential and what is optional in their draft,” said Bayer.
The ROJ department staff has visited and assisted the Mississauga Constitution Committee three times this fiscal year, and is very impressed and excited for the end result of committee’s hard work – the ratification of the Mississauga Constitution.
The community set a goal date which is expected to take place during the community’s annual Pow-Wow which is held in the third week of July 2013.
The ROJ staff will be attending Mississauga in the next few months to assist the committee with the community consultation process which is ongoing for the committee members.
Is your community working on their community constitution?
For Anishinabek Nation communities who are working on a community constitution or would like to get the constitution development process off the ground in their community, the ROJ staff is available to assist in this process.
We are available to attend your community to present on constitution development, assist in a constitution committee meeting, or assist in the very beginning stages of the constitution development process.
Please call Faye Sabourin – Special Project Coordinator at 1-877-702-5200 for information.  or visit http://www.anishinabek.ca/roj/index.asp