Southwestern working group on First Nations plans summit to ‘bridge gap’

By Colin Graf

SARNIA—This southwestern Ontario city’s new working group on First Nations is planning a summit meeting next September designed to bridge gaps of understanding between First Peoples and the wider community.

“Breaking down the invisible walls between our communities,” is the goal of the meeting, says City Councillor Anne Marie Gillis, a member of the 15-member group, created late last year.

The working group, comprised of members from the education, health, business, agriculture, arts, justice, and faith-based sectors, hopes to “bring together the community to get an understanding of First Nations,” she says.  Councillors or administrators from three local First Nations—Aamjiwnaang, Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point, and Bkejwanong (Walpole Island First Nation) — along with a representative from Sarnia’s Friendship Centre, also sit on the committee.

Although Aamjiwnaang First Nation is entirely inside the municipal boundary, “a lot of people here (in Sarnia) don’t have a clue of anything about First Nations even though we live so close to each other,” Gillis says.  An Aamjiwnaang councillor told her when he visited a local school, some students didn’t even realize the FN community existed just a few blocks away from their location.

“This summit should be a real awakening,” adds Gillis.

The working group held its first meeting last December and aims to  develop an implementation plan for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Sarnia.  The 15-member committee has been tasked with finding ways that the municipal government can help implement the declaration, along with the Calls to Action of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

While the summit is still in the early planning stages, “things are coming together quickly,” says Gillis.

There’s likely to be an education component and the event may feature guest speakers on a range of cultural, social, and political issues, she adds.

Presentations to showcase First Nations’ culture are also a possibility, says Sarnia’s Deputy City Clerk James Jenkins.  Committee members from the First Nations have offered support with these.

“Enthusiasm is growing and the possibilities are just endless, people are just thirsting for knowledge,” Gillis tells Anishinabek News. “It’s such a wonderful thing to see.”

Understanding treaties and treaty rights should also be a focus of the Sarnia summit, says councillor Gillis.

“Canadians per se don’t understand much about that,” says Gillis, who admits joining the group has been “very much an eye-opener” for her.

She recalls expecting differences between her white Canadian lifestyle and First Nations’ culture were probably all in the past, and was surprised to find definite differences in ways of thinking and interacting today.

“[The differences] are very much in the here and now, and that’s what I’m trying to relay back to Sarnia.  We don’t understand this culture, and we need to learn.”

Gillis said she discovered these differences at the committee’s first meeting.

“We [non-First Nations members] were very chatty, we have our boxes and we need to tick them off, and we want to get things done right away.  Our Indigenous companions don’t work like that.  We found we would have to come together, take a moment, and commune with each other on a different level, so we could actually sit down and start our work, instead of rushing in,” she recalls.

Those experiences are common in bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together, says Jenkins, a former political officer with the Walpole Island FN.

“Anishinabek cultural practices mean taking a moment to pause and think about what was said, show appreciation before speaking again, which doesn’t always sync with the more mainstream practice in Canada,” he explains.

The group is taking steps to incorporate traditional practices in its meetings, Jenkins adds.

While some people may find it unusual for a local government to tackle the weighty issues in the United Nations’ declaration, ranging from employment to social services to environmental concerns, Jenkins says it is sensible.

He points out that statistics show more than half of most First Nations’ members are not living on their territory, but “primarily in urban areas,”— a fact many Canadians are not aware of.  Local numbers show a similar pattern.

“Municipalities are being forced to play a role (in working with First peoples) whether they like to or not,” Jenkins says.

Aamjiwnaang councillor Marina Plain, a committee member, says Sarnia is “ahead of the game in relationship-building” with the First Nation, but hopes the working group will help First Nations people living in the city achieve parity of services. Plain says many are living in Sarnia because they can’t get housing in the First Nation, and they don’t always access the same level of service.

The city and Aamjiwnaang’s councils have been drawing closer to each other in recent years, both Gillis and Jenkins agree.

“We have to recognize we are dealing government-to-government with the city.  It’s a two-way street,” says Gillis.

She points to a 2016 agreement meant to create a positive working relationship between the two. The agreement promises the Chief and Mayor will meet at least four times a year to discuss issues of common concern.

During the most recent meeting, Aamjiwnaang Chief Joanne Rogers requested the city build a new water line to help build the community’s first seniors’ residence, says Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley.

“When you have things locally that could make a difference” to the relationship with First Nations, “it’s important to act,” he says. “True reconciliation is not just rhetoric, it’s action.”

“Institutionally, the relationship is very strong,” Deputy Clerk Jenkins agrees. “Still, we might ask if we are doing enough to strengthen those relationships throughout the community.  We need to ask ourselves if there is equity in health, education, in employment, in media access, and we know there isn’t in all cases.”

The UNDRIP asks whether an Indigenous person can participate fully in mainstream society, according to Jenkins.

“That’s a right the UN has said should be afforded to Indigenous people in every country.”

While higher levels of government have been looking at this, it is Canadian cities that are taking the lead.