Non-Aboriginal participation in urban CED - pathways and perils:

• I'm involved in the core neighbourhood development council in Saskatoon - wondering how to involve Aboriginal community members. One of the questions we asked was 'can you think of a time when Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people worked together to create something?'. Most Aboriginal people responded 'no'.
• Doesn't there need to be a common goal? Would that bring people together if everyone was working toward the same outcome?
• It's difficult, because there is, understandably, some mistrust, so people are reluctant to come to the table to begin with.
• There's also an issue of overload. The people who are committed, dedicated, and skilled are the ones who have all of the work dumped on them. At a certain point, it just becomes too much and they move on
• But how do we solve that issue? Is it about making people feel more welcome and that there participation is valuable and will lead to results. Or is it about education, and ensuring that more people have the skills to take on these tasks - spread out the work. Finally, is it about stepping back and waiting until members of the community are ready (as per this morning's presentation)?
• Education is a key element. One of the First Nations, may have been Champaigne and Aishihik has set up their own educational fund to encourage extra learning, to stay in school. Offer special luncheons, etc. Seems to be working well so far - more people appear to be going on to post-secondary education from that community.
• May want to look into incorporating cultural traditions into meetings to encourage people to feel more welcome. For example, DNV opens their staff meetings with a prayer - reminds us about the spiritual and community elements of our work.
• May also want to look for the common element that will bring everyone together. For example, we had a tough time coming up with a theme for this conference. When we looked at it, we found that the only truly common element to all of the Yukon First Nations was the drum, thus 'The Drum is Calling'.
• Also interested in this open space technique as an option to get thoughts moving and people working together. Looking forward to seeing how this sessions works.
• Also a recognition within the organization of values such as the importance of family. A holistic approach to our work.
• Finally, how do we reconcile the whole question of 'it's not the responsibility of non-Aboriginal people, they should just stay out of it'.