Advisory Services
A. Band Government
The purpose of Band Government Advisory Services is to develop capacity to operate effective and transparent government administrations by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in a broad range of band government activities such as:
- Administration functions;
- Governing structures, strategic planning and problem solving;
- Operational procedures, bylaws and policies;
- Section 74 and Band Custom Elections and referenda, election codes, conflict of interest codes and codes of conduct;
- Management training, orientation and development programs for elected members and managers; and
- Interpreting the Indian Act for members and membership registration.
All DOTC First Nations possess various Management Development Plans (including Remedial Management Plans and Financial Management Plans) in relation to their administrative status.
Internal Performance Reviews are conducted as required or on an annual basis by each of the member First Nations and in consultation with the Tribal Council as requested or required.
Policies have been developed, presented and reviewed in relation to administration, financial, travel and personnel policies with the assistance of the Tribal Council as requested.
No specific claims were researched by the Tribal Council on behalf of member First Nations.
Orientations were conducted for three newly elected Chiefs and Councils for member First Nations.
More specifically, the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council has provided advisory services to develop capacity to operate effective and transparent government administrations by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in the development, adoption and approval of administrative policies.
B. Financial Management
The purpose of Financial Management Advisory Services is to build effective financial management capacities in First Nations by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in a broad range of financial service areas such as:
- Planning, reporting and systems development;
- Capital financing and liaison with financial institutions;
- Formulating, drafting and implementing financial management policies, procedures and by-laws;
- Establishing budgets and financial management policies;
- Debt consolidation, remedial management and repayment plans; and
- Personnel recruitment and selection.
10 Certifications were issued at Tribal Council coordinated Band Government training sessions through the Banff Centre for Management.
The Tribal Council assisted:
- 4 First Nations with audited financial statements;
- 4 First Nations with financial by-laws;
- 3 First Nations with internal audit systems;
- 4 First Nations with accountability policies;
- 4 First Nations with approved funding proposals;
- 2 First Nations with band-initiated remedial management plans;
- 3 First Nations with co-management remedial management plans;
- 2 First Nations with third party remedial management plans;
- 3 First Nations with negotiating arrangements with private financial institution
C. Economic Development
The purpose of Economic Development Advisory Services is to support the economic sustainability of communities and the enhancement of quality of life by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in a broad range of economic development areas such as:
- Formulating, drafting, planning and implementing of economic strategies;
- Business plan and funding proposal preparation;
- Setting up and operating economic development corporations and joint ventures;
- Networking activities;
- Activities that support on-reserve economic development (e.g. tourism, natural resources such as fishing, oil, gas, forestry).
The Tribal Council developed the following in consultation with and/or on behalf of its member First Nations and submitted for funding as requested or required by DOTC member First Nations:
- Business Plans;
- Economic Development projects, plans and strategies; and
- Business proposals meeting departmental requirements.
The Tribal Council conducted feasibility assessments and/or market research activities as requested or required by member First Nations.
10 Certifications were issued at Tribal Council coordinated Band Government training sessions through the Banff Centre for Management.
During the fiscal year, the DOTC Chiefs and Council members met for two days to discuss and explore Economic Development initiatives at both the community and Tribal Council levels.
Each community shared their economic development plans, strategies and inventories of assets, goods and services that could be utilized and developed through inter-reserve trade arrangements.
DOTC Administration provided an overview of the DOTC Advisory Services and Tribal Council Review by Indian & Northern Affairs Canada.
The Advisory Services include Planning, Governance, Financial Services, Technical Services and Economic Development.
Reference and background information were also provided on the 1999 DOTC Internal Fiscal & Organizational Review on Sustainable Development report and recommendations.
The participants also discussed individual and collective political agendas that need to be pursued either by each First Nation or through the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council and how should we organize to achieve our individual and collective economic objectives.
A consensus was reached that sustainable economic development must be a priority for both First Nations, while at the same time, maintaining quality programs and services at the Tribal Council and First Nations levels.
It was also agreed that the resource required to pursue and implement the political agenda requires the generation of our own source revenues through various economic development initiatives.
The following discussion paper on Nation Building was provided to the participants as a guide in taking a more pro-active approach to economic development.
The Nation-Building Approach to First Nations Economic Development:
A Discussion Paper
Self-determination is the only policy that will alleviate the legacy of suppression and economic dependency to which First Nations have been subjected.
Throughout the world, lasting improvement in economic and social conditions comes about through the creation of institutions and policies that allow development to take hold.
Research in the United States also shows that Tribes who take a “Jobs and Income” approach to economic development tend to respond to anyone’s agenda, emphasize short-term payoffs, emphasize starting businesses and success is measured by economic impact.
In this approach, development is mostly the tribal planner’s job and it treats development as first and foremost, an economic problem and the solution is money.
On the other hand, the Nation-building approach responds to strategic planning for the long term future, emphasizes long term payoffs and creating an environment in which businesses can last.
In the Nation building approach, success is measured by social, cultural, political and economic impacts and economic development is the job of tribal and community leadership. They set the vision, guidelines, policy while others implement.
The Nation-building approach also treats development as first and foremost a political problem and the solution is a sound institutional foundation, strategic direction and informed action.
In summary, the Nation-building approach involves asserting sovereignty, establishing effective institutions, setting strategic direction, making decisions and taking actions.
The Nation-building approach says the solution is to put in place an environment in which people want to invest and they want to invest because they believe their investment has a good chance of paying off.
It may produce monetary profits. It may produce satisfaction in a job well done. It may raise the quality of life in the community. It may reduce dependence on the federal government or bolster tribal sovereignty.
The point is that most investors have choices. If they don’t see a decent possibility of a payoff here, there is little to stop them from going somewhere else or doing something different.
An investor is anybody with time, or energy or ideas or skills or good will or dollars that’s willing to bet those assets on the tribal future.
Are you willing to invest your assets on our tribal future?
Attracting investment is a matter of attracting those people, of persuading them to make that bet.
A development plan that ignores the problem of persuading investors -- of all kinds – to invest is a development plan in trouble. Nation-building is a solution to that problem.
Economic Development is a process, not a program. Federal economic initiatives for First Nations have long been dominated by a “planning and projects” mentality.
Economic development is a process that leads to a continuous improvement in a community’s standard of living.
The standard of living is usually measured in terms of per capita real income and per capita wealth. Other variables such as peace, security, clean environment, job satisfaction, family, honor, etc. also impact on the standard of living.
The capacity that is needed for development is institutional capacity and the “just do it” First Nations will be the ones who can demonstrate the importance of basic institutional infrastructure.
Planning which takes the form of institutional capacity building can turn a First Nation around.
Research also reveals a clear pattern among Tribes that are moving forward economically and socially. Without exception, such tribes are marked by aggressive assertions of sovereignty and self-rule.
The move from programs and services dependency to nation-building and economic development requires stable institutions and policies, fair and effective dispute resolution, separation of politics from business management, a competent bureaucracy and a cultural “match.”
Cultural “match” refers to the match between governing institutions and the prevailing ideas in the community about how authority should be organized and exercised.
Where a cultural match is high, the institutions of governance tend to have a high degree of support in the community, they command allegiance and respect.
Where cultural match is low, legitimacy is low, and governing institutions are more likely to be toothless, ignored, disrespected, and/or turned into vehicles for personal enrichment.
The crucial issues for societies to decide as they put together a development agenda are these:
- What kind of a society are we trying to build?
- What do we hope to change in our society?
- What do we hope to preserve or protect? What are we willing to give up?
- What are our development priorities (e.g., sovereignty, health, employment, income, skills development, etc.)?
- What are our development concerns (e.g., cultural impacts, environmental impacts, changing demographics, out-migration, etc.)?
- What assets do we have to work with?
- What constraints do we face?
The answers to these questions form the basis of a development strategy.
They provide criteria against which development options can be evaluated and development decisions can be made.
In conclusion, economic development in First Nations is first and foremost a political problem.
At the heart of it lie sovereignty and governing institutions through which sovereignty can be effectively exercised.
The best way to overcome First Nations poverty is to support tribal sovereignty and for First Nations, Nation-building is the only game in town.
On the Canadian side, another recent paper concluded that Tax exemption can also be very useful for the economic development of First Nations.
The report concluded that:
“Sovereignty is imperative, as is economic development, and the time has long past for First Nations to gain their full rights. You can continue to play the government’s game, abiding by its rules and timetable. Or you can change the rules and create the external pressures which will be essential if you are ever to get your full rights. The path you take at the crossroads is yours to choose.”
D. Community Planning
The purpose of Community Planning Advisory Services is to promote sustainable social, economic and physical development in First Nations communities by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in a broad range of community planning activities such as:
- Formulating, planning implementing and maintaining community development strategies;
- Producing and/or analyzing studies, inventories, social analyses, impact assessments on the development and use of the community resources; and
- Building human resource capacity.
The Tribal Council developed the following:
- 1 Physical Development Plans, including land use and facilities plans;
- 1 Comprehensive Community Plans;
- 3 Five Year Capital Plans
10 Certifications were issued at Tribal Council coordinated Band Government training sessions through the Banff Centre for Management.
The Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council promotes sustainable social, economic and physical development in First Nations communities by assisting, advising and training member First Nations in Strategic Planning dealing primarily with a Nation’s effort towards reviewing and revising its purpose and direction.
What is Strategic Planning?
Essentially, strategic planning is information generating, learning process whereby key guiding members have reviewed the past, present and future, visualizing the Nation’s future and developed an overall plan to achieve that future.
Benefits of Strategic Planning
Strategic planning has assisted each First Nation by:
- Specifying the Nation’s purpose and function.
- Setting and clarifying the Nation’s future direction.
- Providing an overall framework for improvement and innovation.
- Accommodating and adapting to changing environments.
- Engaging in teamwork and unity of effort in a given direction.
Training Strategic Planning Teams
Before anyone gets excited about strategic planning and actually starts the planning process, DOTC has experienced that there must be a strong commitment by all participants.
Effective strategic planning can only occur where the guiding members give complete support to the process and make certain that all other members/ stakeholders recognize that commitment.
DOTC has also experienced that it is very important that each participant of the team be willing to seek consensus (a means of arriving at a decision characterized by general agreement and resulting in a decision that all members can accept and support).
Further, we have found that the task of strategic planning will require:
- Risk taking;
- Participation;
- Recognition of the value of teamwork; and