2021/2022 Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group Report

2021/2022 REPORT

Socio-Cultural Working Group

INTRODUCTION

Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group (TSWG) Background The Tahltan Socio-Cultural Working Group (TSWG) was established in May 2011 to fulfill specific commitments made by the Province under the Northwest Transmission Line Agreement. It includes representation from the Province of British Columbia (the Province), as well as representatives from the Tahltan Central Government, Iskut Band Council and Tahltan Band Council.

The purpose of the TSWG is to conduct long-term planning and implementation of specific initiatives across key priority socio-cultural sectors within the Tahltan Nation through collaboration, relationship building and partnerships.

Mandate The TSWG mandate is to support Tahltan colonization recovery by developing strategies and coordinating initiatives that support reconciliation and Tahltan Nationbuilding by: •

Nurturing and promoting Tahltan culture and identity;

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Enhancing the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellness of Tahltan families and communities;

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Fostering a culture of unity, including through the continual development and revision of the Protocol Agreement; and,

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Establishing and enhancing our external relationships with partners, agencies and governments that are mutually beneficial.

Structure and Team The TSWG has two levels of operations: the leadership and technical groups.

CO-CHAIRS Feddie Louie (Tahltan Nation) and Sarah Quinn (BC Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation – MIRR).

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SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

A New Context This revised strategic plan was created in the context of a fast changing socio-economic landscape in our territory. When we first formed, our focus was planning for the change to come from the electrification of the region. That change has now come. While many of the old challenges have been faced and opportunities taken up, our transformation into a major provincial economic hub has brought new challenges and opportunities that make our work even more relevant.

The emerging LNG economy brings both an opportunity and pressure to revitalize our communities. As the cost of living in Terrace, Smithers and Prince George rise, our hope is to be able to provide Tahtlans and others with an affordable and culturally rich place to come and call home.

This TSWG plan also recognizes we are a Nation in recovery from both a fire that caused more damage to one of our communities than to any other First Nation in recorded Canadian history, and from the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Our resilience has been tested and we proved stronger than ever before. This plan builds from that unity, strength and resilience that binds us together.

Overview of TSWG 2022-28: Goals and Strategic Initiatives

TSWG continued to take the lead role in helping Tahltans

The following tables identify goals and strategic initiatives

navigate through the pandemic while keeping each

for the TSWG. These are organized in seven (7) priority

community safe and COVID-free. Tahltans organized

areas:

themselves in a manner that they were able to maximize

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Governance and Communications

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Culture and Heritage

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Reconciliation and Partnerships

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Regional Revitalization and Infrastructure

•

Holistic Wellness (formerly Health and Social)

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Language Reclamation

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Education, Employment and Training

partnerships, resources and services that would help them keep their communities safe from the virus.

In February, 2022, the Tahltan Emergency Management Committee (EMC) was recognized with an excellence award from the provincial Association for Mineral Exploration (AME BC). The EMC was noted for creating an inclusive and agile forum to facilitate communication between Indigenous communities and industry in northwest B.C. The committee demonstrated exemplary leadership during both

Tahltan Nation COVID-19 Emergency Management Committee

the COVID-19 pandemic and the wildfire season, stated AME

In March of 2020, Tahltan Central Government established

Goal 2: The work of the TSWG contributes to strengthening the governance and communications of the Nation and ongoing integration of Tahltan values and practices into the work of our organizations.

a Tahltan Nation COVID-19 Emergency Management Committee (EMC). Composed of Leadership from Iskut Band, Tahltan Band and the Tahltan Central Government, this committee agreed to work together as one to prevent the spread of the virus in Tahltan Territory and ensure the Nation was prepared. Through this work, Tahltan Leadership came

while announcing the winners.

Throughout the spring of 2022, TSWG supported online engagement activities of the Tahltan Stewardship Initiative, which connected members with map-based and interactive surveys and tools to share their knowledge with the Tahltan stewardship team. This work is ongoing.

together as one to protect Tahltan Territory.

To ensure the safety of our communities, the TSWG took

Governance and Communications

the lead as the central coordinator of two key task groups

Goal 1: The TSWG governance model supports communities and the Nation to leverage programs and resources in key sectors where we focus our work.

in 2021. Moving forward, the TSWG will establish working

formed by the leadership. 1) The Tahltan Leadership COVID Management Group, and 2) the Tahltan COVID Management Group Technical Team. Both teams continued their work groups for each sector with representation from Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek, front line workers/ staff and representatives from other Tahltan organizations where needed.

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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ASSOCIATION FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION – 2021 AWARDS

Tahltan Nation Emergency Management Committee Wins David Barr Award

The Tahltan Emergency Management Committee is the recipient of the AME 2021 David Barr Award for its leadership and innovation in mineral exploration health and safety. The Committee is recognized for creating an inclusive and agile forum to facilitate communication between Indigenous communities and industry in northwest BC. The Committee demonstrated exemplary leadership during both the COVID19 pandemic and the wildfire season.

Jill Tsolinas, Chair of the AME Board of Directors, commented, “The AME Celebration of Excellence Awards recognize the achievements of individuals who contribute to successfully finding, funding and building safe and responsible mineral exploration and development projects. I look forward to celebrating the achievements of these leaders in their fields at the Awards Gala at AME Roundup 2022.”

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SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

The Tahltan Central Government would like to recognize the following people for their contribution in the Emergency Management Committee: • Abou, Peggy • Ball, Ann • Ball, Christine • Callbreath, Natasha • Day, Chad Norman President • Dennis, Maggie • Dennis, Shana • Etzerza, Tina • Infanti, Gordon

• Louie, Feddie • McPhee, Carmen, Chief • Nishima, Jody • Nole, Annabel • Nole, Terrilynn • Payne, Jodi • Quock, Marie, Chief • Rowe, Kim

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE AWARD

Tahltan’s Emergency Management Committee wins 2021 AME award Article from Terrace Standard

| Terrace Standard Staff

| Published December 10, 2021

Feddie Louie, director of Tahltan Nation’s emergency management committee which won the 2021 AME award.

Association of Mineral Exploration recognized the team’s efforts during wildfire and pandemic season.

The Tahltan Central Government’s (TCG) Emergency Management Committee (EMC) has been recognized with an excellence award from the provincial Association for Mineral Exploration (AME).

McPhee, Telegraph Creek Band Chief; Gordon Infanti, Director of Communications and External Relations; Jodi Payne and Ann Ball.

TCG’s EMC committee, headed by its director Feddie Louie and deputy director Jodi Nishima, was the recipient of the AME David Barr Award for its leadership and innovation in mineral exploration health and safety.

“The committee is recognized for creating an inclusive and agile forum to facilitate communication between Indigenous communities and industry in northwest B.C. The committee demonstrated exemplary leadership during both the COVID-19 pandemic and the wildfire season,” stated AME while announcing the winners.

Tahltan members also part of the EMC are Tina Etzerza, Shana Dennis, Kim Rowe, Maggie Dennis, Natasha Callbreath, Terrilynn Nole, Peggy Abou, Annabel Nole, Melva Quock and Christine Ball.

“The AME Celebration of Excellence Awards recognize the achievements of individuals who contribute to successfully finding, funding and building safe and responsible mineral exploration and development projects,” said Jill Tsolinas, chair of the AME board of directors.

The winners will be felicitated at the AME Awards Gala on Feb. 2, 2022.

The EMC committee also includes Chad Norman Day, TCG President; Marie Quock, Iskut Band Council Chief; Carmen

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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Culture and Heritage Goal 3: All projects, studies and archives that express Tahltan identity are centralized and accessible to the Nation.

COVID-19 has had serious social and cultural impacts on our Nation. It has also served to highlight importance of social connection between our communities and families. Isolation and social distancing took its toll on the mental health of our people. Although everyone understands it is for the protection of our most vulnerable and our Elders, our mental and spiritual health as a people has suffered.

Despite COVID-19, some projects designed to protect and promote Tahltan heritage and culture continued. In the future, the TSWG will continue to work on completing the Tahltan Cultural Competency Guidebook, and expand and develop a digital archive of Tahltan history and cultural practices.

B C E M E R G E N C Y H E A LT H S E R V I C E S A N D P R I M A RY CARE PROVIDERS The Emergency Management Committee met weekly with

Reconciliation and Partnerships Goal 4: The TSWG provides community-based recommendations that support the socio-cultural components of a Comprehensive Reconciliation Agreement with British Columbia and in alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

community health and wellness service gaps. These partners include: •

Northwest Regional Director of Physicians

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Local physicians

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Local lead nurses from each health centre

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First Nations Health Authority

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Northern Health Authority

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BC Emergency Health Services

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Mental Health Clinicians (MST)

•

Summit Helicopters

this agreement. However, TSWG partnered with many

3 N AT I O N S ( TA H LTA N , KASKA AND TLINGIT)

organizations and BC Government ministries to enhance to

Tahltans continue to have a close working relationship

COVID-19 has slowed the progress on work towards

mitigate the spread of the virus and address service gaps.

The following are the different COVID-19 partnership tables and initiatives that were coordinated by the TSWG since March 2020.

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our front-line partners throughout the region to address

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

with our Kaska and Tlingit neighbouring Nations. This relationship is formalized through the 3Nations societies in which we work with our neighbours on key regional issues.

7 COMMUNITIES, 3NATIONS •

Three Tahltan communities of Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek.

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Three Kaska communities of Good Hope Lake, Lower Post and Kwadacha.

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One Tlingit community of Atlin.

I N D U S T RY Throughout the year, Tahltan collaborated with all industry proponents to prevent COVID-19 from reaching any of our three communities. This was done in partnership with Energy, Mines and Resources BC and every proponent, whether it was exploration, mining or other. The TSWG supported The Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) and Central Mountain Air Ltd. (CMA) to finalize a contract with Newcrest Mining Limited (Newcrest) for air transportation of Red Chris mine crews. The contract is a strong example of the power of partnership between the mining industry, service providers and Indigenous business in strengthening capacity,

Goal 6: The infrastructure and transportation needs of Tahltans living in and coming to the Territory are understood and advanced in harmony with regional infrastructure planning and funding commitments.

Progress on this goal was achieved in conjunction with Goal #9.

Goal 7: Partnerships are created and leveraged to enhance connectivity to Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek.

Progress continued to be slowed due to COVID-19, although work is ongoing, we expect these groups to be established once the pandemic is over. COVID-19 highlighted the limited capacity of our virtual infrastructure.

by the Tahltan Emergency Management Operations Lead for

Goal 8: Programs and services are centralized for more efficient and effective service delivery between the three (3) communities of Iskut, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek.

input and acceptance.

Two longstanding infrastructure gaps were brought to a

collaboration and relationships As a result of these partnerships, all companies have COVID-19 Prevention/Management Plan that were reviewed

Regional Revitalization and Infrastructure Goal 5: More opportunities in the territory are created and people are coming back to the region to build thriving livelihoods for themselves and their families.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions and Tahltans remaining in

head through the pandemic and are now actively being addressed through the work of the TSWG and our partners.

M E D I VA C For those living in Tahltan Territory, access to timely medical transportation is an issue that Tahltan Leadership takes very seriously. Medivac times reached an unacceptable 20.5 hours during COVID-19 and Tahltan Leadership was forced to secure and pay for, together with some of our partners, a helicopter based in Terrace to ensure our people have access to the Medivac services that those in other parts of the Province enjoy.

a state of emergency, these goals were not supported by leadership due to increased risk of infection to local communities. Activities to achieve this will be pursued when the pandemic is no longer a threat to local communities.

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

JARRETT QUOCK, TAHLTAN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT GUARDIAN - SWIFT WATER RESCUE TRAINING

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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DEASE LAKE AIRPORT UPGRADE Due to COVID, the Dease Lake and Bob Quinn Airport, in partnership with NewCrest/Red Chris Mine, the airport has been a focus of upgrades to ensure fixed wing aircraft can land at night and in some adverse weather conditions. The plan to upgrade the landing strip, increase and upgrade navigation equipment and provide maintenance and fueling services has been approved and the TNDC has been contracted by NewCrest to provide ongoing maintenance to Dease Lake Airport.

Holistic Wellness Goal 9: The Tahltan Nation manages a Nation health approach that maximizes health resources and promotes optimal physical, cultural and mental health.

members and families experienced in the past nine months.

In addition to major successes spearheaded by TSWG and our partners to minimize timelines for medivacs, we are working with our partners to bring another full-time

As noted above, COVID-19 has put the spotlight on the

physician to the Stikine Health Centre and developing long

limitation of our services within Tahltan Territory but also

term plans to bring back a pharmacy. Other initiatives

provided much needed opportunity to work together across

are also on the horizon. We are currently exploring an

many of the barriers that our people face. TSWG works

opportunity to open a blood bank in Dease Lake.

with our primary care team to ensure the “health side” of COVID-19 was being supported as we worked jointly on identifying and mitigating all the gaps in services that were needed to keep our communities safe.

Our community mental health team has been and continues to a great concern for the Emergency Management teams, health professionals, and cultural practitioners as our people struggle with the isolation and the sense of being alone. The Mobile Support team and medical professionals are in constant communications to implement strategies to combat mental health and addiction issues. The front line and our resource partners have been very creative in supporting our families during this crisis, whether it is holding social-distancing camps, socially distant hold bingos, community food drives, hampers, games and crafts for families. They have done wonderful things to mitigate some of the mental health, isolation stress that community

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SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

Goal 10: The Tahltan Nation has management control and jurisdiction over child and family services delivered to Tahltan children and families.

The TSWG continues to develop a child-centered Tahltan Child and Family Service Model.

Goal 11: Tahltan youth are equipped with skills that promote life-long holistic development and well being.

TSWG members continue to work with partners to develop a holistic youth program that supports youth to leverage a network of support and enhance support services to youth in all Tahltan communities.

(for pronunciation) and written form for each documented word in each dialect. The Language Department has begun a staggered approach with documentation with fluent speakers happening in each of the three Communities in territory (Tatl’ah - Dease Lake, Tlēgōhīn - Telegraph Creek, and Łuwechōn – Iskut). We plan to work with fluent speakers from outside of the Territory during next documentation phases. Once complete, there will be a webbased dictionary on our website and a free App available, for users to access the dictionary without internet or cell service. Zoom language lessons continue and participation has been consistent across age groups.

Education, Employment and Training Goal 13: Develop the capacity of all Tahltans to build transferable skills and pursue careers in diverse industries and sectors.

Tahltan members continue to have the following bursaries available each year to build new skills and pursue new career opportunities within the territory.

ZOOM LANGUAGE LESSON POSTER

Language Reclamation Goal 12: Safe and supportive environments exist for all Tahltan speakers including new learners, second language speakers, silent speakers and first language speakers.

The Language Department has started the process of developing a multi-modal Tāłtān dictionary that builds on the foundations of the existing Tahltan Children's Illustrated Dictionary. A multi-modal dictionary means the online dictionary will include both the audio

GCMC

$15,000

Newcrest Mining Ltd.

$30,000

AltaGas Ltd.

$26,000

Tahltan Guide Outfitters Association Seabridge Gold Inc. T OTA L AVA I L A B L E A N N U A L LY

$9,000 $40,000 $120,000

In 2021, more than 25 Tahltan members received bursaries from Seabridge Gold, to use towards opportunities in the trades, post-secondary, and community development.

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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Next Steps TSWG will stay the course and support all to the community emergency management efforts on both the health and social sides of COVID prevention intervention strategies until the vaccine is in the arms of the community member that would like one. When this goal is achieved, we anticipate shifting focus to undertake some or all of the following.

1.

TSWG will work collaboratively with all our partners to ensure an economic recovery plan is developed and implemented to ensure Tahltans do not suffer long-term negative economic impacts from COVID-19.

Paying special attention to our tourism industry, big game guide outfitters, hospitality industry and any other sectors that have been negatively impacted by the restrictions related to the pandemic in our area.

Financials The TSWG technical team, with input from leaders, project leads and sector working group determine the financial breakdown of the $500,000 allocations. The following is the breakdown for 2020/21: 2021 SEABRIDGE GOLD BURSARY RECIPIENTS

Goal 14: Tahltans are maximizing job and career opportunities within the territory.

The TSWG was delighted to see Ann Ball welcomed to the TCG team as the new Director of Employment & Contracting. Ann has been hard at work to bring Tahltan OnTrack online for our people. For more information, visit:

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https://Tahltan.org/employment-opportunities

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https://Tahltan.org/education-training-funding-programs

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https://ontrack.Tahltan.org

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP - 2021/22 REPORT

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Governance – 25% - $125,000 includes coordinator, travel costs for team, Annual General Assembly (AGA), special projects and administration

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Language and Culture - 25% – $125,000

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Education, Employment & Training 20% – $100,000

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Infrastructure – 5% - $25,000

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Health/Social – 20% - $100,000

•

Community Revitalization - 5% - $25,000

SOCIO-CULTURAL WORKING GROUP 2021/22 REPORT /Tahltangovernment

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