Process being developed by Nanoose First Nation to Develop their Own Election Code.

Governance is the process of a group of people coming together to make arrangements, both written and oral, between themselves to make sure the well-being of individual members of the group is maintained with a minimum of interference from others in the group.

Successful governance relies on the development of a set of policies (laws, rules, regulations or policies) that respond fairly and honestly to the needs of the members of the group without putting unfair or onerous conditions on anyone or any group that is a part of the larger group. Successful governance also depends on honest and fair leadership, open and transparent application of the policies and the ability of the group to change any of the rules that may not work the way they were intended, or any rules that don’t apply to changing circumstances.

After contact with Europeans occurred on the West Coast, and aproclamation was developed in England in 1763, traditional governance structures in indigenous communities came under pressure to give way to the European model of governance. Little concern was given to existing governments in these communities, with new policies and laws being implemented by the foreign power. By 1867, when Canada was born, Aboriginal governments were already under severe pressure to disappear.

The new country’s promises to look after the Aboriginal peoples as well as the loss of traditional hunting, fishing and gathering lands, coupled with the lack of resources to trade with other traditional communities forced Aboriginal communities to rely on the new government for policy, guidance, regulation and economic prosperity.

However, this reliance, and the limited resources provided to the Aboriginals, only created a situation where local communities were unable to look after themselves. Insufficient power in the handsof leaders, insufficient resources to develop and maintain effective governance structures, and inadequate funding for everyday needs led to disassociation between members of the community, alienation between different ethnic and social groups and a complete breakdown of the traditional governing institutions.

For more than a century, the dependence created by Canada’s governmental policy frustrated any hope of restoring a healthy and dynamic governing system to Aboriginal communities that had existed for thousands of years.

However, over the past two decades, Canada and the provinces have slowly loosened their grip on Aboriginal governance, allowing First Nations to strike out on their own to decide how they can effectively look after their own affairs. Time and a lack of resources had effectively erased any traditional forms of community governance. The task became one of re-learning what forms of governance were applicable, learning how effective governments actually govern, and learning how to create the system that allows an effective government to grow and flourish in place of the outdated “INAC” model.

There are workbooks that have been created to assist First Nation communities to take the first of many steps on their way to self-governance. While independent governments must define the scope and breadth of their powers in a constitution-type document, and then implement policies and regulations that respond to the goals set out in the constitution, one of the first steps for a First Nation to flex its governance “muscle” is in the area of selecting leaders to manage the affairs of the community.

The Indian Act is very clear about how this is to take place, but the limitations imposed by that Act almost ensure that the issues facing a modern First Nations government will not be handled effectively, efficiently and in a way that benefits the Nation.

For example, under the Indian Act, a First Nation must hold an election every two years. As any newly-elected Councilor will tell you, it takes a year to learn what’s actually going on in the affairs of the community and the challenges that it faces, and then it takes a year to prepare for re-election.

Where is the time needed to respond to the needs of the community? It would be nice if we could just turn back the clock and return to the “good old days” but, given the pace of change in the modern world, this probably wouldn’t give us a government that could deal with the issues facing First Nations people today. Policies and regulations must be developed for technologies and political issues that didn’t exist as late as ten years ago. So, a modern First Nation government probably doesn’t look much like the one in place a hundred and fifty years ago.

However, it is possible to create one that embraces the values of the traditional model and places them into a modern, efficient governing model that responds to the challenges facing today’s Aboriginal peoples.

One modern governance challenge is finding and developing good leadership and then giving leaders the tools they need to govern effectively and efficiently.

Custom Election Code Workbook