Transcript
Transcript: Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Partnership with Indigenous Communities
Speaker 1: Kevin Fram
Budget 2017 announced new investments in DFO'S Indigenous Programing Suite, we have five programs and they all received additional financial support. So was a very exciting time. And shortly after the budget 2017, our minister attended the National Aboriginal Fisheries Forum in Membertou Nova Scotia. It was about a month after the budget announcement. And in his address, he appealed to all of the Indigenous executives who were attending the conference to work with DFO to ensure that the new investments announced the budget 2017 would be implemented in a way that really met the needs and aspirations of Indigenous communities across the country. And so we embarked on something completely new. The Indigenous our Indigenous partners, came together and form what's known as the National Indigenous Fisheries Institute, and they partnered with us on carrying out the Indigenous Program Review and every single program, Indigenous program at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada was subject to engagement across the country. We met with hundreds of Indigenous people who rely on these capacity building programs to seek their views and to have plenary meetings as well as workshops to really talk about what they wanted to see in terms of the future
Speaker 2: Jordan Point
Involving Indigenous people right at the design stage. Those of us that had been around for a long time really recognized that this was a paradigm shift. I think the main thrust of all of this was the ability to develop collaboration and trust in moving program design forward in a shared capacity table.
Speaker 1: Kevin Fram
And one of the key recommendations that came from that 18 month engagement exercise was what we call co-co-co, which is co-design co-develop, and co-deliver. And the recommendation was that every single DFO Indigenous program embrace this principle of co-co-co.
Speaker 3: John Paul
I think the co-co-co in particular, in the fisheries context, because of the relationship, good and bad over time making it an equal relationship goes a long way to strengthen relationships and build long term trust between people and organizations. I think the Indigenous program review, which we've done, which we completed over a year, working very closely with DFO's staff and Indigenous people across the country, I think allowed us to engage people and hear honestly their perspective about how to improve Indigenous programs. And it's important because it allows us to honestly speak about what we're doing and mutually find solutions to sometimes very difficult issues.
Speaker 2: Jordan Point
It was a real opportunity to have First Nations right at the table in the design for the co-design, co-delivery, co-develop of these program envelopes.
Speaker 1: Kevin Fram
It's more than just a tagline. It's extremely meaningful because instead of DFO, albeit even after some engagement, deciding on its own what is best, every single key decision in terms of the program design and how it's implemented is made through a joint decision making across each of these Indigenous programs.
Speaker 4: Angeline Gillis
It's no longer the top down approach that DFO is telling us what our gaps are, that DFO was telling us what our priorities are. And it's a small step. It's an innovation fund. It's not very large, but it's a small step towards something that can be much bigger, if it is applied across the board and other departments, take similar approaches and if DFO takes other approaches,
Speaker 1: Kevin Fram
It's a key pillar of Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Reconciliation strategy. And we're as I said, we're in I guess we're entering year three of this endeavor and there's there's much more work to do. But the exciting thing is that all of our programs will be completely renewed and renewed in the vision of the Indigenous expression, I should say, of what constitutes a successful outcome.
Speaker 2: Jordan Point
This was the first time government came and said, let's look at these national programs, these national funding envelopes, and really start to develop a process to update, refresh and review these programs.
Speaker 1: Kevin Fram
So building capacity so that Indigenous people can really participate in the fisheries and aquatic resource sector is critical. And the best way to do that, we feel, is to ensure that our Indigenous partners are part of all the decisions, not just once, not just on a one time only basis, but on an ongoing basis.
Speaker 3: John Paul
I am from the community as a person, and I always want to ensure that what we do is very respectful of people and very respectful of their values and their views and their principles, which are important for all of us.
Speaker 4: Angeline Gillis
The bottom up and hearing and recognizing, acknowledging and delivering on those priorities are priorities identified from the people on the ground and hearing their stories and trying to help them to become stronger in an area that's natural to them in an area that they've traditionally lived, and that is in the waters on the land fish and their traditional species. So that that's the direction we need to go.
Speaker 2: Jordan Point
Were able to develop a really trusting relationship, and together we would advocate the utility of this to reach across the table and say, let's do this, you know, for the altruistic greater good.