North Shore Tribal Council takes part in AMO conference

Members of the North Shore Tribal Council took part in the recently-completed Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in Ottawa. 

The group, which was led by Mamaweswen CEO Allan Moffat, spoke with three Ministers regarding enhancing the devolution of services to Indigenous Peoples.

Following is a full release from the North Shore Tribal Council on participating in the conference:

Provincial Ministers were greeted by a unique organization this time around. All Provincial Ministers in Ontario attend the AMO conference usually provide a city or town with a 15-minute meeting to discuss issues they are facing. Mamaweswen, The North Shore Tirbal Council uses this conference as an opportunity to speak directly with provincial counterparts at the annual conference held in Ottawa, Ont. from Aug. 18-21.

A small contingent of officials from Niigaaniin Services, the Social Service Arm of the Tribal Council participated in delegation meetings with Provincial Ministers on priority areas for the Communities it represents, which includes eight First Nation Communities between Batchewana First Nation and Wahnapitae First Nation along the North Shore of Lake Huron.

Lead by Allan Moffat, Chief Executive Officer at Mamaweswen, the contingent was able to speak with three Ministers about enhancing devolution of services to Indigenous Peoples.

In a joint session with Ministers Greg Rickford (Indigenous Affairs and Economic Reconciliation) and Micheal Parsa (Children, Community and Social Services) we discussed reform to the way the Province determines who administers Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program funding to recipients. Currently Niigaaniin Services provides Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program directly to community members on reserve. “We are ready to enhance our services to include those living off-reserve, Our community members who live in the neighbouring municipalities and towns in the Robinson Huron Treaty Area,” said Moffat. “It’s really divisive that members of the same family must deal directly with provincial officials if they reside off reserve, while those living on reserve are able to go to their band office and receive a better level of service, from their own fellow community member.”

Devolution is based on the notion that Indigenous Peoples in Canada should be allowed to govern their own way. However, it also requires a transfer of fiduciary responsibilities from the province to organizations like Mamaweswen.

“Without proper funding for staffing and operations, devolution of services is incomplete. Without the funding it is simply setting indigenous organizations up to fail when attempting to serve our own people.” Said Peyton Pitawanakwat, Chair of the Mamaweswen Board of directors and elected Council in Mississauga First Nation. “It is very divisive for Our Communities to be split based on the address they reside at. We would like to be able to serve all Community Members who receive these forms of assistance from the province.”

The group also met with Attorney General Doug Downey to discuss a model the social service organization follows to prepare Gladue Reports. Having no relationship with the Attorney General prior, this was true opportunity to meet, start a conversation and allow the staff at both the Ministry of the Attorney General and Niigaaniin Services to collaborate on ways to enhance the number of Gladue reports prepared given and increasing demand from Community Members facing criminal charges.

“This was a perfect way to present our work to the Minister and begin what could lead to a great opportunity to rebuild the way Gladue reports are prepared in Ontario” said Vince Eshkakogan, Associate Director at Niigaaniin Services. “We were able to make our case and present Mr. Downey and his team with a small proposal that would allow our current contingent of writers to shift to full time operations instead of doing the reports as part of a mental health and addiction support role that they currently are responsible for. It’s a chance to divvy up the tremendous amount of work that goes into producing these reports.”

Currently Gladue Reports are often not utilized to their fullest potential in Ontario Courts and can take many months to complete. Utilizing case management strategies, digital tools and unbiased interviewing and transcribing Niigaaniin Services can produce reports in 4-6 weeks.

AMO and ROMA (Rural Ontario Municipalities Association), its Rural Ontario counterpart with a conference held annually in January provide two opportunities to advocate for Our Communities on a reginal level. Having each Chief and Council represented on the Board of Directors allows the Communities to determine which issues they would like support from the Tribal Council on and position our requests when the delegation meeting window opens ahead of each conference.