The Vision Quest

It began in 2002, when we "The People " found the courage somewhere to look at the reality and pain of death, poverty and despair our young people seemed to be telling us in different ways. We hired two consultants by the name of Robert Daniels and Robert Striker to coordinate our energy and bravery in examining that reality. It was no easy feat.

Having looked at ourselves and the dependence on outside governments we found ourselves in, we realized no government will come into our community and solve any of those problems. We soon realized our young people were dying from suicide and addiction because of some deep underlying reasons that we needed to confront.

Our history attests to the plight and the pain with which our people have no choice but to live. It is in the struggle of trying to keep the values and the beliefs of our great grandfathers and great-grandmothers that have caused our pain in an assimilationist world. The struggle to maintain who we believe we are as human beings and trying to locate our own rightful place in this world has been the cause of despair and isolation in a crowded world.

We know, no one can see nor understand who we are inside. We know the world around us cannot understand what respect and spiritual connections to our lands we may still possess. But the truth remains, this is who we are at Swan Lake, we are the children of our lands. You take the land away and the world will lose a people.

Robert Daniels is now our Chief and we the people have given him and our Council members our consent to lead the way into a political world of conflict. The Chief and Council Members have been given the mandate to hire their helpers to help us in our Vision Quest.

In these pages, you will see our vision for ourselves and our children. In them, you will see a nation of people with fragments of hope and courage.

We hope, you will also find respect.

Message from Chief & Council

February 8, 2005 Band Meeting

One of the promises that Chief Robert Daniels made during the election campaign was to improve the current Chief & Council structure and Chief & Council accountability.

To that end, we have developed a draft organizational structure to streamline our operations effective April 1, 2005.

Within 2 months from the election, Chief Daniels promised that we would disclose our financial situation to all our Band members.

In this first report to the membership, you will be provided with reports from our auditors, our bankers, Chief & Council, Administration, Finance, Boards, Committees and our Program Managers.

During the election campaign, Chief Daniels said that we need a better approach to running our affairs and we are in the process of adopting a better approach.

Even though some bills have been paid with borrowed money, most, we still need to pay down our debt over the next 5 years as outlined in the report from TD Canada Trust.

Most, if not all our government funded programs, are still drastically underfunded as our needs continue to grow on a daily basis as you will see from the reports from our Program Managers.

We have started to assess our current financial situation to determine what resources we have to work with and how we can access additional resources to meet our needs and our priorities.

Our elderly people must be a priority.

Our children still need to be funded to pursue their education.

Economic opportunities and jobs also need to be developed for our employable work force.

Our economic situation must be improved.

The Council has begun the process of providing clear direction and effective leadership to create new opportunities and to raise the standard of living for all our people.

We have started to pursue other revenues to increase the scarce funding allocations that the government provides us to address the needs of our people.

Our plans will not only ensure funding support to those who are without adequate care today but we are also working towards freeing up funds that can be used to create new opportunities and to meet our priorities.

Our policies will also ensure that Swan Lake First Nation has a strong community improvement plan.

To keep spending in line, the Council has agreed to individually and collectively exercise fiscal responsibility.

By listening, working with people, talking and developing new ideas, we will energize and empower our people to work together to improve our quality of life and create new opportunities.

We can do better and we will do better!

With your support, the Council has started the rebuilding process for our community and we will continue to focus on the threats to our health and safety.

We will run a government for the benefit of all our Swan Lake First Nation members.

We see better days coming for our Reserve and we are eager for the work ahead.

There was a time in our history when leaders were selected for their vision, compassion, resourcefulness, leadership skills, knowledge and fairness and we want our community to return to those sacred responsibilities and values.

We truly believe that Swan Lake First Nation will become a strong, healthy, unified, independent and prosperous community and with your support, we pledge to work towards our community vision.

Chief & Council
February 8, 2005

Key Elements of Swan Lake First Nation Good Governance: A Discussion Paper
______________________________________________________

1. Accountability

2 .Participation

3. Predictability

4. Transparency

Accountability: Swan Lake First Nation officials must be answerable for their behaviour and be responsive to the entity from which their authority is derived.

The Chief and Council's efforts towards promoting accountability is to build the capacity to undertake socio-economic reforms, implement them successfully and to provide citizens with an acceptable level of public services.

The accountability of Swan Lake First Nation public sector institutions is facilitated by evaluation of their economic and financial performance.

Criteria needs to be developed and/or improved to measure the performance of public officials and oversight mechanisms set up to make sure the standards are met.

Participation: Participation refers to the involvement of citizens in the development process. Beneficiaries and groups affected by the accountability measures need to participate so that the Chief and Council can make informed choices with respect to their needs and where individual and collective rights can be protected. Grassroots participation increases "ownership" and enhances results.

Predictability: Swan Lake First Nation's legal environment must be conducive to development. The Swan Lake First Nation must be able to regulate itself through law making, regulations and policies, which encompass well-defined duties, mechanisms for enforcement and impartial settlement of disputes. Predictabilty is about the fair and consistent application of these laws and implementation of policies.

Transparency: Transparency refers to the availability of information to the general public and clarity about Swan Lake First Nation rules, regulations and decisions. It can be strengthened through the citizens' right to information with a degree of legal enforceability. Transparency in Swan Lake First Nation decision-making and public policy implementation reduces uncertainty and can help inhibit corruption among public officials. This can be achieved by establishing rules and procedures that are simple, straightforward and easy to apply rather than giving discretionary powers to Swan Lake First Nation officials or that are susceptible to different interpretations.

Chief Robert Daniels (20/12/04)

 
 
 
Box 368 Swan Lake, MB
R0G 2S0
Phone 204 836 2101/Fax 204 836 2255
contact@swanlakefirstnation.com