Annual Report, 2007-2008, Region IV, Métis Nation of Alberta, Vice President’s Report

Annual Report, 2007-2008, Region IV, Métis Nation of Alberta, Vice President’s Report, Sharon Pasula, October 3, 2008

My short time in office has already been eventful, apart from taking my two week preplanned vacation overseas. The orientation alone is grueling – just joking. The staff has been generous and considerate both in the region IV office and at head office.

Someone told me, “The way to stay in office is to stay out of the office.” This is what community development is about – being in the community. So if every time you call and it seems that I am not in the office, I am in the community. Meetings and events in which I participated, in addition to meeting with community members, in chronological date include;

· September 4, Michif Cultural & Resource Institute, to discuss the future of Métis culture. In attendance: Senator Gerry St. Germaine, Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal People’s, municipal representatives from St. Albert, Director from St. Albert Musee, former Senator, Dr. Thelma Chalifoux.

· September 7, Michif Cultural & Resource Institute, to discuss poverty and women’s issues. In attendance: Senator Elizabeth Hubley, Senate Standing Committee on Aboriginal People’s, former Senator, Dr. Thelma Chalifoux.

· September 21, The Little White School, St. Albert, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the school which is now a historical site.

· September 21, Provincial Council meeting.

· September 24, Whitecourt, Community Consultation, Labour Market Development, to discuss future direction of employment and training.

· September 28, Gunn Recreation Centre, Gunn Local AGM.

Communication is extremely important. I have heard from many that they have not been informed of events, be it a local meeting or a community consultation. Until region IV has an active website please check my blog, http://pasulaletendre.blogspot.ca/. I will try to keep it updated to within 24 hours of the time I receive the information. If I know about it, it will be on the blog. Obviously, if I don’t know about it – I can’t post it, so keep me in the loop. For those who do not or prefer not to communicate via computer, the region IV membership list needs to be updated. I have ideas on how this can be done but I need to hear from you. This task cannot be done by a few individuals – it requires community participation to succeed. We cannot get in touch with you if we don’t have accurate information.

At the provincial council meeting I was active. Two years ago there was a motion to give each region ten thousand dollars from the core budget. This was never realized. I was instrumental in forwarding this motion.

As a leader, I understand the precept of making decisions for a corporate body, but I prefer to do that after having input from you. How to do that has been discussed over and over again and needs to be formalized. Currently we have several locals registered and most are inactive according to archived minutes (each time a local has a meeting it must forward a copy of the minutes to the region office). Historically the Métis are a creative people – entrepreneurs, initiators, so give us your ideas and let’s reconnect. You are the community!
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The regional council meeting was held the day before the AGM. That is when I was informed that the bylaws had changed since I was involved as a local president. No longer are local president's accountable to the regional council. The local president's were given money by the regional council and no reporting is mandatory or expected to the regional council. This is totally opposite from when I was a local president. In those days we had to submit our minutes from our meetings. We had accountability. Now, local president's are accountable to local members, not the regional council. I am still processing this information. FYI

As a member you can access the verbatim minutes of most meeting of the Métis Nation. I encourage you to do so.

Good news. There is serious discussion about having an Edmonton Métis Council with four elected representatives. This is a great opportunity to get involved again. Please contact me. We will be having three town hall meetings to discuss it. I insisted that every member in Edmonton be contacted at least once about these town hall meetings. This has two purposes - to update our membership list and to encourage more community involvement.

Stay posted to this blog and I will keep you informed. If I know about it, it will be here.

Thank you for listening.