Chief Glen Pratt  

Governance

Despite the urgency of the GGFN’s financial situation, we continue to work on developing and implementing good governance as part of our strategic plan. Over the past quarter, we have focused on developing what is known as the “cornerstone” documents of good governance: an Election Act, Constitution, Political Office Act and Financial Management Act. These documents are First Nations law, and will be brought forward to our community membership for ratification over the next year.

The GGFN Election Act is the only First Nations law that requires the approval of the Minister of Indian Affairs. Prior to the last election, the GGFN Election Act had been sent to the Minister who rejected the Act and recommended changes. The GGFN Chief and Council have reviewed the Minister’s response, and completed revising of the document, which is now available on the GGFN web site for comment. GGFN will send it back to INAC and await further response.

The most important governance document of any nation is its Constitution. This document represents the agreement between the people and their elected leaders. The GGFN membership has been working on their Constitution for a number of years, and it will be complete and ready to be presented to the membership in the Fall of  2010. The draft Constitution will also be available for comment on the GGFN web site later this month.

Our next governance steps for our community will be the development of a Financial Management Act  and a Political Office or Executive Act. The Financial Management Act is law that determines the responsibilities of government in terms of financial management. The Political Office Act, equally  important, sets the roles, responsibilities and limits of the GGFN Chief and Council. More importantly, the Political Office Act governs the way that the Chief and Council conduct themselves after they have been elected. Development of these next two Acts will begin later this fall.

Communications

As always, I fully believe that the key to a healthy community is good communications. Over the past quarter we have completed significant upgrades to the GGFN web site, and I invite all our membership to view the new site and make suggestions regarding its content. The web site either now, or will shortly, contain draft legislation for comment, financial updates, coming events, portfolio reports and, of course, copies of this newsletter.  We have also included a page specifically for our Urban membership, and will keep the web site updated as much as possible.

A second step in the communications strategy is the regular production of The Gordon Post. As you are aware, this is the second edition of the Post, which will come out four times per year. We also invite comments and suggestions for our newsletter.

Finally, we are currently planning another community membership meeting, and will continue to meet with our on and off reserve membership on a regular basis to ensure that all our members have an opportunity to keep informed, participate in the decision-making process and voice their concerns, comments and suggestions.

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