Since 2019, the Shuswap Band (SB) and the District of Invermere (DOI) have participated in the First Nation – Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI).

CEDI is a national program delivered jointly by Cando (the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). The SB – DOI partnership was one of nine partnerships (out of 90+ applicants) participating in the CEDI program between 2016 – 2021 from across Canada.

In May of this year as the CEDI program wrapped up, both communities expressed a strong desire to continue working together on existing initiatives generated and to build on new ideas for the future.

“So as to not lose our momentum on the accomplishments that we have had, and continue to have, we felt it very important to keep the positivity of this partnership moving forward,” shared Chief Barb Cote.

To do this, a Request for Proposals was issued to find a contracted partnership coordinator who could help the communities continue to work together and build their relationship.

“It was critically important to not only find someone neutral who was outside of our organizations, but also someone who was trusted, respected, and local. They also needed to have significant facilitation experience and drive to help us remain engaged and inspired,” stated Mayor Al Miller.

After an extensive search and interview process, Pete Bourke of Decibel Coaching was selected to take on this work. “It is such an honour to be working with both of these communities and sharing in their passion to continue building their partnership,” shared Bourke.

Since May, the Working Group, which is comprised of key personnel from each community, has been meeting monthly to continue working on items such as their Joint Active Transportation Network Plan, a Joint Strategic Plan, sharing regular updates from each community, and creating new ideas to work on together into the future.

Most recently the communities gathered on November 10, with key team members from both organizations to review what had been accomplished to date, and what goals they share for the coming year and beyond.

The attendees also took part in a Blanket Exercise, led by Debra Fisher – Director, Region 4 for the Metis Nation British Columbia.

“The experience was powerful, educational, moving, personal, and allowed for the learning between our communities to be even stronger than before,” shared the participants.

Both communities are acutely focused on continuing their partnership to serve current times and also to support the generations to come. There is a huge sense of pride as these two communities lead by example to inspire other similar partnerships to work together in the same way.

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