The Comprehensive Community Plan is a major initiative begun in January 2023 with the goal of bringing OKIB members together to create a plan for the community that will enhance sqilxw ways of knowing and being, now and into the future.
January 6, 2023
Comprehensive Community Planning kicks off Jan 12 with a dinner and survey!
Members, join us at Head of the Lake Hall for the kick-off of the Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP). The goal of the project is to bring OKIB members together to create a plan for the community that will enhance sqilxw ways of knowing and being, now and into the future
Thursday, January 12, 2023, from 5 to 8 PM
Head of the Lake Hall
Here is the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7Q883S6
We look forward to seeing you on January 12.
Limlemt
Dreaming the Future - Background
The researchers for the Dreaming the Future research project are all Okanagan Indian Band (OKIB) members with various education, work experience and we all recognise the importance of the community dreaming for the future. The logo we created for the Inkumupulux Collective is representative of our reasons for pursuing this project. The name Inkumupulux Collective was chosen to recognize our community, who we are and where we come from. In relation to the Collective, it recognizes that we are from different parts of the same community, our futures are intertwined. Whereas the straight arrow is a symbol of the narrow path of our collective journey towards truth-telling.
Our community has been voicing the need to move from project and program centered to becoming member-centered. Our goal is to have this member-centered. This approach is about visioning what our future looks like with us still in it, rather than the removal or further marginalization of us, which has been the approach we have seen in past reports that are actually seeking to displace us. We recognize the importance of upholding community ethics and one way to do this is through our transparency of how we engage in this work together with the community. We recognize the importance of sqilxw laws and the need to revitalize these laws into our day to day governance and practices.
Another aspect of being member-centred, means approaching the development of the plan to prioritize the voice, guidance and direction of the OKIB and Band membership. This means that the questionnaire questions are meant for Band membership to dream and envision their future without constraint or judgment. In reviewing previous plans and reports, it became clear that two key questions have not been asked of membership previously. And in order to dream we, as a community, must be honest and acknowledge where OKIB is with their membership and where the membership is at with OKIB. To gather truth-telling the two key overarching questions guiding this work are:
1. How can the Okanagan Indian Band restore harmony (reconcile) and (re)build trust with you?
2. Why have you decided to be involved in this survey/questionnaire? You bring something (your why), and you give something (participate in doing the work) – recognize what you have to offer and own your motivations.
Methodology
The development of the survey was from the reviewing and synthesis of previous OKIB reports and plans shared by Urban Systems. This survey will be conducted both online via Survey Monkey and in hardcopy for in-person access. In doing it this way seeks to accommodate both family groups and 1-1’s to support members in completing their surveys. The accommodation of on-line and in-person surveys are to allow for ease of access by both young people and older people. It is planned that a lengthy time of access will allow for word of mouth to spread knowledge of the survey throughout the community on-reserve and off-reserve membership. The survey will be mixed-methods, which means that both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be used. Quantitative and qualitative approaches refer to the style of questions asked and data gathered for findings. More specifically, the qualitative open-ended questions aim to provide membership space to give their storied responses of truth-telling and direction. Whereas, the multiple choice and demographic style quantitative questions provide a way to frame the qualitative.
What is Comprehensive Community Planning?
CCP is created by the community and organized around a shared vision and goals for the community's future. It is created through a process and is a method to incorporate sqilxw ways of knowing and being into a document or visual that encompasses the community desires. In CCP, the community sits at the forefront and the plan is ongoing.
How is Indigenous planning different from other types of planning?
- the community members are the experts
- life experience is valid
- it is non-linear
- trauma-informed
- there is commitment to place
- is personal to each community
- is not focused on a dollar value
- includes language and spirituality and traditional protocol
- focuses on social well-being, and
- is based on oral traditions and storytelling.
How will the plan be implemented?
When implementing a plan, it is important to make the link with band administration and its programs and services, because it shows the community that they have been listened to and that the plan is addressing what they have highlighted as important. It can take 3-5 years to action, Dreaming the Future community comprehensive plan.
The more connection and alignment we have within all OKIB plans, the implementation of this plan can be accomplished and the community indicators of progress can be made clear. This can be done through the Band and its staff developing work plans that illustrate step by step how they will achieve the vision identified within the CCP, and with regular reporting to the Executive Director and Chief and Council and to the community to share progress.
This makes the planmember-centered.
Next steps
Idea for phase II - recommend a community advisory committee being paid for outside of consultant fees, as this advisory can work beyond the scope of the CCP project.
