Page 24 - Walking_The_Red_Road

Respecting currentreality
builds community involvement.
When the project was just an idea, the “natural place” for us to start was by approaching the existing Aboriginal community leadership groups and to begin asking some key questions like: What results do you want to see? How would you want to do it? How can we help make that happen?
In North Bay, this meant we shared the idea with the Chiefs and councils of local communities, the board, membership
and staff of the Friendship Centre, and the Métis Nations Council and staff. Once we had done this, we then began meeting with members of the broader, non-aboriginal community, to tell them what we wanted to do and to invite them to join us in our work.
Those early meetings set the course for
the development of the project. They
also taught us that asking questions and accepting answers, along with guidance and direction, would ensure that U-ACT reflected the voices and ways of our community members. Respecting and starting with the current reality and current capacity, ensured the community drove the process, both through the structures they suggested to formalize their involvement and through the variety of community activities and events which continued to invite and support community participation.
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