Using the example of an enviable municipal-host nation relationship protocol in a rural and isolated community, we will guide participants through the need for social change in these times and what each of us can do today.
Host Tla’amin Nation asked the local government to change its traumatic, colonial name. This 2021 request led to a 2022 public engagement process. Our session will provide an overview of the public process and discuss what has happened in the three following years, with no decision from the municipal government, yet. This story includes experiences of a modern treaty nation, experiences of residential school warriors, a strong ally community, a non-decision across two sittings of municipal councils, residential school deniers, and what this all means now for the once enviable relationship. It has been featured on Global News, the Tyee, and the CBC. The session will be led by Lisa Moffatt, one of the co-facilitators of the public process, and will feature Harmony Johnson, a Tla’amin Nation member and co-chair of the joint working group responsible for the process.