Sagamok Anishnawbek Seals the Deal with Vale Canada Limited – An Impacts and Benefits Agreement is Concluded

After five long years of negotiations, on Friday June 22nd, the day finally arrived for Stonecircle client Sagamok Anishnawbek to sign an Impacts and Benefits Agreement (IBA) with Vale Canada Limited (formerly Inco Limited). The IBA is in relation to Vale’s Totten Mine which is located within Sagamok traditional territory and is the first new Vale mine to open in the Sudbury mining camp in 30 years.

As part of Treaty Day festivities, Chief Paul Eshkakogan and senior Vale representative Kelly Strong attached their signatures to the long awaited agreement. Signing of the IBA was followed by a pipe ceremony, which Elders, members of Council and two Vale representatives were part of. The pipe ceremony, led by Leroy Bennett, was especially important to the community in order to “seal the deal” according to First Nation traditions, and ensure the success of the IBA and overall safety at the mine site.

Other activities were organized throughout Treaty Day to recognize and share information on the IBA and to celebrate the community’s achievement. A “true” sunrise ceremony was held on one of the longest days of the year, starting at 4:30 a.m.. Alex Ker of Stonecircle, who was involved in negotiations since they commenced in 2007, provided an overview of the content of the IBA to community members during a morning information session while treaty annuities under the Robinson Huron Treaty were received by community members. In attendance, and available to answer questions at this session were some of the 15 members of Sagamok Anishnawbek who currently work at the Totten Mine either with Vale, Cementation Canada Inc. (the company responsible for underground mine construction) or with Ted Bell Transportation, Sagamok’s business partner at the site.

After the signing and pipe ceremony a community feast was held at the elaborately decorated Millennium Centre (Bingo Hall) at Sagamok. Speeches and gift exchanges followed. Chief Paul was presented by Vale with a beautiful bronze statue of a miner – a tribute not only to the Chief’s commitment to and leadership throughout negotiation of the agreement, but also to the Chief’s father Frances Eshkakogan who was killed in a mining accident at an Inco mine in 1969. Alex was humbled and overwhelmed to receive from Sagamok the gift of a stunning, large quill box, which was the last to have been made nearly four years ago by a talented Sagamok artist, Martha Toulouse, with the assistance of her mother - the latter having made quill boxes for over 75 years.

The Sagamok Vale IBA for the Totten Mine Project will extend through the life of mine, which is currently expected to be 23 years, and potentially for 5 years after closing out activities begin at the mine site. It provides for benefits sharing in the areas of employment and business contracting, and establishes a significant role for the community in ensuring environmental stewardship, the inclusion of traditional ecological knowledge in environmental management and impacts mitigation. The IBA includes a financial component which is tied to the community’s Ten Year Action Plan for Healing and Development. With implementation, the hard work on this IBA now begins for the First Nation.

Stonecircle congratulates Sagamok Council and community and Vale Canada on the achievement of this agreement and wishes all partners the best for successful implementation of the IBA. We also extend our sincere thanks to the Chief, Council and community for the privilege of being asked to walk with you on this part of your journey.

How the Best Laid Plans Can’t Take Into Account Babies

From the desk of David Boult, Grandfather... er, Senior Consultant:

One of the things we pride ourselves on doing well at CCG is planning. We help clients organize their lives, set appropriate priorities and develop intricate strategies for accomplishing their goals. Well, sometimes s***, er, the unpredictable happens.

One of our Senior Associates recently had an experience that tested the mettle of any planner. David Boult’s daughter Sarah, had always wanted a home birth. Despite her best efforts, her first two children Penny Moon and Leon, had other plans and with much drama were born in hospitals. For her third much anticipated child, Sarah thought she would play it safe and have the baby at the hospital but enjoy the comforts of home until it was time to go to the hospital.
Well, things were going swimmingly through the afternoon and early evening this past Monday at the Boult residence. Sarah’s midwife arrived, David prepared a great pesto pasta dinner with a salad from his garden, bit of wine, some laughs – everything was great.

As the contractions began to grow more frequent and intense, the party moved upstairs to the main bedroom which had been turned into a pre-birthing nirvana – scented candles, bubble bath, Joni Mitchell in the background – you get the picture.

Things began to get a little more exciting when Sarah’s water broke and it quickly became evident that the baby preferred a home birth. In short, all hell broke loose (at least in the eyes of the nervous grandfather who was busily ripping up the last of his wife’s favourite sheets and boiling various cauldrons of water on the kitchen stove). In short, there was at one point eleven adults in the bedroom including two paramedics, five midwives (two students), various paparazzi, and one very green uncle Connor, David’s son.

New Grandpa and granddaughter Penny Moon's reaction to the arrival of Jacob Milos Aarons Wright.

Suffice it to say, the event ended happily with the arrival of Jacob Milos Aarons Wright at 12:55 a.m. weighing in at 7.6 pounds. With everyone healthy and safe, the last of the guests left at 5:15 a.m.

Oh, and the new granite kitchen counter arrived at 9:35 the next morning weighing in at 450 pounds. Now that is good planning.

Happy National Aboriginal Day!

If you work with a First Nation or with Aboriginal organizations in Canada, you may have difficulty reaching them today (Stonecircle included) because many of us have declared June 21, National Aboriginal Day, a holiday. While only the NWT recognizes it as a statutory holiday, the Federal government officially recognized June 21 as National Aboriginal Day in 1996 and, ever since, people have organized numerous events to coincide with this day.

Of course, for many indigenous cultures, the summer solstice has always been a significant day; a day to acknowledge when the sun ('sol' in Latin) reaches its highest point in the northern sky (sistere means 'to stand still'). And since it's the longest day of the year, there is even more time to celebrate.

Check out the National Aboriginal Day events in your community; learn more about First Nation, Inuit and Métis culture; listen to some traditional music or watch dancers in regalia.

In Ottawa, you can check out the Summer Solstice Arts Festival and the Competition Pow wow today until Sunday. Or see what Tungasuvingat Inuit has planned for Ottawa Inuit families and friends.

Or you can watch live events from Winnipeg and Regina that will be broadcast on APTN this coming Saturday.

Stonecircle President and her Team Honoured

The good doctor, with ADM Award
for Innovation and Creativity

When not consulting, raising herbs or grand-mothering, Stonecircle President Dr. Valerie Assinewe works at Health Canada's Natural Health Products Division. Valerie and her colleagues recently received some welcome recognition when Paul Glover (ADM) and Catherine MacLeod (Associate ADM) presented the team on Combination of Pre-cleared Information with the team award for Innovation and Creativity.

The Assistant Deputy Minister’s Awards of Excellence formally recognize individuals and teams whose accomplishments have contributed to the realization of the mandate of the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada. The team of 16 developed criteria and processes that will increase productivity and efficiency while accounting for risk and risk tolerance for natural health products.

Happy Birthday Alex

Alex Ker is a valuable asset to our companies. For Stonecircle, she has become our go-to person with our projects that relate to mining. She assists First Nation communities develop Memorandums of Understanding, Impact Benefit Agreements, revenue sharing agreements and is often a part of negotiating teams. In fact, keep a look out for a major announcement on one of Alex’s projects, which you can read about in the blog next week. She has led or been part of a number of other Stonecircle projects in the areas of comprehensive community planning, strategic planning and organizational development. We all hope you celebrated in style on June 16th Alex!

Goulais a GEN7 Messenger!

In early November of 2011, Stonecircle’s own Kory Goulais submitted an application to become a Gen7 messenger. Earlier this month he was accepted into the program as one of their role models. After a long wait period, an interview and countless e-mails to the program coordinator, they finally gave in. Perseverance pays off; mainly because Kory has dedicated most of his life to sport and is actually a pretty good guy.

Now, I know what you are asking yourself, is Kory leaving Stonecircle? The answer is NO! If he tried, we probably wouldn’t let him (we have him locked up through one of our iron clad contracts). More realistically, you are probably asking what the GEN7 program is.

The GEN7 Messenger program was created in 2004 as an extension of the Esteem Team program. Motivate Canada, in collaboration with the Active Circle developed the GEN7 role model program in 2005. The program aims to encourage Aboriginal youth to live, and encourage others to live, an active and healthy lifestyle through sport, physical activity and other means. In addition, it pushes youth to become leaders in their own community.

GEN7 Messengers are Aboriginal athletes and role models who are trained by Motivate Canada in public speaking and facilitation. Once training occurs and the messenger is ready, they are paired with an Aboriginal community to act as a role model and motivator for the community. The Messenger (Kory) visits a community repeatedly, and listens and learns to identify areas of community interest for development and connections with youth, Elders and other community leaders.

GEN7 Messengers leave their lasting impression on the youth they speak with and assist them in taking the lead on tackling community issues and improving lives of individuals around them.

Congratulations Kory!

2012 Staff Planning Meeting

Master facilitator Fred Weihs, facilitating masterfully.

Every year in June the staff of Consilium, Aarluk and Stonecircle meet outside the office for a day-long session filled with talk of strategy, planning, training needs and general camaraderie.  I for one don't often get to see some our senior consulting staff (Ron Ryan, Terry Rudden, Greg Smith and Fred Weihs) in action.....I speak for the rest of the staff when I say, 'they're pretty darned good"!  

The Team at Work

It is safe to say we're a good team on the right track and this yearly check-up ensures we are learning and growing both individually and as a team.  The productive day ended with a team dinner overlooking beautiful Dow's Lake in Ottawa.

Pride and Coincidence - Certified Management Consultants

The first part of the title is easy to understand. We're always proud of Stonecircle Consulting's Vice-President and Manager Jennifer David, whose vibrant energy, unfailing good cheer and commitment to her clients are a model to us all. But we're especially proud this week: Jennifer has just been awarded her Certified Management Consultant designation at the Rideau Club in downtown Ottawa.

Lianti Muller, President of the CMC Ont. Council, and
Newly Minted CMC Jennifer David

The Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designation is the profession's only international certification mark, recognized in more than 50 countries. It represents a commitment to the highest standards of consulting and adherence to the ethical canons of the profession. CMC-Canada administers, and its provincial Institutes confer, the CMC designation in Canada.

Our group of companies remain committed to "walking the talk". We provide training and human resource development to clients because we know good training means more productivity, happier people and highly satisfied clients. It also means that we adhere to the CMC's Code of Professional Conduct. Training to receive the designation includes Essentials of Management Consulting, Project Management, Professional Conduct and Ethics, and Best Practices and Professional Standards.

So our heartfelt congratulations to Jennifer for her ongoing commitment to professional development, and to providing the best possible support to Stonecircle clients.

And the "coincidence"? Jennifer was joined that evening by Ryan Lotan, a former employee of our group, also receiving his designation. Ryan is fondly remembered here by many nicknames (Bingley not being one of them), and is now also a Certified Management Consultant - a process he started when he was working with us. Congratulations to Ryan as well!

Denizens of 488 Gladstone, Present and Past

Continuing the Celebration of Skills

WorldSkills International delegates turned divers!

Getting together for a WorldSkills International General Assembly meeting or Competition means long days of hard work by the WorldSkills Secretariat team to deliver a successful event. It is not all work and no play, though, as everyone knows that the most successful of events must embrace some down time where people can laugh and learn about each other on a more personal level.

This certainly happened to Michelle Turpin on a recent WorldSkills International event. As a Consilium consultant, Michelle plans and runs events, teaches online courses and uses her many other talents and depth of experience to support our clients. These skills moved to a whole new world on Jeju Island in Korea, where Michelle facilitated the WorldSkills Youth Forum for most of her stay - except for one where she embraced the persona of a Henyeo Diver.

The Henyeo, literally meaning 'sea women', are female divers in the  Korean province of Jeju. These women of the sea with superior diving abilities represent an ancient fishing tradition of holding their breath, diving under the water and coming up with creatures of the sea that they sell for the livelihood of themselves and their families.

So, how exactly did Michelle get to become a Henyeo diver for a day?

The story goes like this... the Youth Forum participants and delegates of the General Assembly were told they were being whisked away to the 'Jeju Mermaid' event - a cultural excursion and 'skills competition' at the beginning of the week of meetings. The Korean hosts requested volunteers - some to enter a kayaking competition, others to dress in traditional Korean clothing. "Dressing up?!" many of the Youth Forum participants yelled. "Awesome, sign us up!"

Arriving at the seaside, a young man asked the 12 of us to wait a few minutes - then we would be taken to the 'change room'. Anticipation hung in the air. How pretty would our costumes be? Did everyone have their cameras at the ready to capture our outfits to share with friends and family back home? With a nod from one of the young man's colleagues, we were taken to the 'change room'. And handed black rubber suits, masks, flippers, and told to change and get down to the waters edge. In a state of laughter, shock and disbelief, our group donned the suits of the Henyeo and went diving for abalone, fish, and squid.

As it turned out, it was an afternoon filled with laughter, bonding and an experience that none of us expected but certainly one that no one will never forget.

The expectation: traditional Korean dress (along with the mascot bear of the Shilla Hotel).

The reality: Women of the sea, the Henyeo diving experience.

Conducting Surveys in Remote Communities

Greg Smith, Senior Consultant

From the desk of Greg Smith, Senior Consultant :

Over the years we have conducted a number of surveys in small, remote, northern Aboriginal communities. These have included audience surveys for Aboriginal broadcasters, client surveys as part of evaluations of federal government programs; needs assessments (e.g. for community recreation programming or territorial services for hunters and trappers); and surveys of Inuit firms to update a Nunavut registry. Most of these involved trying to reach a range of individuals or representatives of organisations who live in relatively small and isolated communities - for example in Nunavut, Nunavik, and the James Bay coast of Ontario or Quebec.

These are very challenging because many of the communities are fly-in, which makes it extremely expensive to send someone for face to face interviews. Other challenges include that many in the target sample do not have a personal telephone or access to the Internet, which precludes web based surveys; they may be unilingual Cree, Inuktitut or other Aboriginal language speakers, or English/French may be their second language; their communities are subjects of a lot of research and consultation and so they are tired of responding or skeptical about the project goals and end use of information; and they are highly mobile, either within their communities and regions (e.g. extended periods on the land or in the bush, or for training or jobs in other communities). Even weather can be a challenge, preventing researchers and respondents from meeting to complete interviews. As a result, achieving a satisfactory response rate is extremely challenging. 

Below are some approaches we have developed, based on our experience:

• Preparation is important – this includes understanding and following community research and access protocols, obtaining appropriate permissions, and a research schedule which takes into account community events and priorities, and allows sufficient time for logistics (e.g. mail may take a couple of weeks, obtaining contact information may also take time), with contingency plans in case of delays. 
• Local promotion is important to raise awareness of the survey purpose, goals and results, as well as how these will be used. Community radio, where it exists, is a good way to inform people, and to describe how results will be shared with the community. 
• Multiple response methods encourage responsiveness. This may include a combination of options - interviews in-person or by phone, written responses via regular mail, e-mail, fax, and web-based questionnaires. 
• Simple and user friendly instruments are critical. These need to use as plain language as possible, questionnaires should be very concise and clearly presented, and in many cases they need to be translated to local languages and dialects. 
• Local fieldworkers, who know the community and the language, can assist with promotion, completion of in-person interviews, distribution and collection of questionnaires, and encouraging responses. 
• Training and ongoing support for local researchers is critical so they understand the research purpose, how the information will be used, and how to use the research tools. 
• A number of reminders and follow ups with those who have not completed surveys are usually required to achieve success. 
• Sometimes group sessions with potential respondents, if they are part of a known target group (e.g. clients of a particular program), can encourage participation and completion of questionnaires. 



The 2008 Inuit Firm Registry Survey
 had three response methods:
mail, fax, and email.

• Incentives may also be required, and are expected in some communities – for example all those who complete a questionnaire may be eligible for a draw for a gift certificate from a local store, or a cash prize. This needs to be organized in such a way that it does not compromise confidentiality requirements.

Community Development through Mining

Stonecircle's Jennifer David was invited to speak at Waubetek's annual strategic planning meeting last week.  The Waubetek Business Development Corporation is an organization that supports Aboriginal entrepreneurs in north eastern Ontario.  The Corporation works with 27 First Nations and urban Aboriginal companies and individuals.  Because of Stonecircle's work in helping First Nations navigate relationships with mining companies, Jennifer was asked to speak about "community development through mining." 

She provided the group with an overview of the mining cycle and all the ways that a First Nation can and should get involved at the various stages of the cycle.  Jennifer's key message was to ensure the community is prepared for negotiations with mining companies.  This means developing a cultural land use map, consultation protocols, and communication and administrative protocols.

If you would like a copy of Jennifer's presentation or a copy of Stonecircle's list of services related to community development through mining, please email her at jdavid@stone-circle.ca

Celebrating Skilled Trade and Technology Careers

Michelle Turpin, Senior Consultant

It is interesting to think about where certain beliefs and stereotypes come from and how they are perpetuated in daily life. When you think of a plumber, or a roofer, what thoughts come to mind? What about a hairdresser or a server in a restaurant? Someone who fixes computers or a person who fixes cars? The people who choose these careers - do they do it because they couldn't think of anything else to do, or because they couldn't get into University? Or do they do it for other reasons entirely?

For the past decade, Michelle Turpin, a Consilium Consultant, has been involved in the promotion of skilled trade and technology careers to youth at a number of different levels - regionally, nationally and internationally - all meant to bring more awareness to the amazing opportunities available in these career paths. They are not careers chosen only because someone 'can't get into' University, but tend to be chosen by bright, committed, passionate, young people who want to use their creative skills to make the world a better place. The acknowledgement and celebration of these careers is carried out by WorldSkills International, an organization with over 60 countries who are 'WorldSkills Members', all of these countries/regions committed to promoting skilled trade and technology careers for young people. In Canada, the organization that promotes vocational education and training is Skills Canada.

And how do these countries go about bringing awareness to these careers? Through competitions of course! Every year, the Member countries of WorldSkills International host competitions, the easiest way to describe these competitions is as 'skilled trade and technology Olympics' where young people gather to compete against their peers in over 40 different trade and technology areas. From bricklaying and baking to landscape design and automotive repair, these competitions set out to do two things: recognize international industry standards in these careers and to celebrate the excellence of young people who are committed to training to be the best they can in their chosen skill area. International competitions take place every 2 years with the next one being hosted in Leipzig, Germany in July 2013. On 'off competition' years, delegates from the Member countries join for a General Assembly to talk about the event, how regions are working to promote vocational education and training and discuss how to best move the organization forward.

Michelle recently returned from the beautiful island of Jeju, Korea where the General Assembly was held. In addition to the General Assembly meetings, the 4th Annual WorldSkills Youth Forum was facilitated by Michelle. The entire event was hosted by WorldSkills Korea, and specifically Human Resource Development Korea and all events were an outstanding success.  Delegates at both the General Assembly and the Youth Forum worked hard to ensure that WorldSkills International will continue to grow and people will come to realize that skilled trade and technology careers offer some pretty amazing life opportunities.

More details on the Youth Forum will follow next week. Stay tuned...