An example of good governance on a First Nation

Rama Chief and Council could take a page or two out this book from the Chippewa of the Thames and implement some changes. Or maybe the changes that need to be implemented is a change in Chief and Council. Let's elect leaders capable of leadership this year.

Band Council Elections - Congress of Aboriginal Peoples - Representing the rights and interests of off-reserve people living in urban, rural, and remote areas across Canada

List of Bands in Ontario using the Custom Election Process

Band Council Elections - Congress of Aboriginal Peoples - Representing the rights and interests of off-reserve people living in urban, rural, and remote areas across Canada

Band Council Elections - Congress of Aboriginal Peoples - Representing the rights and interests of off-reserve people living in urban, rural, and remote areas across Canada

A little bit about Band Custom Elections instead of word of the week this week;

Band Council Elections - Congress of Aboriginal Peoples - Representing the rights and interests of off-reserve people living in urban, rural, and remote areas across Canada

Don't forget to read the current issue of the Anishinabek News!

Jan/Feb 2010 issue

Word of the week: Accountability

Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility,[1] answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. As an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the public sector, nonprofit and private (corporate) worlds. In leadership roles, accountability is the acknowledgment and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequences.

As a term related to governance, accountability has been difficult to define.[2][3] It is frequently described as an account-giving relationship between individuals, e.g. "A is accountable to B when A is obliged to inform B about A’s (past or future) actions and decisions, to justify them, and to suffer punishment in the case of eventual misconduct".[4]

680News - February 5 - This week on Bamoseda

680News - February 5 - This week on Bamoseda

All First Nation native news programming by my friend Jennifer!!!

Get caught up on the issues facing First Nation reality.

Dedicated to the Group for Accountability-Keep up the good work!

The Roles and Duties of Council

The Roles and Duties of Council

Self Governing Nation - VERY interesting stuff!

Council must place communicating with members at the top of its duties. Communications, or public relations, is the key to building support and trust between council and community members.

from the Packet & Times

http://www.orilliapacket.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2275832

Word of the Week: Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.

Propaganda is neutrally defined as a systematic form of purposeful persuasion that attempts to influence the emotions, attitudes, opinions, and actions of specified target audiences for ideological, political or commercial purposes through the controlled transmission of one-sided messages (which may or may not be factual) via mass and direct media channels."

—Richard Alan Nelson, A Chronology and Glossary of Propaganda in the United States, 1996

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Since when is calling for accountability a bad thing? Since when is it wrong to want to hold your government responsible for the good and the bad? I have noticed very recently that in response to this blog, Communications now keeps a blog on behalf of Chief and Council, but their blog is heavily censored, so any comments you may wish to leave for them have to be approved first. So in the effort to communicate more and be more open and accountable they are still in essence trying to control and manipulate what's said and what comments make it on to their blog. There is one particular comment that was left by Anonymous. Only someone who didn't grow up here and spent a portion of their lives denying their ancestry would have the nerve to refer to us (Rama) as "The #1 First Nation in Ontario" and accuses the Group for Accountability of 'causing negativity'. My response to that would be this - It's not that were not the #1 First Nation in Ontario, but we would never be so arrogant as to refer to ourselves that way. Many of us have family and friends in other First Nations communities and it's just not like us to put ourselves above another community. THAT'S JUST NOT OUR WAY! Someone who actually grew up on the Rez or lives here might actually know this, and I mean no disrespect to our off reserve membership, you're the one's were trying to reach. But seriously, how out of touch with the community can you be???? And as for causing 'negativity', if choosing to educate and advocate for community members on their right to know and right to partcipate than I suppose were guilty of rocking the boat and shaking things up a bit. But if we didn't feel it was 100%, ABSOLUTELY necessary for community members to know what the issues are and participate in their government for the sake of future generations to come then I suppose we wouldn't take the time to do what were doing. But obviously we care a great deal about our community and the health of our people and if that can be twisted by Chief and Council OR administration and made to look like attempts to breed negativity for the sake of maintaining their secrecy and iron grip on affairs then I wouldn't put it passed them for trying. Be aware of what you hear and what they put out there that casts this group in a negative light. In the coming months you may start to hear some very obvious attempts at attention diversion. Do not be fooled! You know better than this! You know that something isn't right. You know it in your gut and you know it in your heart. Question everything, and don't believe everything you hear. We, the members of the Group for Accountability have doors that are always open and are willing to listen to your concerns. We will never stoop to spreading rumours or attempting to divert your attention from the issues at hand and we will continue to press Chief and Council for the answers to the questions they don't want to address. Miigwech.