Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw submits response to BC’s DRIPA Draft Action Plan. The Nation’s submission noted, however, that the Draft Action Plan can and should do more to center co-development and move away from simply engaging or consulting. It provided feedback around four key principles so that the aspirational goals of DRIPA can be better translated into real change for Indigenous communities across British Columbia:
- Accountability: what are success criteria? Who has authority to do the work? How will work be done?
- Respect: First Nations are a Constitutional order of government possessing substance, power, and jurisdiction as equal partners to the provincial government
- Leadership: How to change the entrenched mindset of the provincvial bureaucracy who will ultimately be accountable for implementing the action plan
- Setting Priorities: Establish high-level criteria to help establish priority actions
The submission concludes with an examination of each of the four themes defined in the Draft Action Plan and provides feedback on priorities as the Squamish Nation sees them as well as what’s missing from each theme. Due to the short timeline for input, it was not possible to do a thorough evaluation using a criteria matrix. Priorities were chosen based on a loose application of the following criteria:
- Overlap with the Squamish Nation Strategic Plan 2020-2023
- Will it build a demonstrable increase in capacity for the Squamish Nation within the
five-year Draft Action Plan timeline (2021-2026)? - Will it produce concrete outcomes within the five-year Draft Action Plan timeline (2021-2026)?