Concerns over Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)’s February updates to Jordan’s Principle have prompted serious discussions at two Tripartite Forum Committee meetings in March – that of the Health Committee, and the Social Committee.

At these meetings, committee members reviewed the federal changes and what they could mean for Mi’kmaq communities in Mi’kma’ki/Nova Scotia.

Federal level changes include new guidelines around operating procedures related to processing requests, and new rules around achieving substantive equality.

There is concern that these changes could lead to barriers in the provision of services to Mi’kmaq youth.

Both committees will reconvene later this spring, to discuss and explore a response or ways to support those affected by the changes at a joint meeting.

In the interests of keeping members apprised of all working committee activity, the Communications Team has launched a page on the Tripartite Forum website where members can access meeting minutes for reference. Going forward, minutes from all Tripartite Forum meetings will be posted on this page. We will endeavour to post minutes to the website as promptly as possible, after each meeting.

The new page for meeting minutes is part of a larger revitalization effort, and a response to recommendations from a consultant which are summarized here.

Please note: For the sake of privacy and confidentiality, the page where we post meeting minutes is password-protected.

Members wishing to access the page are asked to forward a request to tripartitecommunications@unsm.org, sam.macdonald@cmmns.com or jessicachristmas@unsm.org.

This newsletter is one in a series of what will be regular, quarterly publications, with the next edition planned for release in mid-summer.

The 2024 Spring Edition Newsletter contains updates pertaining to the past few months’ meetings, and up to date information profiling committees and committee members.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future newsletters, please contact either Sam Macdonald (CMM Communications Officer) at sam.macdonald@cmmns.com or Jessica Christmas (UNSM Communications Specialist) at jessicachristmas@unsm.org.

For access to the Spring Edition Newsletter, click here.

At its April 18^th meeting in Membertou, the Justice Committee passed a motion to refer Gluskabewimk (the Glooscap Stories Project), as submitted, to Project Fund Coordinator Brad Sullivan.

From this point, Brad will be bringing it to the Forum’s Oversight Committee, if it gains Co-chair support.

The $145,200 Glooscap Stories Project is an effort to recognize and establish a more traditionally Indigenous justice system, following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls To Action #42 and 50, which call for recognition of Aboriginal justice systems and Indigenous law institutes for the development, use and understanding of Indigenous laws.

The Glooscap Stories Project is an initiative to revitalize Indigenous laws and governance practices in the Atlantic region, based on Mi’kmaq mythology surrounding Glooscap (Kluscap, Gluskap).

Glooscap’s teachings offer advice and guidance on ecological and moral principles, relating to how people should treat one another and the world in the form of stories. The Glooscap Stories Project aims to use methods that include story briefing, linguistic and deliberative methods (including community discussions) to analyze and discuss those stories.

Analysis and discussion of stories will focus on fundamental processes, values, principles and rules to determine how they can be applied to contemporary law, governance and policy.

A series of story discussions will take place, involving a core group of Mi’kmaq people who will help identify themes (such as leadership attributes, treatment of the vulnerable, respect of individual and collective rights, etc.) in a series of meetings over the course of a year.

The findings from these discussions will lead to the formation of frameworks of legal principles. What will follow are draft reports on the discussions and frameworks.

This project is being led by Naomi Metallic, an associate Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy at Dalhousie, Tanisha Blackmore, the project’s outreach coordinator and counsel based in Halifax and Kristan Belanger, the project’s research assistant and a data analytics officer with Canadian Heritage’s International Copyright Team.

The work associated with the Glooscap Stories Project will entail a partnership between:

• The Halifax Lnuwey Tplutaqan Wikuom law lodge
• Dalhousie’s faculties of Law and Management
• The Union of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq (UNSM), the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM)
• The Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO)
• The Tripartite Forum’s Justice Committee Mi’kmaq Co-chair.

For more information, click here.

Sam, a member of the Millbrook Band, and most recently, the Tripartite Administrator, is the granddaughter of Tommy Gloade.

She grew up in Debert, and began with The CMM in 2010, after graduating from NSCC with Certificate in Office Administration.

During Sam’s tenure with The CMM, she has built a base of significant experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the Tripartite Forum. Sam brings a wealth of corporate knowledge to her new gig as Liaison Officer.

She began her career with The CMM has Tripartite Administrator, continuing until restructuring of the Tripartite Forum in 2010.

From March 2020 to December 2021, Sam served as Electoral Office Administrator, and subsequently went on to return to the Tripartite Forum as Administrator.

Sam’s varied experience of more than a decade of work with The CMM and Tripartite Forum has equipped her with a skill set uniquely fitted to her new role.

Sam can be reached at sam.trites@cmmns.com.