If I am re-elected there is much I would do to get back to the vision our community created.  The following are some of the steps I would take:

Short term

• Build a team with our new Executive Council
• Economic Development Projects – Getting our projects back on track and ensuring we have qualified people helping us without taking any shortcuts or making concessions that will hurt our collective  members.  The mall project is very important for a number of reasons and I will ensure we get the political support we require to move this project forward without exposing us to unnecessary risks.
• Sewer – negotiate municipal/regional access if possible while advancing the option of building our own so timelines don’t slip.  It will likely cost millions more to build our own plant.  This will come out of our project profits for TFN and our TFSI  holders (TFN member land owners).  At a minimum we need an interim sewer agreement, and this has to be negotiated with Delta and Metro Vancouver.  If we don’t it will also provide delays to our TFSI projects which affects their profits as well.  I have done most of the political work on this file during the past 3 months – including meeting with provincial officials, most of Delta mayor and council, and the infrastructure committee at Metro Vancouver.  If there is a negotiated solution – I am the person to get it done.
• Help facilitate TFSI projects in a way that benefits the collective.  The TFSI projects are an important part of our economy.
• Getting stability in our office – many staff are worried about their future and are here only because they believe in the vision that we as a community have developed. We need continued recruitment and retention of staff to get the job done.  Removing people at this time puts an even bigger workload on too few people for all the work that needs to get done.  Not having a clearly defined vision could cause staff to leave. We need all hands on deck.
• Come up with a plan to put community priorities into place based on what candidates for council and legislature hear during the next several weeks.
• Getting our community working together – I have some ideas on how to do this but would love to hear yours and those of our youth.  Our future leaders need to be engaged and listened to.  Everything we are doing is what they will inherit and every decision we make now will have impacts for generations.
• Find ways to be more accessible to the community. I pushed hard to have the Members Gathering at UBC and it was a great event for everyone. We came together as a community and there was lots of informal opportunity for everyone to connect with our elected officials. I will continue to push for more informal opportunities of this nature.

During the next 3 years

• Wellness: Continue to advance plans to address overall wellness of our community which includes safety, justice, drug and alcohol treatment, trauma treatment, and addressing sexual assault issues – this will take considerable work and resources, commitment and courage.
• Employment & Training: Sort out an employment/training champion who can help TFN members maximize training, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Distributions: Finish the community discussion and consultation about how we deal with profits and distributions. We need a different approach on how to discuss and decide on this as a community.
• Fishing: Develop a fishing strategy that maximizes our access to commercial opportunities, provides opportunities for our youth to exercise our rights by getting involved in the fishery and maximizes our markets for our current fisheries.
• Leadership: Build leadership capacity in others, especially with the external work that is required to succeed as a government in the Metro Vancouver region.
• Education: With lease revenue – improve education programming, including advancing the concept of our own elementary school.  Continue to increase education supports including tutoring, recreation, youth center activities, incentives and other initiatives that have worked for other communities.  We also need to continue to work with the Delta School District in the interim to better support our children.
• The community has consistently named education as its number 1 priority so we will continue to focus on how to improve our services. Under my leadership we have made significant improvements.  We worked collectively on creating a vision for our education services; we first built an early childhood education center (ECE) and then moved to eliminate ECE fees for our Members to ensure that the Membership can be as prepared as they can be before entering the school system; we worked on integrating culture into our ECE and youth services; and we pushed Delta to recognize our needs and our rights, which has started to pay off with better relations, among other things.   We also made significant increases to Post Secondary investment under my leadership.  I’ve been informed that this investment has been decreased under the current government.
• Culture: continue to build on the cultural strategic plan the community inputted into.  We now have a TFN member in place to work on language and culture – but I think we can use all of our cultural resource people to share their knowledge with the community.  I will also continue to uphold our sacred Coast Salish ceremonies as I have in the past by ensuring our administration pays respect to our longhouse and our ceremonies and the need for them as they arise as directed by our cultural leaders in our community.  I will continue to find ways to implement our language and culture in our organization and our governance practices.  Our Tsawwassen language and culture.  I am lucky that I have been taught about our culture by many past and present Tsawwassen elders since I was a teenager.  I have also taken 2 years of language training – and although I’m not fluent, it shows my desire to lead by example.  I was involved with various research projects dealing with Tsawwassen history.  An elder from every family down here has given me teachings which I value and treasure.  I am rich because of their generosity.
• Community Facilities: we have all been waiting a long time for the proper community facilities – from modernized play structures to our long-awaited sports field to a new rec center, administration building, and maybe even a pool or an ice rink! Using revenue from well-planned development, I will ensure we advance all these community amenities as well as ensuring the growth of the necessary services such as roads, sewer, and water.

Long term

• The plans above will lead to long term sustainability for our community.  We will reach a quality of life comparable to our neighbours, but better in my opinion because our Tsawwassen culture and language will be revived

The frustrating thing is that we all know what needs to be done and we are tired of waiting for it.  Waiting for the tangible benefits of the treaty.  We are very close to the finish line, but not over it.

The key question in this election is who is the best person to get the job done?  Out of the current 2 candidates for chief it is clear that I am the best candidate.

Stay tuned for another installment of my platform.