Promote and support urban Indigenous participation on critical governance and advisory boards.

City of St. John’s & First Light: Representation from First Light on multiple committees and working groups

First Light holds seats on multiple committees and working groups with the City of St. John’s, including the following:

• Affordable Housing Working Group;
• Anti-Racism Working Group;
• Arts and Culture Advisory Committee;
• Healthy City Advisory Committee;
• Inclusion Advisory Committee (Currently Vacant); and
• Joint Coordinating Committee on Indigenous Rights

While the City’s efforts to include Indigenous perspectives in each of these areas is laudable, the plethora of committees can be taxing on the limited resources available to Indigenous nonprofit organizations such as First Light. It can also lead to the risk of tokenism in that First Light representatives are often the only Indigenous individuals serving on such committees. (See needs identified to advance Call for Change 27.)

Full and meaningful engagement by urban Indigenous people in each of these groups may therefore not be entirely realistic. Recognizing this challenge, City staff have committed to develop appropriate policies that would consolidate urban Indigenous advisory capacities within the Joint Coordinating Committee on Indigenous Rights.

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary: Initial steps to form an Indigenous Advisory Committee, group has yet to meet

In October 2022, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) issued a public statement acknowledging the role that the police service has played in the ongoing harms caused by colonialism and its “responsibility to move forward in the spirit of reconciliation.” The RNC committed to “engage First Voice and other Indigenous groups to review and support the implementation” of the Section 9 Calls for Justice of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), which are directed specifically toward police services.

Following that statement, the RNC’s senior leadership held a series of six meetings with First Voice representatives between October 2022 and May 2023. First Voice proposed terms of reference for an Indigenous Advisory Committee for policing in St. John’s as a way for the RNC to follow through on their public statement. The RNC declined this proposal, insisting instead on the formation of a province-wide advisory committee. First Voice and the RNC agreed on draft terms of reference for a province-wide RNC Indigenous Advisory Committee (RNCIAC). Letters of invitation, co-signed by RNC Chief of Police Patrick Roche and First Voice Partnership Table representative Justin Campbell, were shared with all Indigenous organizations in the province on June 1, 2023. The intention to form the committee was announced publicly on June 6, 2023, at RNC headquarters in St. John’s. First Voice participated in that event.

By the end of June 2023, only five of the 17 Indigenous organizations that had been invited to join RNCIAC alongside First Voice and First Light had agreed to participate. No further Indigenous organizations or governments have responded to the June 2023 invitation.

Significant barriers exist to meaningful participation by confirmed and prospective Indigenous members. First Voice identified these on multiple occasions to both the RNC and the Department of Justice and Public Safety (JPS). Given RNCIAC’s province-wide scope, both First Voice and the RNC initially agreed that in-person meetings would be essential for relationship-building. While the RNC has confirmed funding to support its own members’ in-person participation, neither the RNC nor JPS have allocated similar funding to support the full and equal participation of Indigenous members.

RNCIAC has yet to convene its first meeting or finalize its terms of reference.

For the City of St. John’s:

• Finalize and implement appropriate policies and procedures to ensure that the Joint Coordinating Committee on Indigenous Rights is updated and consulted on the work being undertaken by other City advisory committees and working groups. This will ensure that meaningful urban Indigenous-specific advice is available to policy- and decision-makers across all functional areas at the City.

For organizations seeking Indigenous participants to serve on advisory committees:

• Allocate appropriate resources to ensure the full and equal participation of volunteer Indigenous advisors. This includes appropriate honorariums that recognize the value of their contributions.
• Provide inclusion and support for Indigenous individuals in advisory positions. See Call for Change 27 for more detail.