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Report outlines 3-year plan to boost awareness of aboriginal heritage

February 27, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Pickford

A week on from the release of its long-awaited aboriginal needs assessment report and the Dufferin County Cultural Resource Circle (DCCRC) is committed to driving positive change in the local community.

Titled ‘Mino Bima Diziwin’, the 44-page document tackles numerous tough topics, but centres on a defined three-year plan – an important step for an organization still in relative infancy following its incorporation in 2014.

Sitting down with the Citizen to share exactly how big a step the release of this report is to both the organization and local aboriginal community in general, Debora Sipkema noted it’s time for the community to get on board and educate themselves about aboriginal history, heritage and culture in Dufferin County.

“If I had to pick one word to describe this document, it would be education,” Ms. Sipkema said. “There’s a lot of information in this report, important information that touches on the roots upon this community was built. We’ve come a long way since 2014, but we still have a long way to go to meet our goals and truly make a difference here in Dufferin County.”

In truth, the DCCRC as it stands today is almost unrecognizable to the organization that, while officially launching back in 2014, was bubbling under the surface at the Sipkema residence for a while. The brainchild of Debora and her husband Gil, the pair originally held twice-weekly meetings for the aboriginal community at their native store, located on Little York St. in Orangeville. After the owner of the building sold up, they had to find another way to engage with the First Nation community.

“The growth and progression of the DCCRC has really been organic in nature. It’s always been important for my husband to engage with and have that connection to the aboriginal community, so, when we owned our store, we held sessions every Wednesday and Saturday, where elders and other Métis and First Nation individuals could come in talk. It was all based around education, again,” Ms. Sipkema said.

Since then, the organization has worked hard to increase its presence throughout the community. It has celebrated Aboriginal Day in style each year, first at Alexandra Park in 2014 and 2015 and, more recently, at the Alder Recreation Centre. They have hosted community pow-wows, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission dinner back in May, 2016 and, last April, a conference titled ‘Why We Gather’, which was designed to educate community leaders on how to work with local indigenous community members.

That conference was a “huge success” according to Ms. Sipkema, who noted the “next, natural step” was to come up with this report, which she says will almost double as a set of guidelines for DCCRC moving forward. According to the most recent 2016 Census, out of a general population of 60,845 for Dufferin County, 1,170 of those identified as aboriginal.

“That’s almost 2 percent of the population that we represent, that we feel responsible for,” Ms. Sipkema said. “It’s our hope that this report and the goals outlined in years one, two and three will serve to help all of those who identify as aboriginal to feel as much a part of our community as possible.”

More than 242 First Nation individuals were consulted in the process of the report. Working alongside Debora and Gil, lead researcher Heather Majaury and administrator Karen Vandenberg discussed various topics with First Nation people across the community, including the Seventh Generation Principle – important in aboriginal culture.

“The Seventh Generation Principle today is generally referred to in regards to decisions being made about our energy, water and natural resources, and ensuring those decisions are sustainable for seven generations in the future. But, it can also be applied to relationships – every decision should result in sustainable relationships seven generations in the future,” said Bob Joseph, Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. Helping People Work with indigenous peoples.

“Relationships today between indigenous peoples and non-indigenous peoples could be forged with the Seventh Generation Principle in mind, even in Dufferin County, for the good of all,” noted Ms. Majaury.

DCCRC’s mandate, says Ms. Sipkema, is to create a safe space for the restoration and revival of traditional indigenous culture in the Dufferin County area. While it was not outlined in the three-year plan, which covers from now until 2020, Debora told the Citizen the organization was well on its way to establishing a friendship centre in the community.

“That project is not quite as long-term as you would think,” Ms. Sipkema said. “We have a definite plan in place – it’s going to be shaped like a turtle and will include office space, a place for kids to play sports. It will be a huge project for the community and will bring employment to the region, as well as a sense of belonging for our entire indigenous community.”

While she does not yet have a location in mind, Debora has a tentative agreement in place with a local organization, who indicated the building will cost in the region of $5 million to construct.

Other focuses for the next three years include ongoing DCCRC bylaw reviews, pushing organization membership, partner with other groups to build a restorative justice committee focusing on serving at-risk youth and moving forward with hosting various programs, ceremonies and conferences, starting with the second annual Why We Gather Conference, coming up on April 6 and 7 at the Alder Rec Centre.

“It has been an incredible year. It’s amazing to see what this baby that Gil and I have built and nurtured over the years has become. We want to help it become what it is supposed to be, and that’s a beacon for the indigenous community in Dufferin County,” Ms. Sipkema said. I’d like to encourage all indigenous people from Dufferin County to attend this conference in April. It will be a great opportunity to socialize and gain some knowledge on what exactly we have to offer.”

Going one step further, she called on local politicians and business owners to get involved in the process in an attempt to help Orangeville become a “leader” in indigenous issues. She visited Town Council last week in an attempt to have the DCCRC flag erected beside the Town’s flag at the Alder Recreation Centre.

“Orangeville has the potential of being a leader. Right now, communities like Markdale are well ahead of where we are and that’s because they’ve adopted indigenous people who come into the community. We need to do that here because we have people who live here,” Ms. Sipkema said. “We have seven residential school survivors who live in the Orangeville area. We can do better than we’re doing and we can be a leader, we can show that support. I believe in that. I believe in this community. I know what the community is capable of when it bands together.”

For more information, visit dufferincountyculturalresourcecircle.org.

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