2016 Cowichan Tribes aunderwood [COMMUNITY SAFETY] Cowichan Tribes Presentation.
Introduction Good day, my name is Angela Underwood from the Cowichan Band, and my qwulmuw name is Huliltuna and is my great grandmother s name. My spiritual name is Two Tall Bear Women, and this name was translated from a dream of a grandmother and a grandfather travelling together in the mountains, and a big bear. My role with Cowichan Tribes is Coordinator. History The Cowichan Tribes Chief and Council had concern in regards to the violence and the youth violence in the community. The Council had struck a committee and tasked the department managers of Cowichan Tribes to develop a job description for. Through the CSEC ( Engagement Committee) the frameworks developed were: 1. Terms of Reference 2. Coordinator Job Description This is a brief history of the developments of the and purpose for the need of the role to support the community. I have only been in this position for a short time, and began in 2012, implementing prevention programs to support youth and families. The programs were to target youth and promote anti-bullying. The programs offered were: Family Swim Night (over 5,500 attended between November - March and was 2 x s per week) Self Defense youth participation learned about kickboxing and was also very well attended. Family Drum Night for youth and families was also very well attened The program was funded seasonally and the program came to a halt in April 2013. There were concerns coming from the community in regards to the youth violence escalating. The Council had given direction for the Coordinator to be called back for work. By June 2013 service delivery began with a women s program for grief and loss, and networking for programs and agencies for safety initiative. A task was to engage the community and in regards to safety, and one area in the community had huge concerns in regards to violence. The community was engaged and in regards to concerns of the youth violence 1
and violence in the community. There was over 120 people in attendance and this was the first step to engaging the community, and gathering the concerns from the community. The information was gathered through a survey and summarized to a qualitative quantitative report for the CSEC. The community reported concerns in regards to the youth violence, and the youth trying to form gangs. There was also concerns of youth tagging, vandalism, break and enters and a number were too scared to bring forth concerns as they didn t want to be targeted afterwards. Steps to Safety At this same time I had been called by Public Safety in regards to funding, and available funds to support. The Public Safety had informed they have funding available specifically for Community Safety, and from the dialogues this was a good fit for the role of community safety. The next step was to write a proposal and this was called: Steps to Safety 1. Training for the Engagement Committee plus networking agencies 2. The networking agencies formed the Community Mobilization Team 3. The Community Mobilization Team involves: Cowichan Tribes delegates from each department, First Nations Police, District of North Cowichan, Cowichan Women Against Violence, Cowichan Valley Regional District, House of Friendship 4. The Community Mobilization Team had taken the training provided through public safety ~ moving toward a stronger future. Mobilization 1. The team had engaged the Cowichan Tribes community in 3 locations, and hosted at 3 Longhouses. The purpose was to gather data and feedback in regards to community safety. 2. There were 3 questions as per the mobilization training to seek: Community strengths and needed strengths: what is in place in the present, supports for community, and needed strengths Goals of : for the next 40 days, and through the next 4 years. Vision for 3. The community data was applied to the PATH from the moving toward a stronger future training. There was 18 pages overall from the data and from assessing and summarizing the information we were able to have all the information on 5 pages. When simplifying the data to have only the themes the PATH was one page document. 2
Documents from the community safety engagements: PATH Themes PATH with the Summaries Programs, Workshops and Events Prioritize: List of Priorities when we reported the data to the community we asked them to prioritize the community needs Action Plan Graphic ~ describing the vision for community safety ~ the graphic was developed from the vision for community safety. 4. The community engagements data was reported to the Engagement Committee and from here direction was to report: The community and if there is any further data needed to be added Once this was completed bring the report back to the CSEC for support to move the documents and recommend to Chief and Council. The next step was to report to Safety Planning to Chief and Council and this was supported. Furthering the final report went to public safety for reporting and processing. 3
De-Normalizing Violence 5. Once all this was completed the next step was to review all the data and develop and proposal for Aboriginal as a pilot test project for 4 years. The theme of this proposal is called De-Normalizing Violence. The plan s goals and objectives will be accomplished through the Implementation and rebuilding of the community through steps of De-Normalizing Violence. The ultimate goal is to work toward a safer community. The data collected from the community engagements was summarized and analyzed for use in the next phase of community safety programming. The data indicates there is an increased community concern regarding the violence in the community. To address this concern the plan will create a safe community by the Implementation and rebuilding of the community through steps of De-Normalizing Violence. The program summary outlines the work to accomplish our goals and objectives. o o o Youth programs to further enhance personal safety and reducing high risk behaviour, mentoring of healthy relationships, youth leadership and youth resilience Safety programs for adult community members will involve building on individual safety prevention of violence, safety with family and reducing risk of violence, further developing parenting and understanding of traditional parenting skills, building on life skills, and resilience. Community workshops will work bring forth understanding of the root causes of violence, rebuilding relationship and how to work toward healthy relationships, and build on the foundation of healing and wellness, building on a foundation of healing from trauma, community nation building, community wellness, harm reduction, crime prevention, emergency preparedness, road safety, driving safety, public safety, youth empowerment workshops, youth prevention workshops The next step was to develop a work plan for community safety with the proposal. 4
The pilot project work plan for Cowichan Tribes Community Safety is to move forward to: Implementation of the Cowichan Community Safety Planning With the theme of: De-Normalizing Violence To further enhance safety individually, as a family and with the community. The overarching goal is to: Build and Strengthen Community Safety Procedures/Scope of Work The Planning Implementation Work-Plan will consist of work that builds over the next 4 years. The work will focus on individual, family, relationships and community health and safety. The outline below describes the building block process for the areas of concern. The first is a focus around youth; second is focused on young parents; and the third is focused on the community as a whole. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Youth Program Elder Mentoring Youth Program Belonging & Family Teaching Our Youth Traditional Way of Knowing and Living History of Cowichan and teachings of the Land 3 L s: Look, Listen, Learn Adult Program Young Parents Healthy Relationships (ages 19-30) Workshops Adults Workshops Emotional Competency Dealing with Anger Coping Emotionally, Triggers Youth Workshops: Reduce the Risk of Violence ~ Prevention of Violence Elder Mentoring Youth Sacred Teachings of the Land and Water Snuw uy ulh (teachings, rules, regulations and laws) and Sxe'xe' (sacred teachings) Teachings of the Land and the Water, and Harvesting Plants Cultural Drop In Night For youth and families Women / Men Program Dealing with Violence and the Root of Violence Youth Motivational Speakers ~ Youth Safety Youth Empowerment Anti-Bullying, Social Media Snuw uy ulh (teachings, rules, regulations and laws) and Sxe'xe' (sacred teachings) Learning of Cultural Protocols and Ceremonies Strengthening Family with Safety Family Teachings Traditional Values, Parenting Skills, Strength Building Building on Safety With Family and in the Community Building on Safety with Family De-Normalize Violence Family Safety Youth Safety Workshops Youth Life Skills / Talking Circles Youth Leadership Skills Independence Responsibility Goal Setting Coping skills Life skills Resilience Workshops Support to dealing with trauma, and abuse and how to stop the cycle of violence. 5
Currently concluding Year 1: We have completed year one of the work plan for the De-Normalizing Violence project, and have completed: Healthy Relationships Program Elder Mentoring Youth Program Community workshops and youth events We need to review the data for the protocols, as the Justice Coordinator was going to assist with these developments. Protocols will assist with collaboration, working partnerships, and dealing with conflict if arises. As the band also has a security team that has also contributed to building on safety in the community. Thank you for listening to the work that I have done over the past few years with, and working towards safety measures for our future generations. Acknowledge the hosts of this event and the leaders, and the elder that shared the prayer and blessing for today ~ Huy tseep q u Siem ~ 6