Effective communication has the power to change our community and make a real difference. Communication is an important part of a good community strategy as it allows us to align ourselves with our members, setting everyone up to push the boundaries of successful governance, accountability, and transparency. Everyday we move forward and focus on doing better to provide the community with the information that belongs to them. We have some changes to how communication will look moving forward. Below you will find important information regarding the communication strategy:
1. NEWSLETTER The “Sitansisk Kolusuwakon” is a bi-weekly newsletter distributed door to door within the community or via postage delivery to community members off reserve. This is also available on the website. The new community website is going live soon, and you will be able to opt out of home delivery and instead receive the newsletter via email.
2. COMMUNITY FACEBOOK St. Mary’s/Sitansisk News/Events/Information is a page for communication, and the promotion of community news and events relevant to St. Mary’s First Nation. Official notices will be posted here, along with third party
information, and community members posts. Please see the policy on posting to this page.
3. OFFICIAL FACEBOOK St. Mary’s First Nation is a new facebook page for communication. The only information that will be posted on this page is directly from St. Mary’s First Nation Administration, no third party or member’s post will be approved here. These are official posts regarding information the community should know about. This page will stream directly to the website so those without social media can stay connected to this information via the new website newsfeed.
4. COMMUNITY MEETINGS Departmental Community meetings will start taking place on June 17, 2020 every Wednesday night at 7pm. Due to COVID19 these meetings will be via Zoom. The goal is to move away from virtual meetings and have in person meetings as we move into recovery from the pandemic. a. Different departments will be scheduled to present each week (see attached schedule for June and July), provide updates on their departments to the community, answer any questions or concerns, and hear ideas from the community on how to move their departments forward. The guiding principle is that our community members have voices and opinions that matter, and they have a right to be informed.
b. These meetings are for all community members.
c. The meetings will take place every Wednesday night at 7pm via Zoom. Information for the meeting will be released the previous Friday with agenda and zoom information.
d. The meeting recording and the question and answers section will be released within a week of the meeting. This will allow members who could not attend to watch the presentations and be informed. All questions asked will be answered during the meetings regardless if the members who asked are present.
5. COUNCIL MEETING NOTES AND MOTIONS Council Briefs will now be released within a week after each meeting. You will find these on our Facebook pages, the website, and via the newsletter.
6. WEBSITE The new community website is complete, and the staff are now working at uploading important information for the community. This site includes an events Calendar, news section, contact information for staff, and other important community information. You will find a “Members Only” section on the new site where you must register for access to all Council Motions, Council Minutes, policies and procedures, and news specifically for members only (such as consultation information). The goal is to have this ready for July 2020.
7. CHIEF UPDATES The Chief will be going live on Facebook every Friday at 1pm. The Chief will be providing a brief on all communication that was shared during the previous week with the community and any important or urgent information you should be aware of. The notes from these meetings will be posted each Monday on all platforms.
Virtual Community Meeting Schedule for June and July 2020
7pm start time each scheduled date
June 17, 2020 Health (Health, Child and Family Services, Social Program, Recreation, Community Planning)
June 24, 2020 Infrastructure (Housing, Lands, Infrastructure, Public Works)
July 8, 2020 Labour, Employment and Economic Development (Economic Development, Retail, SMEC, ISETS, HR)
July 15, 2020 Education (CHSMES, Education, Turtletots, and Early Years)
July 22, 2020 Natural Resources (Logging, Fisheries, AFS, Consultation)
July 29, 2020 Admin (Governance, Recreation, Membership, Projects, Community Planning)
These meetings will take place via zoom. The agenda, information on how to connect, and contact information for questions will be released every Friday on the Facebook pages. There will be no meeting on weeks where there is a holiday and office closure.