Kelly Lake forming central government

KELLY LAKE, B.C. — A management and community development society based out of Kelly Lake is in the early stage of forming a central government for the community. 

According to Dacia Douhaibi, a self-employed planning and evaluation specialist, the community decided to support the recommendations put forward by an elder’s committee to form a working group. The elders would be at the core of the group.

Vice president of Nikihk Management and Community Development Society Norman Calliou said elders and many community members unanimously agreed on forming a central government on June 10th, with an official announcement made on June 12th.

The community has come together to talk about what they need, including housing, infrastructure and water, according to Calliou. Following conversations within the community, he said it became clear that a central government was required to meet the needs of Kelly Lake residents.

“We need to start looking at infrastructure and also looking at protecting our traditional and aboriginal rights within the surrounding areas,” Calliou said.

The working group, called mamawihatskehk — meaning working together in Cree, according to Calliou— will develop the structure and process for creating the governance committee, including establishing the terms of reference and voting process.

“When we’re looking at the constitution, we’re looking at our traditional Cree ways of how we govern ourselves,” Calliou said.

“We’re trying to move away from the traditional colonial ways of doing things in a hierarchy. We’re trying to look at what did we do in the past. How did we govern ourselves in the past?”

During Kelly Lake Days, held on August 5th and 6th, the working group will present its community governance recommendations to its residents.

Those interested in keeping up with Nikihk’s progress, check out their  Facebook page.

Kelly Lake is a small community 155 kilometres southeast of Fort St. John, including the Kelly Lake Cree Nation, The Kelly Lake First Nation, and the Apetokosan Nation.

According to Statistics Canada, the community had a population of 76 in 2021.