First Nation seeks members’ input on community and reparations plans

FORT NELSON, B.C. — Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) is seeking active voices as it shapes its community plan.

According to a Facebook post on Tuesday, January 27th, FNFN wants members to fully engage in a pair of concepts: the re-launch of its Reaching For Our Vision (RFOV) plan and the new Four Pillars Plan.

The RFOV is described by the post as “a community plan for the next 10-20 years” created from “community priorities and input,” covering all departments of governance, land, health, culture and the economy.

The new Four Pillars Plan is described as a community-driven initiative on how FNFN will access and use funding from the 2021 band reparations settlement with the federal government.

Stemming from a lawsuit by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc of Kamloops and Shíshálh Nation of Sechelt, the settlement, announced as $2.8 billion in 2023, was based on the collective harm to First Nations communities specifically centred around the “lost language, culture, heritage and wellbeing” to Indigenous communities in Canada, according to The Four Pillars Society’s website.

The settlement will be shared to 325 bands across the country. 

A community dinner is planned for Wednesday, February 4th at Chalo School on FNFN territory, with a dinner planned for 5:30 p.m., followed by a meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Both the meeting and dinner are open to FNFN residents only.

More information can be found by accessing FNFN’s Facebook page or website.

Energeticcity.ca reached out to FNFN representatives for further comment, but did not immediately hear back by publication time.