Cultural Awareness & Recruitment Strategies in First Nation Communities

1. Cultural Awareness & Recruitment Strategies in First Nation Communities Developed by: Tina Reed Coordinator of Partnerships I Coordonnatrice des partenariats Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal Distance Education and Online Learning Contact North I Contact Nord Tel | Tél. : 807-475-3583 tina@contactnorth.ca

2. Objective: • This workshop will discuss effective strategies that can be utilized to assist you with recruitment initiatives within First Nations communities.

3. Topics: • Cultural awareness and sensitivities when recruiting in First Nations communities • Preparation • Assessing the “environment”. • Identifying key stakeholders • Formal invitation into the community • Creating accountability • Follow-up

4. Cultural Awareness • What is cultural awareness and how does it apply to recruiting in First Nation communities?

5. Cultural Awareness • Definition: Cultural awareness refers to the recognition that not all people are from the same cultural background; recognizing people have different values, different behaviours and different approaches to life. • Examples: This could include learning about traditional beliefs, remedies, meanings of words, phrases, gestures, customs, significant days or holidays, activities and rituals.

6. Preparation: • A key component to recruiting in any community is preparation.

7. Assessing the Environment:

8. Finding Information: • Google search “Ontario First Nations” • Choose the search link with www.aandc in the url address

9. Finding Information • After selecting the link you will arrive on the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development webpage. • Select “Community Profiles”.

10. Finding Information • Scroll down the page and select the “Interactive Map” • Note: additional items that can be accessed in the left and right columns

11. Finding Information • Utilize the slider on the left to zoom in and out to define your area of focus of the region.

12. Finding Information:

13. Identifying Key Stakeholders: • After researching and gathering information about a community we then need to identify the key stakeholders in the community. • Who are the key stakeholders in a community?

14. Formal Invitation to Visit • Make contact with the Councillor who holds the education portfolio by phone or email and explain that you would like to visit the community and meet with Chief and Council and identified key stakeholders.

15. You Are Not Alone • If you have been able to define a time and date for a meeting know you are not alone. • Your first point of contact is always Shaun, but I can always be available for questions or to travel into a community with you if needed. • There is no such thing as a stupid question.

16. Creating Accountability: • The best way to create accountability is by keeping all stakeholders in the loop with ongoing correspondence. • After the meeting date has been established, follow up with an email summarizing your discussion and include the key stakeholders inviting them to participate in the face to face meeting so everyone is aware and accountable.

17. Community Visit • Once all stakeholders are gathered, thank them for welcoming you to the community. • Identify who you are and what you do. • Express that you feel it is extremely important to hear from from their perspective what the education and training needs are within the community.

18. Resources: • Numerous resources about First Nations culture, education, history, economic development, treaties etc. can be accessed very easily by conducting Google searches with simple phrases such as “First Nations Education Ontario”.

19. Questions: • Let’s take 15 minutes to talk about some of the First Nations communities in your region and any questions you may have in regards to how to approach them or how to move initial discussions forward.

20. Outside the Box: • Identifying courses or programs that perhaps are not yet available at a distance. • Ontario Works Initiatives • Employment and Training Initiatives • Women’s Programming • Health training Initiatives • Pilot communities • Economic Development Partnerships • Socio Economic Programs • Proposals

21. Thank you: Each of you are key to the support provided within each of your communities. I sincerely applaud and appreciate all that each of you do to assist communities across our province. My heartfelt thank you for showing interest and assisting First Nations communities within your region.

22. Contact: Tina Reed Coordinator of Partnerships I Coordonnatrice des partenariats Centre of Excellence in Aboriginal Distance Education and Online Learning Contact North I Contact Nord Tel | Tél. : 807-475-3583 tina@contactnorth.ca