Tsawwassen First Nation’s RIM program: Case Study

1. Tsawwassen First Nation’s RIM program: Case Study Presentation to the ICT Summit February 25th, 2012 Jennifer Jansen, Records Analyst

2. Background • Tsawwassen First Nation (TFN) members belong to the seafaring Coast Salish people • ancestral language is hun’qum’i’num • traditional territory is located in southwest British Columbia, near Vancouver • pre-contact: 3 main fishing villages, gathering place for people from many nations • profound connection with the ocean and lands • a long history of environmental stewardship

3. Demographics Today • 435 Members, about half of whom live on Tsawwassen Lands • Other half live in Lower Mainland, Okanagan, US, and elsewhere • Population is young and growing: over 40% of TFN Members are under 18 • Post-treaty land base is 724 hectares • Commercial, residential & industrial potential • Approximately 400 non-Member leaseholders currently living on Tsawwassen Lands: • Tsatsu Shores (condominium complex) • Stahaken (residential community) • Tsawwassen Beach (gated, beachfront homes) • 52% of Members have attained a high school diploma; 5% have a university degree

4. Map of TFN’s Traditional Territory

6. ALR RESIDENTIAL Neighbourhood Plan 2010 INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL

7. The Treaty • Became Effective on April 3, 2009 • Canada’s first modern urban treaty, and first treaty under BCTC Treaty Process • Provides cash settlement, transfers land ownership, and provides comprehensive self-government powers • Exclusive jurisdiction over land management, in addition to broad law making authority (social policy, education, health, taxation, economic development, etc.)

8. The Treaty (cont’d) • New governance structure replaces Indian Act structure • Interacts with federal and provincial law through a concurrent law model that ensures there is no legal ‘vacuum’ • TFN passed 23 laws on Effective Date of Treaty, including Constitution Act  public online registry of laws ensures transparency • Land is owned by TFN Members in fee simple, and by TFN Government as ‘allodial title’ (akin to how provincial and Federal governments hold Crown land)

9. Government • Tsawwassen Legislature • 12 elected Members plus Chief • Presided over by Squiqel (speaker) • Passes laws, annual budget • Executive Council • 4 Members plus Chief • Highest vote-getters from Legislature election • Regulations, policies, strategic management/oversight • Chief – elected separately • Strategic management and overall direction • Judicial Council, Advisory Council, Property Tax Authority, other legislated committees/structures

11. Administration • Directed by Chief Administrative Officer • Lands: development, land use, community planning, zoning, referrals, permits and licences • Natural Resources: fishing allocations and licences (commercial, selective, and FSC), hunting and gathering activities/licences, protocol agreements with other FNs and other governments • Finance: funds management, auditing and reporting, IT • Health and Social Services: income assistance, housing assistance, social services for Members, Elders support, community health, community nursing, outreach • Legal Services: legal support to government administration and legislative bodies • Human Resources: employee management, occupational health and safety, Member employment opportunities, Impact Benefits Agreements (IBAs) • Government Services: administrative support to Legislative Assembly, Executive Council, and other TFN bodies and departments, information management, enrolment and membership, treaty implementation • Education and Skills Development: Smuyuq’wa’ Lelum ECE Centre, TFN Youth Centre, education support K-12 and post-secondary, employment training programs, language and culture programs • Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs: policy development, intergovernmental relations, treaty implementation

12. TFN Economic Development Corporation(TEDC) • Arms-length, corporate entity incorporated in 2009 • Seeks partnerships to develop the skills, training and employment side of TFN land developments • Mandate to ensure TFN members benefit from the creation of new jobs and business opportunities and become active contributors to the local economy • Relationship with TFN Government is similar to a Crown corporation

13. Records and Information Management - Beginnings • Records Analyst hired in November 2010 • Challenges: idiosyncratic and legacy filing methods, minimal RIM coordination between dept’s, lack of space, insufficient time and resources to manage effectively, “can’t find anything” • Goal is to create a corporate-wide standard for managing records and information assets regardless of format or location • Adopted a function-based approach to classification

14. Guiding Principles • Records and Information = Assets • Information assets have value, just like financial or capital assets • Information assets must be managed • Proper management of an asset enables the organization to leverage its full value • Effective information management is vital to transparency and good governance • Management of information assets is driven by function • Records are classified based on the business procedure/process they are related to

15. Why a function-based approach? • Emerging standard for RIM methodology – ISO 15489 • Records are product of business procedures • Records are used to support business procedures • Classification scheme reflects the business procedures within the organization • Not tied to org structure accommodates organizational change • Records of common business functions are managed consistently • Expandable/adaptable as the organization and its business procedures evolve

16. Review of Legislation and Policy • Identify what records are required explicitly • E.g. : Tsawwassen Election Act requires that an Election Manual be created after every election • E.g.: Chapter 25 s.6 of the Final Agreement requires that the tri-partite Implementation Committee prepare annual reports on implementation activities • Identify statutory bodies that will generate records – for example: • Legislative Assembly • Executive Council • Advisory Council • Judicial Council • Implementation Committee (tri-partite) • Joint Fisheries Committee

17. Business Process Analysis • Review of laws, regulations, and policies to determine prescribed procedures and the records produced • E.g.: Elections Calling the election  notices Nominations  nomination forms Identify eligible voters  voters lists Appoint elections officers/scrutineers  agreements

18. Business Process Analysis (cont’d) • Meetings with departmental managers and staff • What does your department do? What kinds of records do you have? • Identify each departments’ “functional authority” • Identify cyclical processes (e.g. financial, fisheries, reporting cycles, etc.) • Identify formalized procedures (e.g. permit applications, membership applications) and the records associated with those • Identify procedural gaps, or processes that exist “by default”

19. Findings • Informal procedures (small staff) • Transitional period post-treaty  procedural gaps • “Hybrid” type of government: • Municipal-type functions (e.g. lands management and development, facilities management) • Provincial and federal-type functions (e.g. social assistance/housing; education; community health; fisheries management) • Functions unique to First Nations (e.g. referrals; managing FFA, IBAs, etc.; traditional knowledge; membership)

20. Adopted a model • Municipal records management model (City of Vancouver – VanRIMS) • Identify classifications that could be directly adopted (with minor modifications) • E.g.: Employee Files, Operating Budget Files, Annual Reports • Identify similar areas of functional responsibility/ authority (current and future) • E.g.: Permits and Licences, Emergency Planning, Access and Privacy, Governance • Functions are similar, but records are different

21. Tsawwassen Records and Information Management Standard (TRIMS) v.1 • TRIMS is a comprehensive standard for managing TFNs information assets • A corporate records classification scheme: used to organize, describe, and provide physical and intellectual control over groups of TFN corporate records • A filing standard: used as the basis for filing systems, network directory hierarchies, and document libraries and hierarchies in digital document management systems • A records retention and disposition schedule: a life-cycle plan for each type of corporate record.

22. Beyond a filing plan… TRIMS is for managing information assets • Defines types of files/records according to their purpose within the organization  based on business processes • Defines how long each type of file/record needs to be kept and what happens to it in the end  life-cycle management • Identifies what kinds of files/records have confidential information, what files are essential records  handling and storage requirements • Can be used to manage all types of information, not just hard copy files

23. How does TRIMS work? • Hierarchical block-numeric system that has three levels • Function Group (2-digit code) • Primary(4-digit code) • Secondary(2-digit code) • E.g06-1000-10 = Human Resources Management – Employee Management – Employee Files

24. Policy and Procedures • New RIM Policy approved Oct 2011 • Officially adopts TRIMS as the TFN corporate standard for managing information assets; defines departmental responsibilities for RIM, and the role of the Government Services Department • Includes new section for Essential Records (preliminary) • RIM Procedure manual • “How to” for implementing the Policy • Formalized procedures and forms for transferring records to storage, retrieving records from storage, and destroying records (still currently in draft) • Provides naming conventions for folders and documents in hard copy and electronic formats

25. Accomplished to date • Review of and input on TRIMS classifications from managers and staff  on-going • Departmental file inventory and initial implementation is underway • RIM Policy adopted by Executive Council Oct 2011 • Review and detailed inventory of pre-Treaty and Treaty Negotiation files underway • 2011: hired summer intern (with grant from Young Canada Works) for archival arrangement and description project targeting Chief Baird’s Treaty Negotiation records

26. Moving Forward • Complete hardcopy implementation of TRIMS (CAO, Lands, Natural Resources, PIGA, Government Services and HR targeted for completion in 2012) •  retroactive only to Effective Day of Treaty (April 3 2009) • Implementation of retention and disposition procedures once TRIMS implementation is complete • Moving towards implementation of EDMS • First step will be needs assessment • “Special schedules” for Treaty Negotiation records (archival), pre-Treaty “legacy” records • Develop RIM training program for staff • Develop TFN Essential Records program • Eventually we will establish a TFN community archives

27. Challenges • Capacity of staff • time commitments, availability - progress gets interrupted by “brush fires” • technical proficiency • complexity – some dept’s need more support than others • Buy-in • long-term solution to an immediate problem • RIM is low priority for many staff, difficult to see longer-term benefits • Significant organizational change, shift in how staff think about their records • varying levels of comfort, trust • No comprehensive model to follow

28. Additional Resources • TFN – www.tsawwassenfirstnation.com • Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development – http://hpaied.org/ • BC Treaty Commission – www.bctreaty.net