First Nations Relationships
When the concept of the Northeast Superior Forest Community was developed, it became abundantly clear that in order to develop a successful regional model that focused efforts on Natural Resources industries, that we would need to build on the municipal relationships that had been fostered in the previous decade, and we would need to find ways to build ties to our regional First Nation communities. With no clear strategy in place, the NSFC began to build that bridge with the Northeast Superior Regional Chiefs Forum and has been taking small steps towards trying to build a cohesive political relationship between leaders in this region.
As with all efforts at building new relationships, we strive to work with mutual respect and trust, and have the lofty objective of creating a common voice for the region. At this time we can say we have made progress and our leaders have been working collaboratively at a project level, while we look towards the building of a common thematic for the region. We are also facing times of great challenge where we have differences of opinion and relations are strained – for this reason we have been investing heavily in cross cultural training, in personal relationships and in open communication and dialogue.