I greet you all in a good way.
As many of you know we are in the middle of a two week orientation to Council. The weeks have consisted of in-depth presentations from all Directors and partner agencies regarding each department’s functions and services that they provide within our community. It has been received well by staff as well as the new and returning Council members. The objective of these sessions is to create a clear understanding for all elected officials, including myself, as to what types of services that we provide as a Nation, as well as to ensure that we are all well informed about all Nation business.
As I have mentioned, my plan has been to implement a ‘team’ approach for this Council as we move into the work that needs to be done under our respective portfolios. I am putting my full trust and support behind those people that you elected into this office, and will work alongside them and our staff to do what needs to be done for the benefit of all community members. I will not interfere within their areas of designation, and expect them to lend this same type of support to their respective Director and their staff. I humbly ask for your support and patience with every one of us as we try to ensure the needs of our community are met. This is not an easy task that we take on; working with the very basic of financial support we will try to do what we can to make our shared community vision a reality. We can only move forward ‘together’ as a community. Let’s leave the past behind us and strive to make a better future for our children and grandchildren.
As an elected government, I would like to see our primary goals be to address the broader needs of our Nation, for example: the creation of our own Plains Cree based laws to ensure that we are able to assert our sovereignty for the journey forward; as well as to focus on working alongside those agencies that are created to lobby for the real needs of our people. We are first and foremost Band Members, and I hope that we can work together with the entire community to create unity amongst our relatives, regardless of circumstance, age, or last name. We are blessed to have an abundance of services available right here in our community, using these tools we can build on the healing that is happening every day; providing the space for more community driven activities and events for all ages – there is so much that we want to do and there is a strong desire to get to work to make things happen, I truly look forward to the coming years.
Thank you for your confidence,
Roy Petit, Okimaw
Beardy’s & Okemasis’ Cree Nation
