May 31, 2013 - Phoenix Sinclair Inquiry

B.D. MCKENZIE - DR.EX. (OLSON) MAY 31, 2013
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Yes.
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Q In terms of capacity-building in, in First
Nations communities, those -- the -- those issues have to
be addressed in order to make more capacity in the
communities, is that ...
A That, that is correct. You know, the importance
of decolonization includes attention to capacity building
in those communities, aboriginal and non-aboriginal
communities, even if we want to go beyond that, but
particularly in aboriginal communities because they are the
most impoverished communities that exist in Canada.
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THE COMMISSIONER:
And by capacity building you
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mean what?
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THE WITNESS:
I mean sort of developing the
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community's strengths and institutions to be able to work
collaboratively with child welfare organizations and other,
other institutions that are responsible for the education
and development of young people in particular, but we have
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to have economic development that puts people to work.
We
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have to have, you know, the community engaged in supporting
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families.
And so developing those kinds of strengths in
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community is what I mean by capacity-building in
communities.
THE COMMISSIONER: That's very helpful.
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