2011-2012 Annual Report - Sto:lo Nation

and efficiency of the technical aspects of referral reviews for a broad range of Stó:lō FirstNations and organizations. So far, 11 organizations/communities have participated in theSTRA.Working in collaboration with the Stó:lō Tribal Council and Ts’elxweyeqw Tribe, staff of theSRRMC acted as members of the Lead and Technical Teams negotiating and developing thecontent of the Stó:lō Strategic Engagement Agreement Pilot Project Proposal (SSEAP)(approved in October) and subsequent SSEAP Engagement Agreement. The SSEAP is abilateral agreement with British Columbia; one of the provincial Reconciliation Agreementshoused within the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation. The basic objectives ofthe SSEAP are to (1) implement more efficient and effective business procedures foradministering Applications, Referrals and Responses; (2) develop an EngagementFramework that guides the consultation process; and (3) establish a Government toGovernment Forum to oversee implementation of the Agreement and to improve engagementbetween the Parties on strategic matters of mutual interest. Numerous meetings with Stó:lōleadership were held between January and March, in which guidance and input was providedto staff in the process of negotiating with B.C.. This process led to the development of aFramework Agreement with 12 Stó:lō First Nation signatories. The project receivedMinisterial approval and is set to launch in late May of 2012.SRRMC - Referrals Data QuantificationThere are 1,032 referralpackages on record at theSRRMC spanning from thecurrent date back to somesparse records for 2007.Referral data tracking andadministration was ‘triaged’in 2007 and 2008, and therecords are skewed towardlarge-scale run-of-riverproject proposals.# of packages received350300250200150100500Chart 26- Referral Packages, by Year71232007 2008(incomplete (incompleterecords) records)294 292264522009 2010 2011 2012 (todate)YearData in this report reflects a more complete record for 2009-present, when 100% of referralpackages received are logged.Receipt of PackagesWhile the average period of time it takes to receive a “first notice” of a referral package hasdecreased since late 2010 (due to consistency of process and proactive efforts to ensure theaccuracy of contact information and addresses), it still take the average referral package 36days to arrive for processing at the SRRMC from the date it was mailed. It should be notedthat these dated records were not kept consistently prior to 2010.Page 58 of 64