Chief

PUTTING OUR PEOPLE FIRST

To be free is to put justice, truth and service to others over and above our personal gain or our need for recognition, power, honor and success. When we cling to personal power and success, when we are afraid of losing social status, then we are in some way denying our humanity; we become slaves to our own needs, we are not free.

First and foremost, I want to thank God for my life and family.

Before I begin , I wish to extend my condolences to the immediate and extended family members of Mrs. Mary Wapachee-Tanoush. She was an elder, great, great grandmother, great grandmother, grandmother, mother and friends to many. She will be dearly missed.

As candidate for Chief I will commit to making Nemaska a place to envy. Our people have richly diversified talent and ideas and numerous opportunities to get involved and contribute to Nemaska’s success. Together, we must plan and implement deci-sions carefully. Over the past three years I have listen and heard people’s concerns. Together we can build a brighter future.

Our community, our Nation, was built through the guidance and wisdom of our elders. We must continue to use their insight for future generations.

Freedom

Thomas Jolly

Thomas JollyVOTE

FOR CHIEF - CREE NATION OF NEMASKA

- Meegweetch

Our community is our home. Like any home, our community is built on strong foundations that provide support and security in the long-term:

• Education ( formal and traditional)• Health (CHB, Nemaska Wellness Dept.)• Culture ( traditions, language, music, art)• Economic Development - more local entrepreneurialism, incentiveprograms,privatizationofspecificband

• services including some Nemaska Development businesses.

• Social Development (Housing, paved roads…)• Nemaska Nation Governance, Services, Programs, • Infrastructure.

But people are the most important part of our community. Our children must have a safe clean environment and supporting essential services such as daycare services. My inspiration… our youth, need our support. Training and jobs are essential for independence. We need to take care of our elders as they have cared for us. We must seek and use their knowledge and wisdom for our entities, education and social well being.

COMMUNITY

BAND OFFICE

I promise to change decade old practices that limit access to the democratic process. Our people will be guaranteed a voice before the Band Council makes key decisions. We must be open and transparent to our people and provide the needed information to make informed decisions. A review of various by-laws is needed. Some are outdated or not carried out.

• We must be open and transparent to our people.• Weneedtohavethenecessaryandregularflowof

information to our people. This can be done with news letters, internet, town hall meetings..etc

• We must continue to train our people to upgrade skills on a regular basis.

• We must continue to strive and offer the best quality programs and services

I realize our health care services require immediate support. This important service is a key component in our community. It’s a 24hrs service, 365 days a year. We are closer to our new clinic and we have a plan in place as required by the province. We need to develop support systems that respond to family needs. I will ensure that:

• We work together to achieve the best quality service and programs for our people.

• Form a working group such as School Committee, Trappers Committee...that takes action, shares ideas and resources

• We’re will have a new community health center. People will be needed. Some will require specialized training. Some have already expanded their knowledge and advanced in-novative initiatives such as having births in our community.

COMMUNITY HEALTH & CHB

The leadership must be involved in our education. We need our education to advance our people. The leadership must meet our students, teachers and parents. The local school is our school. It’s not another Cree entity mandate. We amend certain ele-ments of our educations system so it meet s our community and Nation needs. It’s time we assess where are we going with our educations system. We must have local control.

EDUCATION

CULTURE

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

This is where we need our elders now. Our cultural, language,traditionsdefinewhoweare.Wemustcontinueour programs, services and expand to other areas. Our community needs a new place for our social and traditional gathering. The need to write, record and develop our own history for future generations such as; before HBC, Old Nemaska. We must continue to transmit our practices to our children, for our youth to carry. We cannot afford to lose theseculturalpracticesthatdefinesasacommunityandNation.We are moving in to the mainstream society and have a priviledge talent to take advantage of the new technology and embrace the knowledge society. The Arts is one domain in which our youth have excelled: music, photography, video. We see our children singing, dancing, youth developing their own media projects. We have to support their passions, aspirations and dreams. They are real.

We need to respond to changes

We stand today at a threshold moment in our history. We are at an age where Economic Development, local, regional, national or global is both providing new opportunities and increasing the economic and social gap. If opportunities are notseized–evencatchupwouldbemoredifficult,painful,and heart breaking then before. The nature of the economy is being transformed. Our technology is moving very fast and changing how we workand live… We must face the challenge in preparing our community, people and economy for the changes of the new economy, create the right climate for our people by building on our present strengths and plan for future growth now. It’s a key element to self reliance and selfsufficiency.Wemustinvestinourpeoplewhohavethedesire to pursue a business. We have so many opportunities and resources to do it. All we need is the will and mindset.

Social development is an obligation and should always be one of our community priorities. As our population grows so do our needs. Housing development is essential and people should have an opportunity to own their own house. 99% of the housing market in Nemaska is band owned. Our community infrastructure needs up keeping and so do our surroundings. We have many youth that excel in sports. Programs and organized sports will be an essential part.

VOTE THOMAS JOLLYFOR CHIEF - CREE NATION OF NEMASKA