Aboriginal Initiatives
In the past number of years there has been heightened awareness of the importance of engaging Aboriginal clients and communities. Despite the fact that Aboriginal Peoples represent the fastest growing population in Canada, Aboriginal Communities are often under-serviced or under-subscribed in terms of business development opportunities. Since 2001, Community Futures British Columbia has been actively working to encourage BC Community Futures locations to effectively engage their local Aboriginal Communities.
In support of this objective, in 2006 Community Futures British Columbia successfully developed the Community Futures Aboriginal Engagement Toolkit, which seeks to support relationship development and enhance partnerships with Aboriginal peoples from across BC. This toolkit has received a great deal of attention and the praise of both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal leaders.
The Aboriginal Strategic Committee met May 25th, 2007, to set the strategic direction for the 2007/08 fiscal-year. Out of this meeting, the Committee decided that due to the overwhelming success of the Community Futures Aboriginal Engagement toolkit, the development and delivery of five 2-day Community Futures workshops would expand the Network's capacity to engage Aboriginal clients. Work is currently underway to secure funding partners to pilot the workshops in five communities in BC.
