Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY) - 1.0

In the Fall of 2005, Brigadier General Joycelyn Lacroix, then the Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) and I were able to have a quick chat. He had been wanting to meet with me as the Aboriginal Advisor for the Canadian Defence Academy and the Royal Military College, a position that I have been engaged in and contracted into since September 2002. We were both attending a function at the Vimy Officers Mess at Canadian Forces Base Kingston. With a promise to formally meet at a later date and in a more conducive environment, he none-the-less gave me a quick overview of what he was thinking and a proposal he was considering as means of preparing both of us for a later meeting. Basically Gen. Lacroix wanted to do two things: (1) help the socialization of cadets attending RMC who will encounter the "real world" in the units and in the people they will eventually lead as officers--and that this "real world" is made up of a diverse Canadian population, notably Aboriginal people, and (2) give Aboriginal youth the opportunity to attend and experience one year at RMC under the notion of Service to Canada and to provide the ability to provide multiples choices, multiple paths. Certainly, one of those paths could potentially be Regular Officer Training Program (ROTP) or Reserve Entry Training Plan (RETP). Basically, the program would be like a "University Prep Year" but in a unique university environment that counts 1,100 young people from all across Canada.

The belief was that by having Aboriginal youth attend RMC as a critical mass, this would be very beneficial particularly as support to each other and that this group would interact and become part of the larger undergrad population. In the end, after our initial meeting and after a number of other meetings and briefings, after a lot of work by a lot of people, the program was approved at the highest levels of the CF and earned the name of Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY). The process along the way to establish the HOWS, WHENs, WHEREs, WHOs, etc. would become an interesting journey, particularly in a significant bureaucracy such as the Dept. of National Defence and the Canadian Forces.

Finally, this past Friday night (Aug. 29, 2008), after many months of planning, meetings and gatherings, all 22 ALOY candidates, along with staff, cadet instructors, RMC leadership, Elder Chartrand, Aboriginal veterans from the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit groups along with Chief Petty Officer Debbie Eisan (guest speaker) sat down to celebrate, with a wonderful feast, their successful finishing of 3 weeks of fairly intense training and orientation to RMC and to be strengthened for the academic journey in the next two semesters.

Here, among these 22 ALOY candidates were 11 female and 11 male young people that came from all regions from coast to coast. This was a history making moment.

Some ALOY links:

Aboriginal officer cadet making history far from home
Royal Military College - Wikipedia

Input to Police Chief selection

The city of Kingston is about to hire a new police chief, a process that is decided through a group called the police services board, a board made up of half dozen or so selected prominent citizens headed up by the mayor. For the most part this event would not have "blipped" on "my radar" except for perhaps a casual read in the front page of the Kingston Whig Standard, the local paper. However, early last week, with the scantiest of lead time, the Kingston Police Services Board announced they were open to input from the community--consisting of a 5-minute presentation to the Board. The idea was that they would potentially use this input in the interview process of the candidates applying for the city police chief position. That's when a couple of friends thought that I should make a presentation. No so, says I but they were more persuasive than my not wanting to do so. Thus, I on Wednesday, 20 August, 2008, I was standing at the microphone with my 5-minute presentation talking to the Kingston Police Services Board.

The following is a small highlight of my input that made Page 3 of the local paper the next day (Thursday, August 21, 2008). While these are not "exactly" my words, the articles at least makes mention of the Kingston Aboriginal Justice Strategy, (more in later Blogs) an endeavour that a small group of us in the city are attempting to move forward and the fact that policing and police forces need very much to build relationships--Kingston is not excluded :

Public has its say on next police chief Board sought input on Closs's successor Posted 2 days ago It may have been the shortest public meeting in Kingston's recent history. With a turnout of just a handful of citizens, last night's meeting to gather input from residents about what attributes the city's next police chief should have lasted barely 25 minutes. "I was hoping there would be more people here and more social agencies represented," said Kingston Police Services Board chairwoman Carol Allison-Burra. Though she had expected more residents to attend, she said the comments made at the meeting about the importance of community policing and restorative justice are issues the board will keep at the forefront of their minds during the hiring process. The Police Services Board is hoping to hire the city's 15th police chief by the end of September to replace Bill Closs, who retired in the spring. Last night's meeting, held at Kingston Police headquarters, gave residents a rare opportunity to voice their opinion about the attributes the new chief should possess. Each presenter was given five minutes to describe their wish list for a new chief. The Police Services Board had planned to use the content of the presentations to formulate questions during the final interview stage for a new chief, which is expected to take place in the next six weeks. "We wanted to hear from everyday people about their thoughts," said Allison-Burra. Just three citizens made presentations at the meeting. The event was facilitated by two representatives from Renaud Foster, the recruiting agency the Police Services Board hired in June to search for a new chief. Allison-Burra said the Police Services Board went to the public for input because of the high profile of the position. "I think [hiring a new police chief] is one of the most important decisions we make as a board," she said. She also said the board is looking for a chief who will be adept in leading the community during times of change "with the confidence and trust of the people." Similar public consultations have been held in other cities during searches for new chiefs of police. Allison-Burra said one internal candidate has been identified for the chief's position and there may be more. Kingston Mayor Harvey Rosen and several other members of the Police Services Board attended last night's meeting. When asked on his way into the meeting about the value of going to the public for input, Rosen replied simply, "It can't hurt." Ed Wissian of the Kingston Aboriginal Justice Strategy was thrilled to be part of the process. "It's wonderful for an aboriginal person to be involved in this kind of process and I'm going to take this opportunity - I think it's historic," he told last night's meeting. Wissian spoke about the need for relationship building between police services such as Kingston Police and native communities. Dave Stewart of Resolve Kingston, a restorative justice group, spoke of the need to "reintegrate rather than alienate offenders." He also emphasized the need for more community policing and more community involvement by local officers. He suggested Kingston Police provide incentives to its officers to join non-profit boards to give them added exposure in the community. Stewart suggested that the new chief be "confident enough to be collaborative" and to listen to his/her officers and the public. Other comments made at last night's meeting included the need for a police chief that was more visible on the streets and in the coffee shops of Kingston.

Copyright © 2008 The Whig Standard

Aboriginal Offenders and the Need for Leadership

In my work with Aboriginal offenders in Canada's federal prisons, I have been involved in the area of substance abuse programming for the past ten years. This has been an incredible learning journey. I'm of the opinion that if one wants to be serious about professional and personal development, being engaged in this type of adventure provides a wonderful arena to "move forward". I say that with all honesty. Yes, there's a bit of "scar tissue" but its worth the ride. For a number of years I wouldn't go near the places. To be honest, they scared me. It stopped scaring me when I got comfortable with me. That's a mouthful.

For the past five years the work has even been more interesting. Here I have worked with a Native Elder--his name is Winston Taylor--and we have been for the most part fully engaged in delivering a High-Intensity Substance Abuse program for Aboriginal male offenders in a number of federal institutions in the Ontario Region, including Canada's infamous Kingston Penitentiary. The program, call AOSAP (Aboriginal Offenders Substance Abuse Program), is delivered fully within the context of Aboriginal culture, mostly because this is what the men are seeking and are most motivated towards and mostly because the Elder is driving it. Winston, I tell everyone that is involved, is the boss. Elders, especially Winston, don't like to be bosses but in this case he is comfortable in knowing that he has a say in program especially when it comes to cultural and spiritual needs.

We deliver the program totally on "the land", inside of a tepee and in all kinds of weather. No electricity, no running water, no A/C, no nice tables and chairs--just the weather and the elements. In here we deal with traumas, anger, the full range of challenges that go from ADHD, FASD, OCD and the like. In here we sometimes face anger and rage and incredible fear bottled up, in some, for years on end. But in here, as well, we have the Elder, the teachings, the "medicines", the drum, the pipe, and most of all, the Sweat Lodge.

Providing guidance, leadership, and trying to keep the sense of purpose in this type of environment can be a challenge but it is also very satisfying. Aboriginal male offenders are characterized, as a sector of all federal male offenders, by the high rate of substance abuse and from that, the strong links to violence. A good background on the AOSAP can be found in Dave Varis' backgrounder Development of an Aboriginal Offender Substance Abuse Program.

If there is an area that needs Aboriginal leadership and more public awareness it is in this area: Aboriginal offenders.

[Note: Picture above is from Correctional Service of Canada's LET'S TALK, Vol 29, No 4. Winston is standing at far right in middle row (black shirt) and yours truly is kneeling at far right in front row.]

The Story of Neegan Seewin - The Beginning

Neegan Seewin needs a start. First the word (said as one word) means "Leadership" in the Moose Cree dialect of James Bay. It was a name given to me by a wonderful friend and Cree linguist after I shared with her a story of the Canada Geese. In the Spring of 1997 I saw a flock of Canada Geese heading north. As they were flying in their dynamic V formation, the shape changed--ever so briefly--to something that looked like an Eagle's head with the noticeable eagle's beak. The image stayed with me and I even made a sketch of it (see picture). As I was doing that, for some reason I thought of the word leadership.

When I shared this story with her, Susan said "Neegan Seewin". Neegan Seewin, she said her language and dialect (Moose Cree) means "the one in front" (or leadership). So the name stuck.

It was a different style of leadership that I was used to--particularly after my career in the Canadian Forces. If one was to use an analogy of leadership using the "bird" family, the Eagle would come to mind. This was my thinking. The Eagle, as is often depicted, is a noble and powerful bird, very self-sufficient, all-seeing, soaring the heavens and gracefully gliding over all of the rest of creation. Symbols of Eagles are found in almost every culture and in a wide variety of places like armies, government, business and the like. Whereas symbols of geese, for the most part, don't adorn the edifices of great institutions of power and are not the "official seal" of any country I know. Geese, unlike the Eagle, take turns at leading and are incredibly social and loyal to each other. Gender doesn't seem to be an issue. Their strength is not in speed or ability to overpower others but as a group, geese are incredibly strong. For thousands and thousands of years, they have always reach their goals, year in and year out. They do that despite tremendous adversity and incredible challenges. They are great communicators and extremely dedicated to each other. As an organization, it seems, at least in my estimation, they are healthy, productive, strong and a wonderful learning organization. In these analogies, I felt more at home at being a goose. Neegan Seewin