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First Nations Community Coordination
NUU-CHAH-NULTH Community Action

The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council is an incorporated society serving the common political and administative needs of its thirteen member bands, located on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Including those [bands and individuals] in Washington State there are about 8000 people of Nuu-chah-nulth descent.¹

Nuu-chah-nulth territories are located on the West coast of Vancouver Island between Cape Cook in the north and Sherringham Point to the south and across Juan de Fuca straight on the Olympic peninsula. There are thirteen Bands affiliated with the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, the political body, which consists of elected and hereditary leaders from the Bands. These Bands are the:

At an Annual Assembly held in November 1995, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council passed a resolution which will address problems associated with Family Violence within Nuu-chah-nulth communities.

The resolution outlines the need for the people and the political leadership of Nuu-chah-nulth to make the issue of Family Violence a priority within the Tribal Council structure. Also outlined within the resolution are various duties which will be carried out by a contracted coordinator.

There will be two levels of work to the project. The first level of the project will be carried out in the communities. The second level of work will be done collectively with input from all Bands at meetings coordinated by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council.

Open forums are to be held in each individual community. Solutions to the issue of Family Violence will be sought in these forums. Committees will be formed within each community.

The responsibility of each community committee will be to coordinate the community forum logistics, review material collected by the contractor, and select culturally appropriate material and community development models which are relevant to their respective community.

These committee members will be responsible for coordinating efforts at the community level. The committees will consist of at least one Youth, one Elder and one other member.

One member from each of the community committees will sit on a collective committee, which will help to coordinate a Nuu-chah-nulth conference focussing on the resolution of Family Violence and will aid in developing a work plan and budget for future work on Family Violence. Another part of the committee's work will be identifying or developing culturally relevant resource materials for use in educating Nuu-chah-nulth people about Family Violence.

A community development approach, as opposed to "traditional" Government service delivery approaches, will be used. The communities will be in control of the total process.

A major part of the project will be raising awareness on how historical structural influences have impacted on traditional Nuu-chah-nulth family Values. (i.e. "institutionalized thinking", Government legislation - the Indian Act, Residential Schools). Existing community structures, including social, political, economical and educational, will be reviewed.

Another important aspect of the project will be creating a Vision and action plan for resolution of Family Violence issues within Nuu-chah-nulth families and communities.

The project is still in a developmental stage. Completion date is slated for mid-July. My priority as the contracted Coordinator is to hear the voices, issues, and concerns of the people who have witnessed and/or experienced Family Violence and their ideas on the eventual resolution of the issue.

If you have any ideas or would like more information on the project I can be contacted at:

Nuu-chah-nulth Community and Human Services,
P.O. Box 1280, 5001 Mission Rd,
Port Alberni B.C. V9Y 7M2,
Telephone (604) 724-3232
Fax (604) 724-6642

Jacquie Adams, BSW
Ahousaht/Nuu-chah-nulth

¹ Excerpted from the Nuu-chah-nulth Community and Human Services Health Transfer Needs Assessment-Executive Summary.