Kanaka Bar Indian Band from British Columbia Announced As the Recipient Of The 2019 MNP-AFOA Canada Indigenous Community Excellence Award

Kanaka Bar Indian Band from British Columbia Announced As the Recipient Of The 2019 MNP-AFOA Canada Indigenous Community Excellence Award.

Ottawa, ON -September 23, 2019 – AFOA Canada is pleased to announce that Kanaka Bar Indian Band from British Columbia is the recipient of the 2019 MNP-AFOA Canada Indigenous Community

Excellence Award.

“The Kanaka Indian Band is an impressive community that has a commitment to self sufficiency,” says Clayton Norris, VP, Indigenous Services, MNP. “They have a focus on community well being and a dedication to capacity building.”

Kanaka Bar Indian Band will be presented with this prestigious award the evening of Thursday, October 10th, during an Awards Banquet at AFOA Canada’s 20th Anniversary National Conference at the TCU Centre.

More than 1,000 Indigenous professionals from coast to coast to coast will gather in Saskatoon, SK, October 8th – 10th to discuss “Community Administration – Managing Through Disruptions“.

“The Kanaka Bar Indian Band are humbled and thrilled to be the recipients of the AFOA Community Excellence Award for 2019. For us, it is difficult to speak about ourselves – it is not who we are as Indigenous people.

However, this award is a recognition of the work that an entire community took through a holistic “pull up your socks” approach to governance, long term planning, creation of an Organizational Chart and then following through with implementation with consistent and transparent reporting back to the community. During the journey, plenty of curve balls and deviations came our way, so critical to our success was staying focused. That was doable because of the team mentality.

We have now collectively achieved both sustainable project and program delivery success over an extended period of time. The greatest measure of success for us is the now daily laughter we hear in the office, field and our homes. It was not something we grew up with but somehow, we have managed to change everything here which maybe best be described as the reversal of the adverse effects of colonization? We still have our challenges and a lot of work to do. By continuing to do what we have been doing, we will overcome those challenges and all of us today and our future generations yet to come, will be ready for the environment and economy of tomorrow.” Chief Patrick Mitchell

About the Award

The Indigenous Community Excellence Award is jointly presented by MNP and AFOA Canada. The award is designed to recognize and celebrate Indigenous Communities for achievements in Indigenous finance, management, and leadership. Communities are nominated and selected by an independent committee and then approved by the AFOA Canada Board of Directors.

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