Iinu-Innu
Mashteuiatsh
Mashteuiatsh First Nation
« The majority of the members of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation live in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region, mainly in the community of Mashteuiatsh. Initially named Ouiatchouan, the community has been called Mashteuiatsh since 1985. The popular name of Pointe-Bleue has also long been used to refer to the inhabited area of the reserve. The Pekuakamiulnuatsh have lived for millennia on a vast territory that extends beyond the Pekuakami watersheds. Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, they traded with other Indigenous nations from north to south and east to west. Today, elements of oral tradition testify to the undeniable historical presence of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh on Nitassinan (“our territory”), if only by the countless names of places. »
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What was the starting point of Mobilisation Uauitishitutau and how did it progress thereafter?
Initially, it was community players and citizens who mobilized to organize an initiative, to raise important issues and act on the community’s challenges. They also wanted the Council to propose concrete actions related to key social issues in the community. In 2007, the Council organized the Commission consultative sur la réalité sociale (advisory commission on social reality), to find out about the state of well-being of its citizens. Three parallel community engagement committees were born from this consultation: the Comité Auassatsh (Auassatsh committee), the Comité mieux-être (wellness committee) and the Table de lutte à la pauvreté et à l’exclusion sociale (fight against poverty and social exclusion committee). These three approaches were entrusted with the mandate to work together to achieve a common goal: to improve the wellness of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh.
In 2016, the idea emerged to merge the three engagement committees to align efforts and move towards a comprehensive community intervention plan. The same year, the Council officially adopted the merger of the committees and the addition of other service partners, which have been united under the banner of Mobilisation Uauitishitutau since 2017.
Through the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau, twenty partners from different backgrounds work together and encourage community engagement to ensure the wellness and strengthening of the cultural identity of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh. In fact, the word Uauitishitutau means “let’s help each other” in Nehlueun. The governance of Mobilisation is inclusive and representative of the different circles of the community.
Of the 20 partners, it has :
6 Pekuakamiulnuatsh representatives
2 entrepreneur representatives
4 Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan representatives
7 community organization representatives
1 elected representative
Ecosystem
plan
2018-2023
74 actions
8 issues
To carry out its mandate, Mobilisation Uauitishitutau has adopted a Plan écosystémique 2018-2023 (ecosystem plan), which includes 74 actions targeting 8 issues: discrimination against women, family violence, parental competence, a place for each Pekuakamiulnu, addictions, health status, the lack of Nehlueun speakers, and cultural uprooting.
Each issue is addressed at the individual, family, living environment and community/territorial levels. The Mobilisation Uauitishitutau committee holds monthly meetings with the partners and several working groups and sub-groups that must carry out all the steps of the process collectively. Together, they target certain themes during the year, and the coordinator is asked, along with other partners, to create a work team to develop an annual action plan. An annual evaluation process then makes it possible to measure the impacts of the actions that have been implemented.
What changes has the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau brought to Mashteuiatsh?
Bringing together many partners, the engagement process oversees multiple projects and activities that focus on raising awareness as well as offering quality services.
Here are some examples of recent realizations :
A community refrigerator was acquired to help combat food insecurity, and the establishment of a food forest aims to support long-term food security.
The identification of seven targeted themes, overseen by various partners, increases the impact of actions. The themes are as follows: smoke-free week, nutrition month, Indigenous languages month, life promotion week, school perseverance week, mental health month and children’s rights day.
The mobilisation team has put in place an annual monitoring and evaluation process to ensure that the themes being addressed are contributing to the vision of the community action plan.
What are the next stepsfor the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau ?
Some of the work of the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau sometimes goes unnoticed by the Pekuakamiulnuatsh. One of the objectives is therefore to improve communications to better highlight collective successes. The committee is also considering revising the targeted themes, following an evaluation of the results achieved. With regard to projects in development, a funding application has been submitted to the Secrétariat à la condition feminine for the realization of an action-research project aimed at developing frameworks, practices and holistic services adapted to Indigenous men from Mashteuiatsh and elsewhere in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. The initiative is co-developed with the Health and Collective Wellness team, the University of Sherbrooke, and the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean Optimum Men’s Resource Centre. Finally, the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau wishes to set up a camp to accommodate all the outings organized by the organizations on the territory and to highlight the culture of the Pekuakamiulnuatsh.
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All photos are the property of the Mobilisation Uauitishitutau and are taken from its Facebook page.