PHASE 5: Present the Community Wellness Plans and Begin Implementation

Discussion about the implementation of the community wellness plans began about a year before the project ended. The discussion included clarification of roles and expectations of the partners, in particular the issue of transitioning the support of the NCWP projects to the Government of Nunavut following the NCWP’s completion.

The community coordinators and a member of each community working group were brought to Iqaluit October 19-21st _{2010 as part of a presentation and implementation workshop. In attendance were} Steering Committee representatives from NTI, the GN and HC, the community coordinator as well as the consulting support team. The GN HSS staff also included four Community Health Development Coordinators who were involved with the project work and communities since June 2010. Due to un- favourable weather conditions, the community representatives from Kugluktuk were unable to attend the workshop.

1. Presenting the Community Wellness Plans: The focus of the workshop was on presenting the community wellness plans, as well as facilitating a general discussion on implementation. For all communities in attendance, the presentations of the plans were done by the community coordinator and one other working group member (often the chairperson) using PowerPoint. In their absence, Kugluktuk’s presentation was given by a member of the consulting support team. The detailed priorities from each community are attached as Appendix III to this report. Below is a synthesized list of the priorities which identifies the common themes:

Support for Cultural Knowledge

(Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit), Values and Beliefs, First Language – Elders & Youth Parenting

Recreation and Physical Activity

Mental Health & Addictions

Mental Health & Self-Esteem

Obesity & Diabetes – Focus on Nutrition

Education & Skill development Healthy Community Relationships: Piliriqatigiinngniq WellNess PrioriTy suPPorTs ANd/or ACTiviTies ideNTiFied TArgeT PoPulATioN Elders’ support and discussion group

Reintegration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into all Youth activities and programs Increase access to translators and interpreters Reintegration of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit into community decision making

Inuit-based childrearing programs and supports Establishment of child care facility founded on Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit principles

Facilities and program to support healthy activity levels for all community members

Programs emphasizing harm reduction, community supports to promote information and awareness Local supports for drug & alcohol use and abuse Wrap around/integrated approach to community based supports

Local addictions treatment centre Opportunities for youth leadership and engagement

Self-esteem, coping skills, conflict resolution, safe-parenting

Education & support re: violence in relationships Counselling and healing

Peer support services

Stress reduction services and supports Increased use of traditional foods Prevention and education programs Supports and information concerning healthy food preparation

Ways to increase access to adequate, healthy foods Programs to support life skills and career planning Vocational training, budget and financial planning skills

Activities aimed at increasing cooperation and collaboration among all community

organizations, individuals, at all levels

Elders Youth All All

Children & Youth, All Children & Youth, All Youth, All All All All All Youth All All

Elders, Parents, Families All

All

Mothers & Children Elders, All All All Youth Youth All

TAble 3: CommuNiTy WellNess PrioriTies – grouPed by THeme

2. What is Planning and Implementation: A presentation on planning and the following discussion centered on the value of planning including being able to:

• Ensure ongoing connection to the community regarding priorities;

• Demonstrate to funders that the community can manage funding/programs;

• Provide consistency and framework to address challenges when issues in implementation arise; • Provide a way to determine whether the original goals and objectives should be modified; and • Help determine whether goals have been reached.

3. Challenges to Implementation: In small groups, community participants were asked to choose one of their priorities and discuss the challenges to its implementation, and what strategies could be used to address the challenges.

4. Recognizing and Celebrating Success: It was important that the communities received the recognition that they deserved, and this recognition came in several ways :

• Plaques on behalf of the Steering Committee, recognizing the contributions of the six pilot sites to the learning of the NCWP were presented at the final meeting;

• Cloth bags imprinted with the NCWP logo in Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun were prepared and distributed to working group members from each participating community;

• All participants at the presentation and implementation workshop were invited to the Nunavut Legislature, where an announcement about the NCWP accomplishments was read into the Hansard, and where local MLAs publicly recognized many NCWP participants by name; and • A final dinner and thank you for everyone in attendance at the workshop with entertainment

(throat singing).

The meeting ended with the communities being asked to hold working group meetings upon their return to do two things: validate the plans with the community if that had not been done; and begin a discussion about implementation.

Arviat

Coral Harbour Clyde River

RECOGNIzING SUCCESS

Acknowledging the commitment and achievement of the communities, Steering Commit­ tee partners, and consulting support team together was an important part of the presenta­ tion and implementation workshop for all involved. Projects like the NCWP cannot take place without the extraordinary commitment of many individuals at the local and govern­ ment levels. At the community level, the success of such projects is founded on individuals’ generosity of spirit, dedication and hard work; given that most working group members are volunteering their time to benefit their communities, it is important to plan to recognize community members for their vital contributions.

INTER COMMUNITy lEARNING

An early goal of the NCWP was to facilitate learning between the communities on an ongoing basis. Because the communities were at different stages in the development of their com­ munity wellness plans, it was difficult to facilitate meetings between the community chairs and the community coordinators. Despite these difficulties, telephone conference calls between some of the communities did occur. At the October 2011 presentation and imple mentation workshop the participants said that a highlight of this workshop was the opportunity to get together with everyone involved in the NCWP; this demonstrated the importance of the contact and the networking the workshop provided. Similarly the website tool was developed to help support and promote knowledge and information exchange. Although the website tool was not used to its fullest potential, it has shown its usefulness as a learning tool, and as a central location for storing the tools and information developed as a part of the project.