PO Box 3009. Buick Creek BC VOC 2RO BWEBERRY RIVES Fest ANONS 1) 2) 3) 4) February 11, 2022 Dear Blueberry elders, members, partners, colleagues and friends: After eight years as Chief, today marks the close of a successful term of service to Blueberry River First Nations. ‘As a nation, Blueberry has come a long way over the past eight years. We have seen mary successes and forged through many challenges on the quest to improve the lives of our membership and protect the land and our rights under Treaty 8 for current and future generations. | am proud of what the Blueberry administration, under my leadership, was able to accomplish despite our governance challenges and the relentless attacks and smear campaigns against me. While | have remained publicly silent over the past two years, it is important to set the record straight: the challenges brought forward against me and my administration were unfounded and ultimately dismissed by the courts, Despite these challenges, there are several major successes | want to share: We worked tirelessly over the last few years to bring Blueberry back into a positive financial situation, having inherited a large financial deficit from the previous Chief and Council. In March 2017, Blueberry recorded a $11 milion net debt, which was a significant and unsustainable organizational deficit caused by the mismanagement of funds and overspending, Our priovity since 2017 had been to bring Blueberry back into a positive financial situation, which we are happy to report has been accorrplished. We leave the new Chief and Council with over $22 million in the bank, Over the past 30 years, several Chiefs and Councils have tried and failed to upgrade Blueberry's deteriorating water system, We are proud to report that we have finally accomplished this goal. Blueberry members no longer have to worry about access to safe and reliable drinking water. Furthermore, we are also working on a new sewer and reservoir system that will be operational in the future. We successfully transitioned to a custom election by-law, which was voted in by the majority of Blueberry membership. A ministerial order was granted to move Blueberry from the INAC election system to its own custom election system, which the nation operates under today. We facilitated and supported training and employment opportunities for community members and member-owned businesses through our band-acministered joint venture partnerships. All those members who were willing and able to work got jobs and continue to work todayPO Box 3009 Buick Creek BC VOC 2R0 BAVEBERRY RIVES 5) We initiated and fully endorsed a first-of-ts-kind accredited Field Operator Competency Training Program for 14 band members. The program saw: ‘* 12 out of the 14 complete classroom technical training, ‘+ 12 members receive college certificates, and ‘+ all 12 go on to start a meaningful career after the technica training was complete. ©) With donations from our industry partners, we executed several capital projects to improve IR #205 (Blueberry's community), including: ‘= Ongoing renovations and installing five new modular homes for elders for each Blueberry family * Developing a new subdivision pian for more housing across the river, ‘+ Retofiting an abandoned hockey arena into a public works building that is now equipped to better service the community; * Acquiring a garbage and recycling truck. and implementing an annual white-goods removal program and residential garbage/tecycling program for the community, + Rebuilding our on-reserve community store; ‘+ Installing a new and larger cardlock fuel tank, which was purchased in 2011 but never installed. This newly installed on-reserve fueling station ensures thet fuel and diesel are now available to members 24 hours @ day; + Completing a community walkway project for the increased safety and accessibility of elders, youth, and persons with disabilities, as part of a larger community paving initiative. We also paved the areas around the administration building and Blueberry school and installed a new half-basketball court ‘+ Installing wood burning stoves in homes with electric baseboard heaters to ensure an alternative heating source in case of power outages; Instaling internet in all homes Installing a temporary cell tower, Installing a community garden. 7) We successfully concluded a negotiated settlement wth the Government of Canada to resolve 8) 9) Blueberry's agricultural benefits claim, which included financial compensation for past damages relating to broken treaty promises for agricultural benefits under Treaty 8 We concluded settlement terms for our Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) ciaim, including the land parcel selection, with the Province of British Columbia and Canada This TLE settlement is one of the biggest in Canadian history. Our TLE claim will now be going to the community for ratification. We did our very best to bring the Blueberry community together by supporting community events such as Cultural Days, the Blueberry Rodeo and Christmas parties. 10) And fnally, the most sionificant accomplishment: we won a precedent-setting cumulative effects case, Yahey v. British Columbia, on June 30, 2021. Ater five long, hard, years in court proceedings, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released its decision to protect the way of fe guaranteed under ‘Treaty 8 against the cumulative effects of aggressive industrial development promoted by successive provincial governments.Blucbery River Piret Nations Bask Cre BC VOC 20 Tek: (250) 630-2800 WEBER RY RIVES est Nan Even when others told us we would fail, my team and I never wavered or gave up hope. | stood by my ‘commitment and the direction from our elders to provide a better future for our membership, and a more sustainable approach to resource development that ensures everyone in the northeast works together to continue to provide good paying jobs and return balance to our ecosystems. And, we were able to get the Province to repay all of our costs for the court case, so it never cost us a dime. ‘Our negotations with the Province of BC are moving forward well and are ongoing. | am glad to know the new Chief and Council will continue on in the strong direction our leadership and Nation has been going in implementing the Cours decision as they carry the negotiations forward, I want to thank my staff, our legal team and consultants for working tirelessly to better the lives of the Blueberry membership. Our accomplishments would not have been possible without each and every one of. you. | also want to thank our joint venture partners for your ongoing commitment to Blueberry and for Collaborating with my administration to ensure that Blueberry, as a collective, can start on the path to ‘mesningfully participate in our local economy. ‘As we transition to a new Chief and Council that will take office on February 14, 2022, | want to congratulate Blueberry’s Chief-elect, Judy Desjariais, and our re-elected family Councillors. | wish you the best of success during your upcoming term in office and hope that you will continue to build on the successes accomplished by my administration, oe (Until we meet again), KE farey ae