New Pathways to Collaboration case study: The City of Vernon and Okanagan Indian Band multi-year First Nation-Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI) to improve economic prosperity for both communities through joint economic development and land use planning.
As part of this initiative, both communities have participated in bi-annual workshops and monthly working group meetings. In October 2018, the communities honoured their relationship by signing a relationship accord. Later that year, a workshop on potential joint tourism initiatives helped the two communities look deeper into a collaboration on parks, trails and signage. Because the partnership will transition out of the CEDI program in early 2020, both communities have begun to consider steps to ensure the collaboration continues.
A full case study detailing this partnership is available as part of the Pathways to Collaboration project. This is a joint initiative between the First Nations Summit, Province of British Columbia and UBCM - with funding from the Indigenous Business and Investment Council, to showcase the growing number of successful economic development collaborations between First Nations and local governments. Nine case studies are currently available, with further case studies to be released in coming months.