SEPA Implementation and Administration
HOW WILL WE IMPLEMENT AND ADMINISTER THE SEPA?
The Socio-economic Participation Agreement (SEPA) is potentially very beneficial to Kaska and Selwyn Chihong. There is a lot at stake and everyone who’s been involved in its negotiation is 100 per cent focused on making sure the agreement works. For the Kaska and Selwyn Chihong to be successful together, it will take commitment, co-operation, coordination, hard work and resources.
Kaska and Selwyn Chihong will set up five key committees to help us work together regularly and share information about the planning and operations of the Project. It is expected that these committees will work cooperatively and will make decisions through consensus. These are not decision-making committees, with the exception of the Senior Project Oversight Committee, but they will be key to healthy communication between Kaska and Selwyn Chihong.
THE COMMITTEES
- Senior Project Oversight Committee
- Chiefs of Ross River Dena Council and Liard First Nation (or someone they appoint) and three Selwyn Chihong senior managers.
- Overall responsibility for the implementation of the SEPA.
- Review all Project Plans and deal with issues as they arise.
- Oversee the other three permanent committees.
- Negotiators Implementation Taskforce
- Made up of the negotiators who crafted the agreement.
- They know the agreement inside and out.
- They will be there to assist all the committees in their work.
- Made up of the negotiators who crafted the agreement.
- Environment Committee
- Review and participate in all environmental matters impacting the Project.
- Ensure Traditional Knowledge is incorporated into environmental management.
- Maintain contact and input from Kaska communities on environmental matters.
- Business Opportunities Committee
- Promote the involvement of Kaska businesses in the Project.
- Provide input into how Selwyn Chihong is contracting goods and services.
- Track business opportunities coming up on the Project.
- Education, Training & Employment Committee
- Develop training plans and funding proposals for Kaska interested in employment on the Project.
- Jointly pursue funding for training programs from Canada and Yukon.
- Design strategies to help have Kaska citizens hired, kept in their jobs and promoted to better jobs.
- A person will be selected by the Senior Project Oversight Committee to organize the meetings of all the committees and document all meeting decisions, tasks, and commitments. This person will be completely independent and impartial; not a Kaska member and not a Selwyn Chihong employee. This is referred to as the SEPA Secretariat.
- Selwyn Chihong will provide all the funding needed to support the work of the committees. The committees will decide how to spend their budgets and may use the funds to hire specialists or experts if they need to.
