The Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation has just announced that the initial phase of the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Action Plan (ORAAP) will include community pilots in Vancouver, Surrey, Prince George, Kamloops, and Duncan. The October 3, 2011 Speech from the Throne acknowledged the importance of the off-reserve Aboriginal population and committed to working with Aboriginal partners, the federal government and local governments to develop a plan.  Read More 

Eleven local governments are the first to sign on to meeting their carbon neutral commitment together through the joint procurement of Kootenay-based offsets. The first to commit are the Regional Districts of Central Kootenay (RDCK), Kootenay-Boundary (RDKB), and East Kootenay (RDEK), and the municipalities of Fruitvale, Kaslo, Trail, Midway, Slocan, Rossland, Greenwood and Invermere. More local governments are expected to sign on to this initiative in the coming weeks.  Download news release 

Local government leadership is all about building broad, deep, meaningful and respectful relationships.  These relationships produce real results in the community and involve traditional and new conversations and communications. The theme of the Local Government Leadership Academy's 2013 Forum is "Leading through Relationships." It builds on the LGLA's very successful 2012 Elected Officials Seminars with a three-day Forum in Richmond from February 20 to 22 2013.  Read More 

 Wishing you all the best for 2013!  President Sjostrom & Executive