CEPI Steering Committee Meeting
Draft Minutes
February 26, 2009
Membertou Trade and Convention Centre
Sydney, NS
10:00 am -- 4:00 pm
Present:
Cheryl Bartlett (CBU)
Norman Basque (Chapel Island)
Charles Doucette (Chapel Island)
Angela Morris (UINR)
Shelley Denny (UINR)
Yves Bosse (Parks Canada)
Cheryl Berube (UINR)
Shauna Gould (EFWC)
Phil Drinnan (Waycobah)
Dan Christmas (Membertou FN)
Shelley Porter (CEPI Co-ordinator)
Lawrence F. Wells Sr (Membertou Addictions & Elder)
Rick McCready (CBRM)
Bruce G. Hatcher (CBU)
Jason Naug (DFO)
David Harris (NSDNR)
Sharon Munroe (NSDOE)
Mike Routledge (NSDOE)
Robert Livingstone (SRDWA)
J. Gerard MacMaster (GP)
Kimberly Paul (UNSI)
Gary Koziel (NSDOA)
Justin Huston (NSFA)
Albert Marshall (UINR)
Regrets: Charlie Dennis (UINR), Pat Bates (BSS),
Chair: Dan Christmas
Minutes: Cheryl Berube
1. Meeting Called to Order:

Dan Christmas called the meeting to order
2. Opening Prayer:

Lawrence Wells gave the opening prayer.
3. Additions/Deletions to the Agenda

No additions or deletions to the agenda were made
4. Review & Approval of the Minutes

Minutes from the previous meeting were reviewed and corrected with 4 corrections to be made to the
minutes.
5. Review of Meeting Action Items
1)
2)
3)
4)
PMR was presented to the chiefs at the last Board meeting.
Senior Council has not yet met to review the PMR.
Bruce Hatcher contacted Dave Harris to join IMAGINE Canada Project committee.
The action item concerning drawing youth in to the Imagine/GEOCONNECTION group has not yet
been done. It was suggested that a task team be formed to start a youth group as an extension of
Unama’kids. It was suggested that the youth group could come from junior high students and could meet
on a monthly basis.
ACTION: Create a task team for developing a youth group to work with Imagine/CONNECTION.
5)
The action items for the financial report were for Annie to remind Justin and INAC about funds that
were to come to CEPI. These funds have come in and are for ‘08-‘09 and ‘09-’10. Shelley Porter went on
to discuss the budget. This will be presented under its own heading later in the minutes.
6)
Terms of Reference for CEPI issue was discussed as a subcommittee to see what it is they state and
whether they should be revised.
7)
The information packages explaining CEPI are currently in development.
ACTION: Shelley Porter will be getting information which would include proceedings from previous
workshops.
8)
There was an action item concerning Fred Baechler’s presentation for committee members to give
information to Fred concerning changes in water level.
ACTION: There is a need to re-establish monitoring of water levels in the Bras d’Or Lakes. BIO will
be distributing monitoring equipment to volunteers.
Fred had sent the PowerPoint file to Shelley Porter. There was a problem with the size of the presentation for
distribution to others through email. It was suggested that it could be made available on the CEPI website.
9)
A science research priority setting meeting was scheduled for February by UINR and DFO.
10)
Shelley Denny will be presenting the GIS mapping application at this meeting.
11)
UNESCO issue was discussed as an action item from the previous meeting. The proposal was
prepared and it was to be submitted by February 27. The latest version was posted on February 25 on the
website. The issue of whether to support the UNESCO designation of the Bras d’Or Lakes needed to be
finalized. It was moved by Teresa MacNeil to write a letter to the Biosphere Reserve Association as
drafted by Shelley Porter to support the designation of the Bras d’Or as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
This motion was seconded by Bruce Hatcher, was voted on and passed by all in attendance.
ACTION: Shelley Porter to draft a letter to the Biosphere Reserve Association in support of the
declaration of the Bras d’Or Lakes as a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
12)
Annie asked Dan to join the group re-examining the CEPI terms of reference and the group was
formed.
6. Financial Update and report of the Funding and Finance Task Team – Shelley Porter
 Shelley Porter presented the financial numbers to date at the meeting. The financials were not distributed
at the meeting.
 Recommendations for a future budget included increasing the focus on communication and advertising
for CEPI.
 It was proposed that there would be 4 elders meetings per year, and 2 open house meetings. These could
be combined, such as having the elder’s meeting in the morning and an afternoon open house session.
 The budget as discussed would include an increase from 180 to 284 k with approximately 70 k being held
over.
ACTION: Shelley Porter to send copies of the budget and budget justification to the members of the
steering committee.
ACTION: Circulate the budget and get the steering committee to get back about the budget within 2
weeks.
 There was some discussion on whether to have a meeting with the funding agencies with the budget and
discuss the number before presenting them to the senior council.
ACTION: Shelley Porter to schedule a meeting on the budget and invite the funding agencies to review
the budget prior to bringing the budget to the senior council.
ACTION: Schedule a senior council meeting for May.
7. GIS Website Mapping for areas at risk – Shelley Denny
 Shelley Denny presented information concerning the GIS mapping feature that was discussed previously.
The website has potential for adding lots of different kinds of information including eel parasites and
species distribution. The website is online under Membertou Geomatics Website.
8. Report on Visit to the Center for Indigenous Environmental Resources – Kimberly Paul
 Kim presented the First Nation Watershed Management Tool Project. The presentation was distributed to
members of the steering committee.
 Phil asked if this tool could be used for mapping and planning in Waycobah.
ACTION: Kim to schedule a meeting with Phil Drinnan concerning Waycobah ecological planning.
9. Communications Task Team Progress report – Shelley Porter
 Shelley presented the fact that it would cost $5,600.00 to fix the current problems with the website. The
team also is assembling the promotional materials for new members. The ability to have open house type
meetings would depend on the new budget. It is projected that the first of the Open Houses may take
place at the end of June 09.
ACTION: Terms of reference issues that were brought up in previous meetings will be looked at with
the new Terms of Reference task team.
 Jason Naug mentioned that DFO needs to reorganize their priorities and maybe hold a workshop for
research priorities for the coming years.
10. Co-learning Presentation – Albert Marshall, Cheryl Bartlett
 Cheryl Bartlett presented “Talking and Walking Together: Of Indigenous and Mainstream Science”.
Copies were distributed at the meeting.
 There were 7 lessons of how we walk and talk together. And there was discussion on how TEK
complements Western Science.
11. Roundtable Discussion – All
 Shelley: The State of the Environment Water Quality report: there has been some data collected in the
past, but just bits & pieces. There is a need to recreate a CEPI monitoring task team. There is a report, but
no resources, and more actions are needed. We need more inshore monitoring.
ACTION: Shelley to send around the report the CEPI monitoring task team did.
Action: Shelley Porter to send email to Fred concerning monitoring.
ACTION: Organize a meeting soon to address research priorities
 There was a suggestion to create a CAMP program which would look at species in different habitats.
 Bruce: Imagine Canada is having a training workshop for their pilot projects (of which the Bras d’Or
Lakes CEPI is one) on the 17th & 18th of March. It was suggested that there be a participant from UINR.
 Shelley Porter: George’s River Boat Club is interested in a proposal to upgrade their facilities. It was
suggested that we suggest creating a funding proposal to install the boat pump-out station. It was
suggested that this issue be discussed with Jim Foulds, also Rick MacReady and to work with Pitu-paq.
ACTION: Pull together a senior council meeting for May.
 Sharon Munroe. Paula Marshall Report needs to be vetted through the Elders. Recommendations arising
from the report should be brought forward to the senior council . Some of the elder’s recommendations
are budget items.
 Albert Marshall: Recommended that we look to other avenues for funding. Some cost cutting will be
needed due to the limited resources of the federal government. It is possible that the biosphere reserve
status may have funding implications
ACTION: Cheryl Bartlett to get back to CEPI about the next topic for co-learning.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 26th, in Waycobah.
12. Albert Marshall said the closing prayer.