Photo: TNRD

(From left) High Bar Chief Jamie Fletcher and TNRD board chair Barbara Roden sign an MOU Friday at TNRD headquarters.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District has signed a new memorandum of understanding with an area First Nation — and more agreements are expected to come.

On Friday at TNRD headquarters in downtown Kamloops, representatives from the regional district and High Bar First Nation took part in a signing ceremony for the MOU.

TNRD Board Chair Barbara Roden and High Bar First Nation Kukpi7 (Chief) Jamie Fletcher signed the document, recognizing a commitment to collaboration between the two governments.

Chief Fletcher told Castanet Kamloops the band signed the agreement because they are progressive and want to have “an open door” to relationship building.

“We want to work with all governments on all levels and work together on common grounds and move forward,” Fletcher said.

He added the MOU establishes a commitment to regular meetings between the TNRD and High Bar First Nation at least once per year, and their respective staffs are to work together regularly on shared interests.

“Before, it was kind of hit and miss of email, let's get together, let's have a meeting, let's talk about this — now it's a guidelines and a commitment to do so,” Fletcher said.

The band hopes to be more involved land management in their territories, as well as working together with the TNRD on emergency management.

High Bar intergovernmental co-ordinator Tom Howard told Castanet the band is looking forward to conducting some joint emergency management exercises with the TNRD and Village of Clinton later this year. The band also wants to work collaboratively on environmental protection, long-term planning, archeology and cultural heritage protection as well with the regional district.

Chair Roden told Castanet Friday’s memorandum was their third with a First Nation in less than a year, having signed similar agreements with Simpcw in July and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc last November.

She said the regional district is in talks with other First Nations about signing MOU’s as well. She said the documents, which strengthen their relationships.

“It’s not that we're crossing names off a list, each one we do is really meaningful, because every First Nation that we sign an MOU with has different perspectives, different needs or different ways we can work together,” Roden said.

Roden said the MOU’s make it more likely to acquire support from other levels of government by showing the TNRD and First Nations like High Bar have common goals and needs.

“It's always better to be able to be united and to show that you're speaking with a common voice, rather than having people kind of rattling around, doing things on their own,” Roden said.

Following the signing ceremony, a community-to-community forum was held between TNRD and band leadership.

HBFN is a Secwépemc Indigenous government with traditional territories centred around the present-day Village of Clinton.

The TNRD covers more than 44,000 square kilometres which includes more than 65 unincorporated communities within 10 Electoral Areas, 11 Member Municipalities, and 25 First Nations.