Lheidli T’enneh Band Chief, Dominik Frederick shakes hands with Regional District Representative Art Kaehn and City of Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley following a gift exchange.

It won’t be long before the Lheidli T’enneh Treaty is initialled. In preparation of that event, the three levels of government who will be living the Treaty,  joined today for a Community to Community session.

"Its all about building relationships" says session organizer Kerry Pateman. Over the course of the day representatives of the Lheidli T’enneh, City of Prince George, and the Regional District  reviewed the work they have done so far, and the work they will have to do in the future.

The work done by the three  groups  has been  recognized at the national level as being innovative and leading edge.

The planning now is for "Life after Treaty".  To  Lheidli-T’enneh Band Chief  Dominik Frederick it means "getting together  and working with the other two partners, the Regional District and the City of Prince George in building a relationship together."

To Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley "I think that first of all it affords us with a great opportunity to grow as a community and as a  whole community.  It  is a tremendous opportunity to have  finality on the land base, we’re going to have certainty on the land base  and we already have these memorandums of understanding and cooperation so we can work one government with the other so we can  better the entire communit. It is a giant step forward."

For Director Art Kaehn of the Regional District of Fraser Fort George:  "To me its like bringing the family back together.  Many years ago we were seperated  and we’re going to be one community again."

The Regional District  had one of its employees, Gord Simmons, design a drawing to commemorate bringing the three levels of local government together.  Simmons  made a pencil sketch of the Lheidli T’enneh entrance to the sacred  grounds at Fort George Park with the Museum in the background. The Park is the City, the entrance is the Lheidli T’enneh, while the Regional District is represented by the Museum.

Session organizer Kerry Pateman had some final words for all who attended the events of the day "I hope that everyone leaves here with a bit of a better understanding of their responsibily in the future, because t is going to take everyone’s committment to ensure life after Treaty is what it was envisioned to be.,"

The Lheidli T’enneh  Treaty is expected to be initialled by representatives for the Lheidli T’enneh, the Provincial and Federal Government  before the end of the month. That will set the stage for the Lheidli-T’enneh ratification which  is expected to be complete in January.