14 November 2022
Chief Alan Polchies
150 Cliffe Street
Fredericton NB E3A 0A1
Via Email: sakompolchies@smfn.ca
Dear Chief Polchies:
Re: Kuli-kiseht!
On behalf of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce board of directors and our 1,000 member businesses and organizations, we would like to extend our congratulations on your recent re-election as Chief of Sitansisk / St. Mary’s First Nation.
We have appreciated your collaborative style of leadership and community engagement since your original election as chief in 2018 and look forward to continuing to build a strong relationship between our organization and you and your community. Our personal meetings have always been productive and opportunities to learn more about potential areas of collaborative. As a key takeaway from one of our first meetings, many members of our staff and board of directors have completed the Indigenous Reconciliation Awareness Module offered by the Joint Economic Development Initiative and we continue to promote that course to our members as a good first step on their reconciliation journey.
As a chamber of commerce, we also continue to focus on economic relationships. To further enhance individual connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses, our Indigenous Partnerships Committee is in the planning stages of hosting our first forum of this nature in partnership with the Joint Economic Development Initiative, with a target of early spring 2023. JEDI hopes that the local model we are creating together can be replicated in other parts of the province in partnerships with other chambers of commerce.
Our organization and our members value the important economic and cultural connections between our communities, and we look forward to continuing to work together for the betterment of the region. Again, congratulations on your re-election and we look forward to further discussing opportunities for making connections and moving the region forward.
Sincerely,
Jill Stairs, President, President, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce