Nisga'a first woman president of CANDO

CANDO Supplement

Page S9

It wasn't exactly a crisis, but the executive of the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers, also known as CANDO, shifted in the middle of last year. That's when Myron Sparklingeyes, the president, had to resign his position because of his new employer, the Department of Indian Affairs. The department was trying to avert any possible conflict of interest. Angie Stewart, who was the first vice-president, had to step in. But in this one simple change of position, history was quietly made because Stewart became the first woman president of CANDO.

Stewart is the current community economic development program manager of Tricorp, which is a tribal resourses investment corporation in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. She's a proud member of the Nisga'a Nation of the Kincolith community in the Wolf Tribe. She has a background in education, but ended up working in economic development in Prince Rupert and just never looked back. She is currently completing a Nisga'a language and culture program through the University of Northern British Columbia.

As acting-president, she had to oversee programming for CANDO's annual conference in Montreal this September. During the conference she had to decide if she wanted to seek the presidency or step aside. This was a decision made difficult. The hectic schedule of the conference, combined with the competing desires to step down to spend more time with her daughter, battled against her love for the CANDO organization.

In the end, she decided to run and was elected president for another term.

"The reason I continued to stand as the president for this year was because I really wanted to see the certified economic developer designation running smoothly in a defined process that will allow for very little or no wrinkles," she said. "Being on the board at the beginning of the process has been exciting and to see it come to fruition on my term as president would be very exciting for me."

She has great respect for the previous presidents she's worked for, Sparklingeyes and Darrell Balkwill, but she feels that she can bring an important perspective to the presidency that wasn't there before because she is a woman and a single parent.

"I have a really strong cultural presence as president. I'm very proud to be a Nisga'a woman," she said. "Being a single parent who grew up off-reserve, and yet has maintained a very strong cultural tie to my heritage, I feel that I bring to the presidency a constant mindfulness of our First Nations spiritual values [and] our sense of a unique culture.

"For our membership and potential membership, the economic development practitioners need to believe in CANDO, and need to ratify, by their support, the direction that CANDO is going. In order for that to happen, we need really strong leadership. I believe that's what I bring in my presidency."

Her involvement in the organization began three years ago. She was first elected to the council's board of directors in 1995 and then gradually rose up the ranks.

"The president's position is not hands-on in the administration of CANDO, but rather oversees the administration or the operation of CANDO at an arms length," she said.

Even so, she wants the conferences to benefit community economic development officers in a direct way.

"At our [CANDO] strategic planning session board meeting, we developed a list of topics and how we wanted them delivered," she said. "The main thing that I heard coming back from the conferences was, 'it's was all fine and good to meet people and powerful contacts, but if I don't come back with skills or useful information that will help me do the best job I can in my community, it's just another conference.' As far as my contribution to the conference, I feel that the topics ought to fall in that line - that the economic development officers attending the conference have to come back with meaningful information."