Welcome To
Kelly Lake
First Nation
“Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinctive spiritual and material relationship with the lands, territories, waters, coastal sea, and other resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used; and to uphold their responsibilities for future generations in this regard….”
The U.N. Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Geneva, SWT.
Learn More
Our Values
Our Consultation Process
Vision Statement
As further outlined in our Current Initiatives Kelly Lake First Nation will become a growing, industrious community, providing its members with quality housing, facilities, and services. Its members of all ages are happy, educated and engage with others in healthy way, and are secure in their culture, traditions, and identity.
Kelly Lake First Nation is united in its approach to socio-economic advancement while protecting its rights, lands, and natural resources, for the betterment of its people.
Our Mission
We will achieve our Vision by:
- Our inherent right and sacred laws that provide the direction to preserve our cultural, traditional and spiritual beliefs as handed down to us by Creator.
- Through transparency, we provide responsible and accountable political
leadership. - Working collectively as a team to promote and maintain our way of life as indigenous people.
- Responding to economic and business opportunities that improve the quality of life for our members
Our Consultation Process
Kelly Lake First Nation (KLFN) wishes to develop a working relationship with Industry to ensure meaningful consultation and open dialogue occurs on projects that are undertaken within our traditional territory. Additionally, we would like to ensure that our Nation and/or its members are given equal opportunity to participate in the work opportunities that each project offers, thereby improving the socio-economic well being of our people.
KLFN exerts its rights as a Nation through Canada’s recognition of Aboriginal and treaty rights in Canada by section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982, the inherent right of the Aboriginal peoples to govern themselves has become a generally accepted aspect of Canadian constitutional law; and more recently with Canada’s recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on November 12, 2010. We understand that the Crown has a duty to consult when the following conditions are present:
- The Crown contemplates conduct,
- The Crown has actual or constructive knowledge of established or potential Aboriginal or treaty rights, as defined under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (section 35 Aboriginal and treaty rights), and
- That conduct may have adverse impacts on these section 35 Aboriginal and treaty rights.
KLFN traditional lands and their members are a community of persons whose constitutional-protected harvesting and other rights are exercised throughout the traditional territory of KLFN and those who will be directly affected by various activities.
Our Values
The community will achieve its goals through the sacred inherent rights and laws given
to us by our Creator.
- Traditional Values
- Respect and Trust
- Inclusivity
- Good communication
- Openness
- Caring
- Sharing
Our Elders (Kihteyi-yak)
Our Elders (Kihteyi-yak) link us to our Cree traditions. We respect their knowledge of our past and rely on their teachings, wisdom and guidance to build our future. Traditional life-style teachings such as hide making, harvesting and medicines and ceremonies are an important connection to our ancestors, while story telling teaches us about our history, what our life was like.
Our Youth (Oskayak)
Our Youth (Oskayak) are our future. We must nurture and support them throughout all stages of their development, and act as positive role models and mentors in guiding them to understand their identity while living in a contemporary world.
Current Initiatives
Our Community
The community of Kelly Lake has a rich, vibrant, and dynamic history. There are various interpretations of the oral and written history of the land and our people – the most common being that Kelly Lake First Nation descended from the Iroquois trappers and voyageurs who came to the territory with the North West Company in the 18th century. The ancestors settled in the area around what is now Jasper National Park and moved north to the Kelly Lake area when the National Park was formed.
Kelly Lake has an incredible location; both with respect to natural beauty and to economic opportunity. The community itself is situated around Kelly Lake, located on the BC/Alberta border. Our community centre is the heartbeat that brings our people together; where our events, dinners and training happen.
Today Kelly Lake First Nation has about 400 members, including those that live within the surrounding area, including Dawson Creek and Grande Prairie. Members have traditionally spoken Cree, and those living in the Kelly Lake area still maintain a traditional lifestyle and depend on hunting, trapping, and gathering, and fishing. Members also have a strong tie to the land and traditional cultural practices and maintain a strong sense of community; working together to build housing and sharing amongst families and Elders when they are successful with hunting.
Our Consultation Process
Our Leadership
Norman Cailliou
Chief
Tania Callliou-Horseman
Council Member
Dezmar Campbell
Council Member
Garry Belcourt
Council Member
Clint Letendre
Council Member
Michelle Callliou
Council Member
Current Initiatives
The leadership, with input from the community, have identified the following initiatives as the cornerstones to socio-economic growth.
To learn more about Kelly lake First Nations business initiatives and partnership please contact Joel Melanson.
Kelly Lake Capacity Building
Housing & Community Livability
Cultural revitalization
Health
Capital / Infrastructure
Education
Sustainable Economic Development
Environmental Protection
Employment
Justice
Economic / Business Development Strategy & Partnership
KLFN’s main goal is to be a self-sufficient nation. As such, securing work opportunities related to projects planned or underway in our traditional territory is key to attaining this objective. Included within consultation is a parallel, multi-stakeholder process, designed to create a working relationship in the early stages of engagement to ensure the Nation is considered at every opportunity throughput the project life cycle.
Through the stewardship of strategically chosen partners, KLFN will own and operate its own businesses for the betterment of its community. The end result of these strategic partnerships will be to establish and support KLFN’s community owner-operator business model. We have partnered with several credible, experienced Indigenous companies that are fully capable of delivering on many of the work equipment and manpower requirements that multi-faceted projects entail.
To learn more about KLFN business initiatives and its multi-stakeholder process and partnerships contact us uai