On April 19, Jo Nelson, Duncan Holmes and Renaud Houzeau were part of the team of 9 facilitators led by Harold Tarbell and Jo who facilitated the Prime Minister's Roundtable with Canada's Aboriginal Leaders. They were part of a team that included Aboriginal facilitators Patricia Baxter, Carolann Brewer, Leena Evic, Luc laine and Mark Stevenson. The 150 participants included a wide spectrum of Aboriginal Leaders, The Prime Minister, key Cabinet Ministers, and Aboriginal parliamentarians.

Facilitated sessions in the morning were grouped by political similarities: Inuit, Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council and others. The morning discussion was about transforming relationships between the Federal Government and Aboriginal communities and organizations. The afternoon sessions were on topical issues: Health, Education, etc. The focus question for these groups was about recommendations for future directions.

The Prime Minister indicated that his primary purpose for the event was to listen to the concerns facing Aboriginal people, to open up the channels of dialogue in new ways and to develop positive measures to address the concerns. He also announced an Inuit Secretariat, and indicated willingness to pursue dialogue over the tangled knot of issues related to the "Indian Act". The Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs announced that the Metis would be recognized as a Nation, and promised to explore how to significantly acknowledge Louis Real.

AFN Grand Chief Phil Fontaine said

"This was a good day. It was not just a photo-op."

In further comments, he indicated that he could see a change in the willingness of the government to listen, engage in dialogue and make changes.

Jo said:

"It was great to work with a team of Aboriginal and non - Aboriginal facilitators and Ministry staff to enable healthy, positive dialogue over the issues facing Aboriginal people."

In a letter, Andy Mitchell, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development said:

"The Roundtable provided an initial opportunity to discusss how the Government of Canada and Aboriginal peoples can, together, develop effective strategies to reduce socio-economic disparities and respond to the needs of all Aboriginal people both on and off reserve.

"I am pleased with the outcome of the Roundtable and I believe that the participation of all contributed to that success."

"I would like to thank the facilitation team for their part in this great event. Please be assured that Indian and Northern Affairs Canada will retain a copy of your firm's co-ordinates for future reference."

Rarely have public consultation events at this level engaged process facilitators. There is still a long way to go in understanding how to set up a highly public and protocol-laden process so real dialogue can go on, but this Roundtable was a tremendous step forward. The public and government are demanding real, substantial input and dialogue together.

Facilitators are being called upon more and more to assist public consultation initiatives as the demand for participation increases. We all need to be developing and sharing what we find is working.

Those who sponsor these initiatives are discovering that well trained professional facilitators can be a real key to success in all forms of public dialogue.