Our Agency is both new and old. Established on August 4th, 2005, the Agency is a creation of the Tåîchô Agreement. However our Agency also has its roots in organizations that have been delivering programs and services in the Tåîchô communities for almost forty years. These organizations include the Dogrib Community Services Board (1997-2005), the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education (1989-1997) and the Rae-Edzo School Society (1967-1989). Our Agency is both new and old. Established on August 4th, 2005, the Agency is a creation of the Tåîchô Agreement. However our Agency also has its roots in organizations that have been delivering programs and services in the Tåîchô communities for almost forty years. These organizations include the Dogrib Community Services Board (1997-2005), the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education (1989-1997) and the Rae-Edzo School Society (1967-1989).  

Section 7.10 of the Tåîchô Agreement calls for a Tåîchô Intergovernmental Services Agreement between the Government of Canada, the Government of the NWT and the Tåîchô Government to create an Agency to deliver “health, education, family (and) other social programs”. This ISA agreement ensured that the new Agency would continue to perform the functions of the former organizations from which it emerged, including the Dogrib Community Services Board, the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education and the Rae-Edzo School Society. 

Figure: The development of the Agency

The Tåîchô Community Services Agency is built upon, and emerges from the Dogrib Community Services Board which was established in 1997 through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the NWT. The Dogrib Community Services Board was unique in the NWT. It represented a new model for delivering programs and services at both the community and the regional level by uniting tribal and public governance authorities. It also sought to integrate the delivery of education with health and child and family programs and services in the four Tåîchô communities. 

Dogrib Divisional Board of Education 1989 - 1997	Dogrib Community Services Board 1997 - 2005

However the Dogrib Community Services Board was itself built upon and emerged from the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education which was established in 1989. This first “regional” Tåîchô board of education was initiated and led by members of the Rae-Edzo School Society working with representatives from the other Tåîchô communities. The Rae-Edzo School Society was originally established as a “school board” for the community of Rae-Edzo. The schools in the other Tåîchô communities were operated by the federal government until 1967 and then directly by the new Government of the NWT. The Society’s history went back to Chief Jimmy Bruneau and his work to establish bicultural and bilingual school programs in the Tåîchô communities. It was expected that each successive Board would build upon the “best of what had come before” using the previous experiences to shape the development of the “new” organization. Thus, over the past forty years, each of these organizations has contributed in very important ways to the current unique shape of the Agency.