As each member of the communications team's role is defined, there also comes with it a commitment to follow through the entire process. This is not unlike a football team where you have the coaching staff, the blockers and the ball carriers. In many cases, different roles become confused and it may be necessary from time to time to redefine each team member's role. Remember, there is only one ball (the message) that can be carried at one time and one goal line (your communication objective) to aim for.

(a) The Researcher
Research, to many, is a very boring and tedious process, but nevertheless, it is an important function. With the right individual, it can be exciting and rewarding. In this position, one should have a genuine interest in the community, its workings, its people, its governance and its history. Community history may be difficult to obtain. In some communities, after certain periods of time, such as the residential school era, history just somehow seemed to disappear into thin air. Research, in this case, may have to begin with the basics. The first contact should probably be with the Elders, discussing with them their memories of the past. As this is being done, the researcher should be making notes on events, dates and people involved. Although it may be tempting in the process to write a book (hold the thought!) the researcher should be looking for history (facts) that in one way or another is relevant to the promotion of your ATR. The appendices contained in this publication may be of some help. Use them only as a reference and put any written information across from your own band's perspective.

Other sources which might help verify information which has been accumulated are INAC and the federal and provincial archives. National Archives in Ottawa may surprise you with the amount of information available on your region, and

they are very cooperative. Other sources include retired priests, nuns, school teachers, doctors, nurses, police, MPs and MLAs-any of these people who were involved several generations back in one way or another which affected your community. This research will be invaluable when it comes to writing backgrounders for the media or information sheets for the general public, or as information for the writer who will put together the speaking notes for your spokesperson.

The researcher can have a dual role, serving not only communication needs but also other aspects of the ATR process. For example, the band may require research in its application procedure with INAC to initiate the ATR process.

(b) The Writer
In every community there is a scribe, someone who loves to write. This person is not hard to find and you may have many capable people to choose from. Although it may seem like a glamorous task, particularly if a person is writing for the sheer joy of it, it can be another thing when you have a fixed message and all that you write must be directed to or closely related to that point. Your writer must write "to time and to place." For instance, an Op-Ed piece, which is the professional term for opinioneditorial page, could run as much as a thousand words, or it could be as short as a hundred, depending on the availability of space. It is unfortunate that you have to think of your goals and objectives being poured into several different moulds, but to coin an old expression, "That's showbiz." In fact, you are setting the stage for the representatives of your band to showcase their message. A speech should never be more than 15 minutes long, and people will thank you if it is kept to a brief 10-to-12-minute address. Quantity is not what you are looking for; it's the quality of the message that will have most success. A speech has its own construction formula. If you are lucky, your writer is a natural and can condense history

and present-day information with the actual message, throw in a touch of humour, and end up with an interesting, brief package. For those not quite so gifted, the basic formula includes three parts: talk about what you are going to tell them, tell them what you came to tell them, and lastly, tell them what you told them. Keep in mind that the average audience will rememberonly three points from the presentation. It is

important that your message be one of them. Neither your writer nor the speech will be up for a writing award! Follow the W-5 approach (who, what, when, where, why) and write and deliver the speech so that the basics of what you are doing (the ATR) can be easily understood.