Communication is key when it comes to community planning, says Jessie Hemphill.

Hemphill co-ordinated the Comprehensive Community Planning Process for her Nakwasda'xw First Nation outside Port Hardy, B.C. beginning in 2008.

Encouraging participation from members of the community is an essential building block, she explained in an interview Thursday following her presentation to a local conference on First Nation governance.

Hemphill said for the very first planning meeting, 200 people or half of the community turned out.

Today, the Nakwasda'xw First Nation has a website, a Facebook page and is on Twitter, said the University of Victoria graduate of linguistic and indigenous studies.

Including everybody, insisted Hemphill, is the cornerstone of success in community planning.

Just recently, a Nakwasda'xw member living off the reserve contacted Hemphill to congratulate the First Nation for providing a social media link to community affairs.

"I think that is really cool, to get connected back with the community, and have their own input in there,” she said.

Hemphill said their youth these days know what the word infrastructure means,and they understand the concept of governance.

"The way to engage the community, is to engage the community.”

Their comprehensive planning process, she pointed out, also involved hiring two graduate students from the University of British Columbia for six months to teach two community members to become research assistants.

Whether it's relating concerns from elders about a lack of interest in cultural traditions, or expressing the needs of the youth, communication is essential, Hemphill reiterated.

Hemphill delivered her message to 120 participants attending this week's two-day conference to provide Yukon First Nations with an opportunity to share what they've experienced in shaping their governments.

Participants heard from several other keynote speakers, including Prof. Stephen Cornell of the University of Arizona, who spoke on the future challenges First Nations will face related to governance.

Gerry Ewert, senior advisor to the Yukon First Nation Statistics Agency, spoke about the importance of maintaining accurate and sound statistical data.

Representatives from various First Nations and the Yukon and federal governments spoke on a variety of issues ranging from governing capacity, developing policy and building intergovernmental relationships.

The theme of this year's conference was Sharing our Knowledge.

Pauline Frost, director the Yukon's Self-Government Secretariat, told a news conference afterward the two days provided a valuable vehicle to exchange information.

It was an opportunity, she said, to discuss what's working and what's not.

Frost said the conference provided a chance to explore how a First Nation might go about assuming self-governing authority over education, how it would ensure the needs of its youth were met, both now and when they move onto post-secondary education.

"How are you going to design a policy to make sure you have the proper resources you are going to need?” Frost aske.

The conference was coordinated by the Self-Government Secretariat, and the Yukon and federal government, the latter two picking up the $100,000 tab.