Applied Science, Faculty of
Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of
DSpace
Taylor, Meika Stephanie
Wiebe, Justin Peter
TS’EE’IN LHEKH ‘IT TS’IDIT’AH: WORKING TOGETHER IN A GOOD WAY COLLABORATIVE INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY PLANNING WITH LAKE BABINE NATION by MEIKA STEPHANIE TAYLOR BA, University of Alberta, 2006 and JUSTIN PETER WIEBE BEd, University of Saskatchewan, 2012 A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS (PLANNING) And MASTER OF SCIENCE (PLANNING) In THE FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE School of Community and Regional Planning We accept this project as conforming to the required standard ...................................................... ..................................................... ..................................................... THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Vancouver May 2015 © Meika Stephanie Taylor & Justin Peter Wiebe, 2015 Ts’ee’in Lhekh ‘It ts’idit’ah:Working Together in a Good WayCollaborative Indigenous Community Planning with Lake Babine NationBy Meika Stephanie Taylor and Justin Peter WiebeSchool of Community and Regional PlanningUniversity of British Columbia© Meika Stephanie Taylor and Justin Peter Wiebe, 2015Ts’ee’in Lhekh ‘It ts’idit’ah: Working Together in a Good WayCollaborative Indigenous Community Planning with Lake Babine NationPrepared for:Lake Babine Nation, andThe University of British ColumbiaPrepared by:Meika S. Taylor and Justin P. WiebeThe University of British Columbia, School of Community and Regional Planning11 May 2015SCARP Supervisor: Jeff CookLake Babine Nation Supervisors: Deanna Brown Nolan and Pauline GoertzenLayout: Meika S. TaylorPhotos (unless otherwise credited): Meika S. Taylor and Justin P. WiebeThe opinions and recommendations in this report, and any errors, are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Lake Babine Nation, The University of British Columbia, or The School of Community and Regional Planning,The authors are listed in alphabetical order according to surname. This publication is available under limited copyright protection.For any inquiries, please contact the authors:Meika S. Taylor meikataylor@gmail.comJustin P. Wiebe j.wiebe22@gmail.com1 Preface4AcknowledgmentsWe would like to acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam peoples on which the University of British Columbia currently sits. We would also like to thank Musqueam for welcoming us here as uninvited guests in September 2013 and allowing us to further our education on such a beautiful coastal territory. In addition, we would like to extend our gratitude to the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, whose territory we have also resided on, in what is now known as the City of Vancouver.Our time at the School of Community and Regional Planning has pushed us to grow both personally and professionally as individuals, and also as a team. We would like to thank our supervisors, Jeff Cook and Leonie Sandercock, our other professors, peers, and especially the Indigenous Community Planning cohort (Emma Fineblit, Zoё Greig, Tasha Henderson, and, Malcolm McLean), for pushing us to think critically and reflexively about our work. The discussions we have had together outside of the classroom have created the spaces and opportunities for our greatest learnings during graduate school. For these conversations, your unwavering support, encouragement, and love we are grateful. Kinanâskomitinawâw nitôtem’tik.Our experience working with Lake Babine Nation has been tremendous. We would like to thank the members of Lake Babine Nation for welcoming us in to their beautiful territory, sharing their stories (and salmon) with us, and providing us the opportunity to practice collaborative community planning with them. Deanna Brown Nolan and Pauline Goertzen have been invaluable resources, supports, and friends to us over the past 9 months. Being able to work closely with these two strong women is one of the highlights of our educational experience. Their humor, passion for planning, and love of Lake Babine Nation is inspiring to witness. Mesiy Dorothy Patrick for assisting us with language translation that helped us title this report. We could not have accomplished our educational journey on the coast had it not been for the support of our friends, families, and mentors back home. Thank you for encouraging us to pursue our dreams and for understanding when we missed birthdays, weddings, holidays, and other important family celebrations. To all of the friends we have made at the UBC Longhouse, in the First Nations and Indigenous Studies program, and elsewhere around Vancouver during our time here, thank you for keeping us grounded. You became our coastal family over the past two years and supported us in so many different ways.Mesiy. Hiy Hiy. Thank you.5Executive SummaryThis report outlines the work accomplished during a 9 month planning practicum placement with Lake Babine Nation (LBN) in Burns Lake, British Columbia. This practicum is a requirement of the Indigenous Community Planning Masters program in the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC). We partnered with LBN, to support Phase 1 of their Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) process from September 2014 to May 2015. This is the first year LBN and SCARP have partnered to deliver an Indigenous Community Planning practicum for students. The work completed during the practicum and throughout Phase 1 of the CCP is built upon a rich history of LBN community planning history. For LBN, planning has traditionally been centered around the Bah’lats. Using this system for planning ensured that all voices in the community were heard, and that all members in the community had specific roles and responsibilities to fulfil. This ensured that each community member felt valued and respected. The CCP process is a means of planning for the future of LBN while re-centering traditional Nadut’en values.Throughout the practicum, we travelled to LBN territory a total of six times, and spent 1000+ total hours on practicum related work. This culminated in the creation of 140+ pages of planning related documents. The practicum began with the creation of our Student Partnership Agreement, which gave us the opportunity to theorize and discuss key elements of a healthy practicum partnership. We centered respect, truth, and love in our relationship goals, and developed methods for mitigating and resolving conflict. This agreement was followed by the creation of our Community Learning Relationship with LBN; a document which laid the foundation for how the CCP technical team would work together, and defined our roles and responsibilities in the CCP process. Through the conversations that led to the creation of the learning relationship, we were able to discuss our values, teachings, and perspectives with our community partners. These conversations laid the foundation for strong, reciprocal relationships throughout the practicum. The CCP technical team was able to determine a planning methodology and framework to carry the CCP process forward through Phase 1 and beyond. This methodology was developed through dialogue with our community partners and other LBN community members. Based on these discussions, we developed three graphics to represent LBN’s CCP planning methodology. These graphics outline the organization of CCP stakeholders and partners, our process for community engagement, and our process for data collection, analysis, and reporting.A Communication and Engagement Strategy was developed to guide community engagement. The CCP technical team engaged 667 LBN 6members over the past 9 months. However, this number likely includes people who have participated in CCP engagement activities more than once. Some engagement activities were delivered anonymously so we are unable to determine the exact number of unique individuals engaged. As a result, the total number of people engaged is likely less than 667. During the engagement sessions, community members were open and shared the issues they see their Nation facing. They also shared a rich history of culture, strength, and tradition that have continued to be assets for the Nation today. Assets that were listed most often for the Nation include: community, healthy, vision, and love. For Tachet: water, fishing, elders, and a strong community were listed as top strengths. Other data collected during the engagement sessions produced key themes and issues for the Nation as a whole, and for each of the five distinct communities. Through our analysis, it became apparent that: (1) Housing, (2) Infrastructure, (3) Economic Development, and (4)Culture are priority areas for LBN members. Community members want to see improved communication around housing between the band and tenants, defined tenant and band responsibilities, and more timely repairs for homes. Infrastructure concerns related to a lack of facilities that could accommodate all community members for gatherings, poor quality of roads, and lack of telecommunications. Economic concerns related to lack of job opportunities, lack of technical skills, and a desire for more diverse businesses on reserve. Culture was an important priority area for Elders, youth, and many other community members we spoke with. Elders were concerned with the community losing knowledge of cultural teachings and youth expressed a strong desire to learn these teachings from their Elders. A lack of social events for the community to gather and practice culture was also expressed as a need. All of these themes came up both in our Nation-wide engagement sessions and also our community specific events. We were able to build good relationships with our community partners and the broader LBN community by practicing flexibility and adaptability in our planning practice, sharing truths about ourselves, and actively listening to the words of each person we came into contact with. It is through listening, a commitment to decolonial practice, and the community’s willingness to share, that this practicum resulted in a deep, reciprocal, learning experience filled with both moments of struggle and laughter. Our work with LBN truly attests to the importance of taking the time to create good connections, by spending the time planning to plan. This report is merely a snapshot of a fleeting moment of time, where we were privileged to witness Indigenous community planning in action by a Nation that knows where they want to be in the future, and are in the process of planning the best way to get there.Priority Areas for LBN1. Housing2. Infrastructure3. Economic Development4. CultureTable of Contents2 Table of Contents1 Preface 32 Introduction 113 Community Profile 134 Methodology 175 Planning Methodology 216 Planning Actions 257 Planning Results 298 Deliverables 359 Next Steps 3910 Reflections 4311 Conclusion 4712 About Us 5113 Student Appendix 5314 Lake Babine Nation Appendix 145AppendicesStudent AppendixADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTSAppendix 1.1 Student Partnership Agreement 54Appendix 1.2 Community Learning Agreement 62Appendix 1.3 LBN/UBC Learning Relationship Workplan 73Appendix 1.4 Communication and Engagement Strategy 79Appendix 1.5 CCP Logo Design Contest Poster 90Appendix 1.6 Tachet Engagement Session Concept 91PROCESS TOOLSAppendix 1.7 Potlatch Process 93Appendix 1.8 Community Engagement Groups 94PLANNING TOOLSAppendix 1.9 Developing a Terms of Reference 95Appendix 1.10 Annual General Assembly Survey 96Appendix 1.11 Engagement Session Participation Passport 97Appendix 1.12 Community Development Wheel 98REPORTINGAppendix 1.13 Working Group Guidelines and Expectations 99Appendix 1.14 LBN Staff Session 101Appendix 1.15 Fort Babine Working Group Information Session 102Appendix 1.16 Tachet Working Group Information Session 103Appendix 1.17 AGA Visioning Summary Report 104Appendix 1.18 Chief and Council Report 108Appendix 1.19 Tachet Engagement Session Summary Report 111Appendix 1.20 Woyenne Housing Forum 115Appendix 1.21 Lake Babine Nation Community Profiles 116Deanna Brown Nolan, Meika Taylor, and Justin Wiebe on a community visit to Pinkut Lake / Donald’s LandingCredit: Murphy PatrickLake Babine Nation AppendixADMINISTRATIVE DOCUMENTSAppendix 2.1 CCP 2 Year Workplan 146Appendix 2.2 Working Group Orientation Welcome Letter 148Appendix 2.3 CCP 101 Fact Sheet 149Appendix 2.4 Project Timeline 150Appendix 2.5 Film Project Support Letter from Chief Adam 152MARKETINGAppendix 2.6 CCP Logo Contest 153Appendix 2.7 CCP Working Group 154Appendix 2.8 Tachet Community Luncheon 155Appendix 2.9 Fort Babine Working Group 155Appendix 2.10 Old Fort Community Meeting 156Appendix 2.11 Fort Babine Working Group Training and Orientation 156Appendix 2.12 Tachet Working Group 157Appendix 2.13 Old Fort Working Group 158Appendix 2.14 Tachet Visioning Session 158Appendix 2.15 Working Group Training and Orientation 159Appendix 2.16 Fort Babine Working Group Orientation and Training 160Appendix 2.17 Fort Babine Working Group Orientation and Training 161Appendix 2.18 Lake Babine Nation Poster 162Appendix 2.19 UBC Students Final Presentation in LBN 163DATAAppendix 2.20 Facebook Poll on Business Start-Ups 164Appendix 2.21 Tabulation of Facebook Poll Results on Business Start-Ups 165Appendix 2.22 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Day 1 Summary 166EXTERNAL REPORTINGAppendix 2.23 CCP Newsletter - December 2014 167Appendix 2.24 CCP Newsletter - February 2015 173Appendix 2.25 Old Fort CCP 101 Meeting 175Appendix 2.26 Old Fort Working Group Summary 176Appendix 2.27 Tachet Working Group Summary 178Appendix 2.28 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Engagement Report 180Appendix 2.29 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Report Poster 203INTERNAL REPORTINGAppendix 2.30 Convenors Update - 8 January 2015 204Appendix 2.31 Convenors Update - 29 January 2015 205Appendix 2.32 Housing Staff Interview Summary 207Appendix 2.33 CCP Economic Development Meeting Summary 209PLANNING TOOLSAppendix 2.34 Working Group Participant Information Form 210AppendicesFigures and TableFiguresFigure 1 British Columbia Treaty Statement of Intent Map, Lake Babine Nation 15Figure 2 Comprehensive Community Plan Organizational Chart 22Figure 3 Lake Babine Nation CCP Phase 1 Process 23Figure 4 Lake Babine Nation Data Collection and Analysis Process 24Figure 5 The Planning Cycle: Spiral Diagram 26Figure 6 Nadut’en CCP Community Engagement Stakeholder Groups 27Figure 7 Lake Babine Nation AGA Themes 30Figure 8 Woyenne AGA Themes 31Figure 9 Tachet AGA Themes 31Figure 10 Old Fort AGA Themes 31Figure 11 Fort Babine AGA Themes 31Figure 12 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing AGA Themes 31Figure 13 Lake Babine Nation Vision 32Figure 14 Tachet Engagement Session Demographics 32Figure 16 Top 5 Tachet Engagement Session Themes with Ranked Priorities 33Figure 15 Tachet Engagement Session Themes 33Figure 17 Tachet Community Assets 34TableTable 1 Community Engagement Completed by CCP Technical Team 283 Introduction12at a variety of levels within the Nation. In addition to Chief and Council and internal staff and department work plans, LBN has developed a Land Use Plan, Economic Development Strategy, Emergency Plan, and Community Health Plan. Since 1994, the Nation has been engaged in the onerous BC treaty process, and positive outcomes have yet to be realized by the Nation. This triggered Comprehensive Community Planning in LBN, as it was viewed as one mechanism by which the community could see more immediate results. In 2011 and 2014, LBN received funding from AANDC to develop a CCP. This process serves as an opportunity to revisit older planning processes, and helps to make the community’s vision of the future a reality. For our planning practicum we were partnered with LBN and tasked with helping to develop Phase 1 of their CCP. We worked closely with Deanna Brown Nolan, the Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator for LBN, and Pauline Goertzen, the Economic Development Officer. Together, the four of us composed the CCP technical team for LBN.We travelled to Burns Lake, BC to work in the community of Woyenne six times between September 2014 and April 2015. During our trips to Woyenne, we also visited Tachet and Fort Babine several times.This report synthesizes the tremendous amount of work completed over the past 9 months, and presents the process and substantive findings from Phase 1 of the CCP process. Also included are the planning methodology, planning actions, list of deliverables, and, our reflections on the practicum and discipline of planning.IntroductionThe School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), at the University of British Columbia offers a Masters degree specialization in Indigenous Community Planning (ICP) that was developed in partnership with Musqueam. This specialization aims to, “train a new generation of community planners who will break the colonial legacy and culture of planning in order to work in respectful partnership with Indigenous communities.” Also, “empower emerging community planners working with Indigenous communities with the necessary theory, skills, knowledge, and capacity to support those communities in achieving their own aspirations for land stewardship, cultural revitalization, strong governance, health and well-being.” SCARP’s approach is “grounded in community and land-based learning; emphasizes mutual and transformative learning; and integrates these principles with grounding in an Indigenous worldview.”1One of the degree requirements for ICP is a planning practicum placement in a First Nations community in British Columbia. The practicum is structured to deliver an immersive, experiential learning opportunity for students with the opportunity to learn from an Indigenous community about planning processes, dimensions, and protocols. Students work in teams of two, in collaboration with the host Nation’s designated representative, and the practicum supervisor, Jeff Cook to form the planning team.The planning team focused their efforts towards developing a Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP). CCP is a holistic, community driven approach to generating a long-term vision for a community with short-term actionable goals to help achieve the vision. Comprehensive Community Plans are created by the community, for the community, at the pace of the community’s needs, and can serve as a tool for decolonization. CCPs can also contribute to Nation building by incorporating traditional language and traditional teachings into the plans, as deemed appropriate by the community. LBN has a long history of planning for their lands, people and communities. Traditionally, planning took place through the Bah’lats system, which continues to be an important decision-making and planning institution for the Nation. Today, planning also occurs 1 http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/indigenous-community-planning-specializationCredit: Beatrice Michell-MacDonaldLBN / UBC SCARP Practicum Partners4 Community ProfileCredit: LBN FlickrBabine Lake14federal government. The Canadian government agreed to provide fishing nets, farm equipment, and a school, among other items, in exchange for LBN removing fishing weirs. In 1994, Lake Babine Nation entered the BC treaty process, which began with the submission of their statement of intent to the British Columbia Treaty Commission. LBN is currently in Phase 4 of negotiations with the federal and provincial governments.The Bah’lats system is comprised of four matrilineal clans: Beaver/Grouse, Frog/Marten, Caribou/Mountain, and Bear/Grizzly. Within the Nation, there are more than 120 Hereditary Chiefs who play an important role in the political and cultural affairs of the community. The Bah’lats system continues to play an important role in the administration, planning, and governance of Lake Babine Nation. Lake Babine Nation members speak a distinctive Athapaskan language known as Nadut’en, which is part of the Carrier language group. Nadut’en people have lived along the shores of Babine Lake and down the Babine River for as long as anyone can remember. Babine Lake and the salmon that inhabit it continue to be very important for the Nation and its members. LBN has a complex history of relocation and amalgamation. Prior to 1957, two separate bands (Old Fort Band and Fort Babine Band) existed, but were amalgamated by the Department of Indian Affairs to form what is now known as Lake Babine Nation. LBN members have periodically been forced to relocate further down Babine Lake. Remarkably, Woyenne, the highest populated Lake Babine Nation community today is not located within the Nation’s traditional territory. In 1965, the Department of Indian Affairs purchased the Woyenne reserve from the Burns Lake Band to relocate people from Pendleton Bay, Donald’s Landing, and elsewhere closer to work and school. The effects of relocation and amalgamation are still felt in the Nation today. Community ProfileLake Babine Nation (LBN), also known as the Nadut’en Nation, is located in northern British Columbia (BC). The band office where much of the Nation’s administrative and governance work takes place is located in Woyenne, which borders the Village of Burns Lake. Woyenne is located 228km northwest of Prince George. LBN traditional territory is approximately 3,131,500 acres, and falls within the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District, and the Skeena Watershed. Many lakes fall within the territory including, but not limited to, Babine Lake, Pinkut Lake, Augier Lake, Taltapin Lake, Fulton Lake, Cunningham Lake, Tochacha Lake, Chapman Lake, Natowite Lake, and Morrison Lake. Babine Lake is the longest natural lake in BC and is the largest sockeye producing system in Canada; it is also an important tributary of the Skeena Watershed, and drains northwest into Babine River. LBN consists of 27 reserves in the Babine Lake region, which equates to ~3220.7 hectares of reserve land. Of the 27 reserves, there are five distinct communities that people from LBN identify with. They are Fort Babine, Old Fort, Tachet, Donald’s Landing/Pinkut Lake, and Woyenne. Fort Babine, Tachet, and Woyenne are inhabited year round, while Old Fort and Donald’s Landing/Pinkut Lake are inhabited mostly during the summer months. Lake Babine Nation operates under both an Indian Act elected Chief and Council, and a traditional Bah’lats and Hereditary Chiefs system. The Nation has a custom electoral system, and the Chief and Council is comprised of one Chief and nine Councilors who are elected by the band every three years. To acknowledge the distinctiveness of the five communities: one councilor is selected from Old Fort; two from Fort Babine; two from Tachet; four from Woyenne (one of which also represents Pinkut Lake/ Donald’s Landing). LBN has a history of treaty making with Canada. In 1905, Father Coccola, Chief Tszak Williams and Chief Big George negotiated the Barricade Treaty with the Figure 1 British Columbia Treaty Statement of Intent Map, Lake Babine Nation1516summer months to procure their annual salmon supply. In the 1830s or ‘40s the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) moved its store from Old Fort to Fort Babine, where it remained open until the 1970s.Old Fort Indian Reserve #13 (Nedo’ats)Old Fort is also known as Nedo’ats, and is located about 30km northwest of Granisle. The community is occupied for much of the summer and fall, and is only accessible by boat. Old Fort has always been an important site for Nadut’en people, and many families return to Old Fort in the summer months to fish and hunt. In 1822, a Hudson’s Bay Company post was established in Old Fort. This post was relocated to Fort Babine in the 1830s or 1840s. Pinkut Lake Indian Reserve #23 / Donald’s Landing Indian Reserve #21BDonald’s Landing and Pinkut Lake are two reserves that are often identified together as one community. Donald’s Landing is located approximately 30km northwest of Burns Lake on Babine Lake and is accessible by both road and boat. Donald’s Landing (named after Donald C’ho) was a year round community, but today it is mostly inhabited during the summer. Pinkut Lake Reserve is situated southwest of Donald’s Landing, on the east side of Pinkut Lake and is used primarily during the summer months. Both Donald’s Landing and Pinkut Lake serve as gathering places for fishing throughout the year.Woyenne Indian Reserve #27Woyenne, the most populated reserve within Lake Babine Nation is located outside of the traditional territory, adjacent to the Village of Burns Lake. Being outside of the traditional territory complicates decision-making and community planning. In 1965, the Department of Indian Affairs purchased the reserve from the Burns Lake Band so that people from Pendleton Bay and Donald’s Landing would be closer to work and school. The move to Woyenne was largely completed by the end of the summer of 1967. However, LBN members have continued to move to Woyenne from other LBN reserves. Tachet Indian Reserve #25Tachet is a small community located about 95km from Burns Lake at the mouth of the Fulton River as it enters Babine Lake. Historically, Tachet was a minor, likely seasonal, fishing village for the Babine people. Its location allows residents to take advantage of the sockeye migration up the Fulton River. Today, people live in Tachet year round. Fort Babine Indian Reserve #6 (Wit’at)Fort Babine is a small, year-round community located about 100km north of Smithers at the northern tip of Babine Lake (accessible by an all-weather road). Fort Babine is also known as Wit’at, an abbreviated form of Wit’ane Keh, meaning “place of making dry fish” in the Nadut’en language. Fort Babine has always been an important village, and many LBN members return to the community over the 5 Methodology18community partners, and also as a technical team in our approach with LBN as a whole. As Simpson states, “[i]n this way of thinking, the way in which something is done becomes very important because it carries with it all of the meaning. The meaning is derived from context, including the depth of relationships with the spiritual world, elders, family, clans, and the natural world.”1These process oriented thought systems laid the foundation for our Learning Relationship document with LBN and guided us into parallel process discussions about Nadut’en laws such as Inuk Nu’at’en, which are the laws of working together in a good way. These laws mirrored some of the Cree teachings that Margaret Kovach outlines in “Indigenous Methodologies” such as:“Miýo, Cree for good, is an integral quality and a manifestation of holistic, relational epistemology. Miýo is about sharing and generosity, respecting the earth and all its inhabitants, working hard, and caring for other people.”2Miýo-wîcêhtowin and Inuk Nu’at’en became our guiding principles for working together in a good way, while remaining grounded in our own cultural teachings. As Kovach states,“Relational research is concerned with doing research in a good way.”3We wanted to ensure that the internal processes of the technical team were conducted in a good way in order to model the relationships we hoped to expand on with the Nation as a whole during the Comprehensive Community Planning process. Inuk Nu’at’en became the basis for how the technical team interacted with each other interpersonally, and also for how the team worked together with the entire Nation.Our intentions for working together in a good way were formalized and signed off on in a Learning Relationship document entitled Inuk Nu’at’en. This document can be viewed in Section 13 of this report. While the signing of this document signified a milestone in our relationship as a planning team, the important meanings behind the document can never be truly quantified in the written form. The true depth of the work and meaning came out of the relational work we did together as a group, 1 Leanne Simpson, Dancing on our Turtle’s Back (Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2011), 91.2 Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies (Toronto: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2009), 63.3 Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies (Toronto: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2009), 35.MethodologyAs the title of this project report suggests, “Ts’ee’in Lhekh ‘It ts’idit’ah,” working together in a good way with our community partners was central to our research methodology and our approach to Indigenous community planning. We relied on tâpwewin (truth), sâkihitowin (love), and miýo-wîcêhtowin (good relations) as the core underlying principles for building reciprocal relationships with each other and with LBN. The work of Indigenous scholars, such as Margaret Kovach, Leanne Simpson, and Linda Tuhiwai Smith provided us with a grounding in Indigenous research methodologies to facilitate working together in a good way with each other as student practicum partners, and in and with a community that was not our own.Prior to undertaking the important process of relationship-building with our LBN community partners, we determined how we would work together as student practicum partners in a good way. This was done through extensive conversations, and the creation of a Student Partnership Agreement. In this agreement we identified differences in personality types and working styles, conflict mitigation/resolution strategies, guiding values and principles, and a vision for healthy working and personal relationships. The document can be found in Section 13 of this report.Developing good relational processes as a foundation for the practicum was imperative to our methodology. Anishinaabe scholar, Leanne Simpson highlights the importance of process and context oriented thought systems in her book “Dancing on our Turtles Back.” We utilized this approach for our work with our LBN Student Partnership VisionA supportive, mutually beneficial partnership rooted in respect, tâpwewin (truth), sâkihitowin (love), and a desire to learn and grow as planners. Through our strong partnership, we aim to solidify an immersive, reciprocal, hands-on learning experience where we mutually share our knowledge and skills with the Lake Babine Nation and our ICP Practicum class.19The meaning and importance of the Learning Relationship document came out of the processes we utilized to discuss the ways in which we would work together as a team. As Linda Tuhiwai Smith states,“The quality of the Indigenous interaction is more important than ticking boxes or answering closed questions.”6Through this process we were able to collaboratively develop a set of guiding principles, objectives, and vision for the duration of the practicum. These foundational principles and vision statements provided a strong core on which to develop a planning methodology specific to Lake Babine Nation’s Comprehensive Community Planning process.6 Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Decolonizing Methodologies (London: Zed Books Ltd., 1999), 136.talking face-to-face about our values, beliefs, and intentions. As Margaret Kovach states,“Values and ethics are interconnected and are about miýo, about goodness.”4We cannot separate our values, ethics, and identities from the way we carry ourselves in a community and the work that we do. Our life histories are interconnected with our present realities and needed to be shared with our community partners in order to move forward with a common goal of working together in a good way. Our conversations as a group involved sharing our truths (tâpwewin) and reciprocal exchanges of information. As Leanne Simpson states:“[M]odern society primarily looks for meaning (in books, computers, art), whereas Indigenous cultures engage in processes or acts to create meaning. Indigenous cultures understand and generate meaning through engagement, presence and process - storytelling, ceremony, singing, dancing and doing.”54 Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies (Toronto: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2009), 147.5 Leanne Simpson, Dancing on our Turtle’s Back (Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2011), 93.LBN Learning Relationship VisionInuk nu’at’en, the laws that dictate how we interact with one another in a good way, will guide our learning and working relationship. Our vision is a collaborative, supportive, transparent, accountable, creative, reflective, mutually beneficial relationship rooted in respect, reciprocity, and a desire to learn together, and also from elders. Through our partnership we hope to support the development and implementation of LBN’s phase one CCP process that will facilitate the building of a better and brighter future for LBN. Through and with this experience, we hope to foster a lifelong passion for Indigenous community planning.Learning Relationship Principles1. Collaborative learning2. Growth and development3. Support for each other4. Respect5. Reciprocity6. Communication7. Self-care8. Work equity and equality9. Fun and humorCCP Technical Team Signing Learning RelationshipCredit: Antoinette Tom“We don’t need to be on our land to know our land and to have our land in our hearts.”-LBN Member6 PlanningMethodology22activities, and providing honest feedback to the CCP technical team. Technical TeamThe technical team for Phase 1 of the LBN CCP includes Deanna Brown Nolan (Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator), Pauline Goertzen (Economic Development Director), Meika Taylor (SCARP Student), and Justin Wiebe (SCARP Student). The technical team worked collaboratively to codesign the planning process, and to perform the necessary behind the scenes logistical work driving the CCP process. Deanna was responsible for organizing caterers, securing space for community engagement sessions, event advertising, Facebook and website updates, community presentations, and was the lead for all event facilitation. Pauline was responsible for securing funding, budgeting, and liaising between Chief and Council, AANDC, and UBC. Meika and Justin were responsible for background research, engagement session design, methodology, and co-facilitation, collaborative development of planning documents with LBN (i.e. Communication and Engagement Strategy, Community Profile, Final Report, etc.), data collection, analysis, and support for LBN’s data analysis capacity development, report writing, development of visuals for c o m m u n i c a t i n g stages of the planning process, p h o t o g r a p h y , supporting the development of a CCP website, and providing technical planning advice on the overall CCP process. We evaluated our partnership through ongoing discussions and feedback and consistently requested comments on our work to ensure that our actions were meeting the needs of our community partners and LBN as a whole.Planning MethodologyAs described in the methodology section, our approach to working with LBN has prioritized relationship building, respect, and reciprocity. From this foundation we began working with our community partners to develop a planning methodology that best meets the unique needs of LBN, and is also adaptable for each of the five distinct communities and the off-reserve population. The planning methodology emerged after several months of deep conversation between members of the CCP technical team. Figure 2 was created to show the key stakeholders that are embedded within the CCP process for Lake Babine Nation. The CCP technical team valued a community-centred, bottom-up, grass roots model that prioritizes the perspectives of community members through the use of an asset-based empowerment planning model. Embedded within the CCP process is “The Plan,” which is a document that is created through extensive community engagement to guide decision-making, planning, and governance for LBN moving forward. The CCP process itself is viewed by the technical team as an important exercise in (re)building community, and meshing traditional forms of planning with contemporary planning practice. Each stakeholder group in the CCP process holds specific roles and responsibilities. Community The community is made up of all LBN members from each of the five distinct c o m m u n i t i e s , living both on- and off-reserve. The community is at the heart of the CCP, and all information flows from, through, and eventually back to the community for verification and validation. The community’s responsibilities include attending engagement sessions, participating in the data collection Community Technical Team “The Plan” Working Group(s) Community Conveners CCP Comprehensive Community Plan Figure 2 Comprehensive Community Plan Organizational Chart23conducted through this system is carried out in a respectful way. The CCP technical team chose to model the CCP Phase 1 process after the Bah’lats in an attempt to bring value and respect back to the ways in which planning takes place in LBN.Figure 3 was developed collaboratively to represent the ways in which planning for a traditional Bah’lats feast takes place. This process has three distinct stages: Tea Meetings, Smoke Feasts, and Feast (Bah’lats), which are visually represented below.The Tea Meeting stage includes in-person tea meetings with specific groups (Hereditary Chiefs, youth, Chief and Council, and staff) and each of the five communities to identify key people in each community to sit on each community’s Working/Host Group. This stage also serves as an opportunity for the CCP technical team to provide background information on the CCP project. The Smoke Feast stage introduces the working group(s) to their respective communities. During this stage, meetings are held with each of the working groups to develop a terms of reference, identify the roles and responsibilities, and begin designing community engagement activities and events for each community. Working GroupsThere are five different working groups, one for each of the LBN communities. Each working group is made up of members from the community who either volunteered, or were nominated by their community convenors, or other community members. Originally, the technical team envisioned a single Nation-wide CCP working group for LBN. After holding an initial Nation-wide working group meeting in January 2015, the technical team realized that community specific working groups would address the unique needs of the individual communities more effectively. A draft terms of reference was developed by the Nation-wide working group to outline the roles, responsibilities, and values that guide how all of the working groups function. The terms of reference have been adapted and accepted by each of the five community specific working groups. Each working group is responsible for supporting the CCP technical team in engagement session planning and design, bringing forward specific community issues or concerns to the technical team and the community conveners, and championing the CCP in their respective communities. Community Conveners The community conveners are made up of Dorothy Patrick (Old Fort Economic Development Officer), Emma Palmantier (Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Economic Development Officer), Vi Bowak (Tachet Economic Development Officer), and Vicky West (Fort Babine Community Member). The community conveners are key contacts within each of the communities and are also band staff that are committed to supporting the CCP project. They support the technical team in process design, working group and engagement session organization, and championing the CCP within their respective communities and within the band office. Engagement ProcessThe CCP technical team developed an engagement process based on the Bah’lats system, which is the traditional way of doing business and planning in the community. This was an attempt to counter the colonial forms of planning that are becoming normalized within LBN, and a means to decolonize the Comprehensive Community Planning process. Within the Bah’lats system, individuals and clans play important roles for their community. Individuals and clans know their roles and responsibilities and are needed and valued for the work they contribute to the Bah’lats. Business Figure 3 Lake Babine Nation CCP Phase 1 Process24continued to centre the teachings of Inuk Nu’at’en in our work internally and with the broader Nation. Data AnalysisThe technical team developed an additional process diagram to outline LBN’s data collection and analysis method. Figure 4 represents how data for the CCP is generated from community engagement. Community EngagementA significant amount of time was invested into building and maintaining relationships with LBN before starting the community engagement sessions. Engagement sessions are structured to gather the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats facing communities, and also prioritize their needs and vision for the future. CCP engagement sessions are asset-based, fun, and safe environments to have candid discussions. Raw DataAll of the data generated during the engagement sessions is collected, compiled into Excel spreadsheets, and analyzed for trends by coding data into thematic categories.Themes and Process GraphicsTrends pulled from the raw data were turned into infographics, tables, pie charts, and images. Report Back to CommunityOne page summary reports were developed for each engagement session to report back to the community information on what was heard. This information will be verified and validated by the community on a return visit to ensure the technical team has captured the information that is pertinent to LBN members.The planning methodology outlined above guided the work of the CCP technical team over the duration of the practicum, and will continue to inform community planning in LBN moving forward. The members of each working group report back to their home community on information from the smoke feast and invite their community members to the upcoming engagement session. The Feast Bah’lats stage includes the community engagement sessions hosted in each of the communities, and also with specific stakeholders who may be underrepresented in other engagement sessions. This stage feeds in to the LBN Data Collection and Analysis Process outlined in Figure 4. The Bah’lats model for community engagement was finalized in early December 2014. However, by mid-January 2015 we were informed by the Hereditary Chiefs that it was inappropriate to mix traditional and contemporary governance systems in our process models. The language in our process models could not reflect the traditional process of the Bah’lats. Since honoring community voices is key to our values around working together with LBN in a good way, we respected the wishes of the Hereditary Chiefs. The tea meeting, smoke feast, feast, and host-clan language was removed from our community engagement branding, while we Figure 4 Lake Babine Nation Data Collection and Analysis Process7 PlanningActions26Developing a Communication and Engagement (C&E) Strategy to guide the community engagement sessions was a core deliverable for our practicum. This strategy emerged in response to issues raised by community members relating to ineffective and inadequate communication from the band office to the community. The C&E Strategy developed by the CCP technical team needed to address these concerns, and also determine the methods by which community members would like to be communicated with. Several pre-engagement/relationship building sessions were held with community members to determine which tools, methods, and strategies would work best to fully engage them in the CCP process.In addition to determining the methods for communication and engagement, the different types of stakeholders to be engaged with during the CCP process are outlined in the C&E Strategy. A core value of the LBN CCP process is “Honoring your voice.” Underlying this value is the importance of hearing from all of the voices in the community, and/or providing the opportunity for all community members to be heard. Figure 6 was developed for the C&E Strategy to highlight Planning ActionsThe CCP technical team was tasked with developing and delivering a planning process tailored to meet the unique needs of Lake Babine Nation. This process is flexible and dynamic which allows for adaptation to address the specific needs of each distinct LBN community. The previous section of this report described how the CCP technical team conceptualized the overall planning process and underlying methodology. Together, these elements informed and directed the types of planning actions and activities developed by the CCP technical team.The LBN planning process has been informed by AANDC’s CCP Handbook, and also by LBN values, perspectives, and goals. As shown in Figure 5, AANDC articulates four stages of Comprehensive Community Planning in the CCP Handbook; Pre-planning, Planning, Implementation, and, Monitoring and Evaluation.Throughout Phase 1 of the CCP, LBN focused on the Pre-Planning and Planning stages. The Nation has completed the Pre-Planning process and is currently focused on Planning. During Phase 1, the CCP technical team completed the following actions:Implementation PlanningPre-PlanningMonitoring & EvaluationFigure 5 The Planning Cycle: Spiral DiagramCredit: Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, CCP Handbook, 2nd EditionPre-Planning þ Assess Community Readiness þ Develop a Budget / Identify Funding þ Develop Learning Agreement þ Build a Planning Team & Workplan þ Background Research þ Planning History Review þ Define Working Group Members þ Set Terms of ReferencePlanning þ Gather Background Information þ Community Analysis þ Strategic Framework þ Create Vision Statement & Values þ Set Goals & Objectives þ Identify Activities & Projects þ Develop Community Profile þ Create Communications & Engagement Strategy þ Community Engagement27The vision resulted in the creation of a strategy that is dynamic and constantly evolving as more detailed information on engagement methods is collected from the community. Effective community engagement is pivotal to the success and acceptance of the CCP by Lake Babine Nation. Based on the initial draft of the C&E Strategy, the technical team began an extensive round of community engagement sessions. Following each of the sessions, the C&E Strategy was updated to reflect the most up to date engagement strategies for LBN. The technical team will continue to build on the extensive work completed during Phase 1 throughout the importance of consulting with as many community stakeholder groups as possible. The empty bubbles in the graphic create space in the CCP Process to add new stakeholder groups as they are identified by the Nation.The purpose of the C&E Strategy is to define how the CCP technical team will engage and communicate with the community in an way that honours the uniqueness of LBN, and the distinctiveness of each of the five communities. The importance of community-driven planning is fundamental to the planning approach taken by the CCP technical team. Thus, incorporating community voices into the C&E Strategy is essential. The vision for the C&E Strategy is:Communication & Engagement VisionThe CCP technical team strives to meaningfully engage as many LBN members as possible though a variety of engagement activities, techniques, and events, and to communicate the findings back to the community for verification, validation, and approval.Figure 6 Nadut’en CCP Community Engagement Stakeholder GroupsTachet Engagement Session, March 201528team has engaged less than 667 unique individuals.The engagement sessions completed to date have generated a significant amount of data for Phase 1 of the CCP. The next section of this report will describe the substantive outcomes and themes that have emerged from these data sets.the subsequent phases of the CCP process. The goal is to continue to extensively engage the LBN community to develop a CCP that prioritizes the voices of the Nation’s members and focuses on the stages of Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Table 1 outlines the community engagement undertaken thus far by the CCP technical team. Throughout Phase 1, the technical team has engaged a total of 667 people using a variety of engagement activities and strategies. It is important to note that many people participated in a variety of CCP engagement sessions, and may be counted twice in the total number. Because some of our engagement activities were designed to be anonymous, we have no way of determining the exact number of unique individuals engaged during Phase 1 of the planning process. It is likely that the CCP technical PRE-ENGAGEMENT/RELATIONSHIP BUILDING SESSIONS Date Community/Event Number of People 16 October 2014 Tachet 13 17 November 2014 Old Fort 25 19 March 2015 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing 30 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS Date Community/Event Number of People 25 & 26 October 2014 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing 38 12 January 2015 Old Fort Home Visi ts 2 12 January 2015 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Home Visi ts 1 12 January 2015 Woyenne Home Visi ts 3 12 January 2015 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing Phone Cal ls 3 16 March 2015 Tachet 16 OTHER ENGAGEMENT Date Community/Event Number of People 12 – 14 November 2014 AGA 163 Surveys 10 & 11 December 2014 Youth 75 7 January 2015 Onl ine Smal l Business Survey 55 14 January 2015 Staff Workshop 12 13 February 2015 Elders Lunch 27 17 & 19 March 2015 Staff Interviews 10 18 March 2015 Chief and Counci l Meeting 60 20 March 2015 Housing Forum 50 30 & 31 March 2015 Youth 100 WORKING GROUP MEETINGS Date Community/Event Number of People 15 January 2015 Fort Babine 5 16 January 2015 Tachet 6 19 January 2015 Nation-Wide 12 23 February 2015 Old Fort 12 25 February 2015 Woyenne 4 Table 1 Community Engagement Completed by CCP Technical TeamEngagement with LBN Staff, January 2015Credit: Bruce Alec8 PlanningCredit Deanna Brown NolanResults30five communities. Figures 7-13 were created based on the information collected from the community at the AGA. It is important to acknowledge the limitations of the information provided here. The CCP technical team has attempted to represent the perspectives of the LBN members who completed the surveys to the best of our abilities. As such, the themes used to organize these data may not be perfect, and will need to be verified and validated through further community engagement. Furthermore, some of the responses we received were difficult to code appropriately because of one-word responses. We also received responses that could fit a number of themes. Lake Babine NationFigure 7 highlights the diverse themes generated from the survey completed by LBN members. Members shared ideas, concerns, and visions related to Infrastructure (31%) most often. Members also identified Social Development (20%); Healing, Unity and Relations (19%); and Economic Development (17%) in significant numbers. Five Distinct CommunitiesTo address the distinctiveness and uniqueness of each of LBN’s five communities, the CCP technical team thought it would be valuable to break down the data collected from each community. Figures 8-12 were developed to showcase the similarities and differences between each of the five communities. Economic Development was identified as an important theme for each of the five communities, as was Infrastructure and Social Development to a lesser degree. Governance appeared to be a relatively insignificant theme for all of the communities except for Fort Babine (21%). Planning ResultsAlthough the CCP technical team is still in the early stages of community engagement, LBN members are already beginning to share important information. The data analysis completed to date has provided some key themes, strengths, and issues for Lake Babine Nation. The CCP technical team completed several community engagement sessions over the past nine months, of those, we were heavily involved as co-facilitators (with Deanna Brown Nolan serving as lead facilitator) in two major sessions: (1) LBN’s Annual General Assembly (AGA), and (2) Tachet’s first community engagement session. The information that came out of these two in-depth sessions is reflected below, with the original community reports located in Section 13 of this report. Annual General AssemblyThe CCP technical team delivered a number of engagement activities at the LBN Annual General Assembly held in Woyenne at the Band Hall between 12-14 November 2014. This was a large opportunity for community engagement, and the CCP technical team performed the following engagement activities: a community visioning exercise, a survey, and a dotmocracy activity to determine preferred communication and engagement methods.In total, 163 surveys were returned to the CCP technical team for analysis. It was important to identify similarities and differences across the five distinct communities, to compare with the Nation wide data trends. Based on the survey results, six themes were identified (Economic Development; Social Development; Infrastructure; Healing, Unity, and Relations; Culture; and, Governance) broadly representing the voices of LBN and each of the Figure 7 Lake Babine Nation AGA ThemesAGA Dotmocracy Activity31WoyenneHealing, Unity, and Relations (25%) appeared the most often in the survey data for Woyenne, most of which is related to a desire for a healthy, drug, and alcohol free community. Social Development (22%) and Infrastructure (22%) were also identified often, and members noted a need for more youth support and youth activities, a need for more and better quality housing, and new community buildings, respectively.TachetInfrastructure (52%) appeared the most often in the survey data for Tachet, which included desires for better roads, a recreation centre, and more buildings. Economic Development (15%) was also identified often, and members expressed a need for more employment opportunities in Tachet.Old FortInfrastructure (31%) appeared the most often in the survey data for Old Fort, which included a desire for cabins, youth and elders’ centre(s), and shower/bathhouses. Social Development (23%) was identified often, and a strong desire for community members to move back home to Old Fort was expressed. Economic Development (20%) was also important, and members noted a need for more community-member owned and operated businesses, and more job opportunities. Fort BabineSocial Development (29%) appeared the most often in the survey data for Fort Babine, which included a desire for more people living in the community, educational opportunities, and support services. Governance (21%) was also identified often, and members identified a strong desire to separate from Woyenne.Pinkut Lake/Donald’s LandingInfrastructure (46%) appeared the most often in the survey data for Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing, which included a desire for things like more housing/cabins, telephone service, and hydropower. Healing, Unity, and Relations (17%) was also identified often, and members noted a desire for community members to get along better, and work together more.Figure 8 Woyenne AGA ThemesFigure 9 Tachet AGA ThemesFigure 10 Old Fort AGA ThemesFigure 11 Fort Babine AGA ThemesFigure 12 Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing AGA Themes32the larger the word appears in Figure 13. Community, healthy, vision, and love appear largest in Figure 13 and were therefore the most common responses from LBN members. Tachet Engagement SessionThe CCP technical team visited the community of Tachet on 16 March 2015 to host the first community engagement visioning session for the CCP process. There were 16 community members in attendance between the ages of 10 and 66. Participants completed a number of activities that were designed to gather information on the strengths/assets of The CCP technical team conducted an interactive visioning tree exercise at the CCP booth throughout the course of the AGA. Community members were asked to write their hopes, dreams, and/or vision for the future of LBN on a leaf and stick it on a vision tree posted on the wall. These data from the leaves were tabulated and analyzed to determine the frequency of words in responses from LBN members. The higher the frequency of words (the more times a word was repeated) Figure 13 Lake Babine Nation VisionFigure 14 Tachet Engagement Session DemographicsLBN AGA Vision Tree Activity33for the CCP to focus on, and (2) the top issues/priorities facing the community of Tachet.Figure 15 shows how Tachet community members ranked the issues facing their community. The top five themes that emerged were: (1) Infrastructure, (2) Economy, (3) Culture, (4) Housing, and (5) Environment.The CCP technical team tabulated the number of times a specific issue was listed under each of the main themes for the community of Tachet. Figure 16 shows the top issues identified for each of the top five themes, listed in ranked priority from highest to lowest.Tachet, the priority areas for the CCP, and the top issues in the community. We also asked community members to tell their own stories of the history, celebrations, and accomplishments of Tachet. These stories were added to a community timeline that can be shared with the Nation and added to by other LBN communities during subsequent engagement sessions. Community members completed a hands-on wheel of community development exercise where they listed their top themes for CCP in Tachet. Under the themes, they listed their top priorities or needs for the community. Once the wheel was completed, the issues were ranked in terms of priority with a series of color-coded sticky dots. This information was tabulated, coded, and analyzed to determine (1) the top themes Figure 15 Tachet Engagement Session Themes 1. Infrastructure!i. Don't have community gathering spaceii. Poor road quality iii. Unable to connect with each other and the other LBN communities (wifi) 2. Economy!i. Lack of jobsii. Lack of technical skillsiii. Local businesses on reserve needed 3. Culture!i. Losing knowledge of our cultural teachings ii. Lack of events for community gatheringsiii. Youth are not learning cultural teachings4. Housing!i. Poor housing qualityii. Lack of housingiii. Lack of singles housing5. Environment !i. The environment is being destroyedii. All the logs are gone Figure 16 Top 5 Tachet Engagement Session Themes with Ranked PrioritiesCommunity Timeline Activity34Based on these two community engagement sessions, and the Pinkut Lake and Donald’s Landing community planning session facilitated by our LBN community partners on 25 & 26 October 2014 (a full version of the engagement report is available in Section 14 of this document), the following three themes consistently appeared as top priority areas for the Nation: As the first round of engagement continues with the communities of Woyenne, Old Fort, and Fort Babine, the data collected during these sessions will be compared against the themes that have already emerged from Tachet and Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing. The CCP technical team will continue to gain deeper insights into both the similarities and differences that exist between each community, and within the Nation as a whole. Community members were asked to tell us what they loved most about their community, what made their community strong, and what kinds of things they saw as assets in the community of Tachet. The CCP technical team received 68 unique responses that were written on sticky notes and pasted on the wall for all community members to see. These responses were tabulated using a Wordle (Figure 17), where the words used most often by community members show up largest in the Wordle. Water, fishing, Elders, and a strong community were all listed as top community assets for the community of Tachet.Figure 17 Tachet Community AssetsWheel of Community Development Planning ToolTOP THEMES FOR LBN CCP1. Housing2. Infrastructure3. Economic Development4. Culture9 Deliverables36DeliverablesOur practicum experience with LBN lasted 9 months, included 6 trips to LBN Territory, and totalled more than 1000 hours of practicum related work. The practicum has been an exercise in collaborative community planning, where the CCP technical team jointly developed engagement activities and planning documents. This section outlines the work primarily, but not exclusively, completed by the UBC/SCARP student portion of the practicum team. Throughout the practicum we completed a variety of tasks and created numerous documents to support LBN’s CCP project. Each of the physical deliverables we created is included in Section 13, while Section 14 includes all of the documents created for the CCP to date by LBN. In addition to building relationships and undertaking community engagement, the UBC/SCARP student portion of the practicum team produced the following documents as part of LBN’s Phase 1 CCP process. 1 Student Partnership AgreementThe agreement was created to outline how the UBC/SCARP student portion of the practicum team would function over the duration of the practicum. This document describes our vision for a healthy working relationship, lists objectives for our partnership, the outcomes we hope to achieve, and provides strategies for mitigating conflict.1 Community Learning RelationshipThe learning relationship explains how the LBN community partners and UBC/SCARP students will work together throughout the practicum experience; specifically the roles, responsibilities, and values that are essential for a healthy working relationship.1 Work PlanThe work plan outlines the work to be completed throughout the practicum by all members of the CCP technical team, whose responsibility each task is, and the expected time needed to complete each task. This document is organized to allow for evolving updates as tasks are added or deleted, as well as provides space to record the actual hours spent on each task. 1 Communication and Engagement StrategyThis strategy was developed to guide the LBN CCP technical team’s communication and community engagement processes. The strategy is a working document, and will evolve and change as the voices and perspectives of the community are heard and incorporated into engagement and communication activities moving forward. It includes both analog and digital methods of communication for the Nation and also provides a list of possible engagement techniques for CCP sessions.1 Working Group Terms of Reference The terms of reference was developed based on a meeting of the Nation-Wide Working Group on 19 January 2015. The purpose of the Working Group Terms of Reference is to outline how the working group will function throughout the entire CCP process, and define the roles and responsibilities for members of the working group. This document has been modified and personalized for each of the 5 community working groups.1 Community ProfileA community profile was created for LBN based on information and data collected from 8 LBN plans, reports, websites, books, other available documents, and 10 semi-structured interviews with LBN staff. This profile is composed of information from a variety of sources to provide a baseline data set, which will allow for more informed decision-making and planning. 3 Engagement Session Facilitation GuidesThese guides outline the process of facilitating community specific engagement activities and the methodology behind the sessions. Following completion of the engagement sessions, the guides were updated with pertinent information from the session for use internally within the CCP technical team. These guides were developed for engagement sessions with Tachet, Pinkut Lake/Donald’s Landing, and Woyenne’s Housing Forum. Nation-Wide Working Group Meeting375 Community Report BacksDocuments were created after key engagement sessions to report back the findings to the community. An important part of our planning methodology is to verify and validate community voices by ensuring that the data collected by the CCP technical team accurately reflects the voices of the community members in attendance at the engagement sessions. Community report backs were created after engagement sessions with Staff, Chief and Council, Tachet, Fort Babine, and Woyenne to be disseminated to the community at large.2 Data Analysis ReportsThese reports were created based on larger scale community engagement sessions, and include in-depth data analysis based on the information collected at each session. These reports highlight themes, visions, strengths, and issues drawn from the total data sets. Reports were created based on the engagement activities undertaken at LBN’s Annual General Assembly and with the community of Tachet. 4 Process DiagramsThese diagrams were developed to visually represent different stages of the planning process at various levels of detail. An organizational chart, community engagement process diagram, phases of community engagement cycle, and analysis and report back diagram were all developed. 9 Planning ToolsThese tools were created to engage LBN community members in the CCP process, and to collect important information, which will be instrumental in the creation of the final CCP document. These tools include a terms of reference, staff interview questionnaire, a survey, visual timeline, community development wheel, etc. 6 Trip ReportsThese reports were written after each visit to LBN Territory to summarize what was accomplished and also to record reflections on events from the trip. These trip reports served as reminders for events and meetings that took place during our community visits, and also documented the places we travelled to over the duration of the practicum. 4 PresentationsPresentations were created to share findings, lessons learned, and reflections on the practicum experience with classmates, LBN staff and community members, and for our final presentation at Musqueam. Lake Babine Nation Visual Timeline Planning Tool, Then and NowLBN Annual General Assembly, November 2014Final Practicum Presentation at MusqueamCredit: Maria Trujillo“How can we plan to expand when we’re living on land that is not our own? We’re all displaced peoples. I’ve never been excited about any opportunities in my Nation until now [the CCP process].”-LBN Member10 Next Steps40the plan for too long can result in apathy from the community, resistance to the planning process, and a reluctance to keep the plan alive. It is crucial for the CCP technical team to celebrate the successes and milestones of the planning process with the community, and also to implement quick start projects as they arise (and are funded) so that the Nation is able to see visible, concrete actions coming out of the engagement processes.The Comprehensive Community Planning process is designed to be a dynamic, living process that changes as the needs of the community change. In order for the plan to remain a living document that continues to meet the needs and priorities of Lake Babine Nation members, reliable monitoring and evaluation strategies must be developed to determine how well the plan is working for the community once it has been implemented. Being able to analyze the effectiveness, suggest updates, and return to the community for feedback on how the process is working is imperative. Next StepsDuring the past nine months, the CCP technical team has developed a strong planning framework and process, collected baseline data, embarked on an extensive cycle of community engagement, and created report backs for the Nation. Despite all of the work already completed, there is still a large amount of planning related work left to do over the upcoming planning phases. Some of the next steps for CCP development in Lake Babine Nation include continuing with the planning phase, implementing the plan, and then monitoring/evaluating the effectiveness of the plan. Continuing on with the planning phase of the CCP process should accomplish the following tasks:Once the planning phase of the CCP process is completed, it is imperative that the CCP technical team transition into the implementation phase of the process as quickly as possible. Delaying implementation of PLANNING ❏ Ongoing Community Engagement ❏ Develop a Vision Statement ❏ Define Community Values ❏ Ongoing Data Analysis ❏ Prioritize Community Goals ❏ Ongoing ReportingIMPLEMENTATION ❏ Create Work Plans ❏ Integrate Plan into Band Administration ❏ Implement Plan ❏ Report to Community ❏ Celebrate Successes ❏ Identify & Improve on WeaknessesMONITORING & EVALUATION ❏ Analyze results ❏ Review Plan & Recommend Better Strategies for Implementation ❏ Periodically Revise & Update Plan 41Reflexive PracticeIt is important to set time aside to reflect on the overall planning process and the roles and responsibilities of the technical team. Are the engagement activities generating the types of data that are required to put together a plan? Are all of the voices in the community being accurately represented? Are all of the stakeholder groups identified in the Communication and Engagement Strategy attending planning sessions or do they need to be engaged in different ways? What is the quality of the relationship between the CCP technical team and the community? These are some of the important questions that planners and planning teams need to reflect on throughout their practice and then take actions to adapt the process as needed to meet the needs of the community.Capacity Building Looking for ways to empower community members, and supporting them in becoming leaders in their community and champions of the plan is an important role for planning teams to consider. Harnessing the existing strengths of the community and developing opportunities for knowledge and skills exchange benefits the planning team immensely by creating a team of skilled individuals to help carry out the planning process. Skills development also benefits Lake Babine Nation as a whole by empowering community members with the tools they require to play an active role in planning for the future of their Nation. Mentoring and training of youth should also be considered as part of the CCP process. Today’s youth will become the planners of tomorrow. Having youth fully involved in the planning process will allow them to learn new specialized skills, as well as bring the youth perspective to the planning team.Ongoing Relationship Building and MaintenanceHaving good relationships with Staff and Chief and Council can be a major benefit to the CCP technical team in ensuring that the work done over the course of the planning process is implemented. Finding allies on Chief and Council, and within the staff/band office administration who are willing to champion the CCP in discussions the CCP technical team may not be privy to will help to push the plan forward.Celebrate, Celebrate, CelebrateCelebrating successes and milestones with the community is key to building momentum and keeping spirits high over the course of a long planning process.ConsiderationsAs Lake Babine Nation continues with the stages of the Comprehensive Community Planning cycle, they may find the following considerations useful: collecting data strategically; implementing strategies for data management; reporting back to the community in a timely manner; building reflexivity into planning practice; building capacity; continually building and maintaining relationships with the community; and celebrating successes and milestones.Collect Data StrategicallyWhile it can be exciting to have good conversations on a variety of topics during engagement sessions as the community momentum builds, it is important to keep issues of data management in mind to avoid being overwhelmed with the amounts of data collected. Engagement sessions should be designed to collect strategic data sets that can be compared and contrasted between each of the five LBN communities. Extraneous data may be interesting and useful for anecdotal stories, but may overwhelm the planning team if the data cannot be managed once the sessions are over.Implement Strategies for Data Management Developing a process to manage data once a community engagement session ends is vital. In our experience, we found that it was easiest to type up the raw data as soon as possible following an event so that we could recall the context of the discussions. One benefit to having the facilitator of the engagement sessions also managing the data is that they understand the community context. Once the raw data has been digitized, individual items can be coded and organized into thematic categories. Writing up short session summaries to document key themes, number of participants, demographics, and photos from the event not only serves as a great legacy document of the process, but is also useful for writing up the final plan.Report Back to the Community in a Timely MannerData that is collected during engagement sessions must be reported back to the community in a timely manner so that members feel their voices are being heard. If the data from the engagements sessions is managed in an efficient manner, one page summaries can easily be developed to report back to the community. Reporting results back to the community in a timely manner can also help to prevent consultation fatigue.“Family is very important...it’s always important that we work together as a unit.”-LBN Member11 ReflectionsCredit Lake Babine Nation Website44ups and downs, but having strong, supportive personal and working relationships with one another made the experience extremely valuable. We have created a working partnership and friendship that will continue long after our time at SCARP is finished.Building good relationships with your community champion is another essential step in any planning process. Without healthy relationships, it will be difficult to implement planning processes. We experienced some of the growing pains that come from building strong partnerships during the first few months of the practicum. Once we had the deep conversations about identity, values, goals, and methodologies together as a technical team, we were better able to understand each person’s unique positionality in the partnership. These discussions provided deeper insights into the complex planning histories associated with LBN, including the negative past experiences with outsiders coming in to the community, taking what they needed, and leaving without giving anything back. It is through the building of sincere reciprocal relationships, that communities may begin to share truths about what it takes to create a successful planning process with outsiders. As Margaret Kovach states:“Trust needs to be earned internally. Trusting relationships are engendered in a variety of ways: following protocol, showing guardianship over sacred knowledges, standing by cultural validity of knowledge, and giving back.”1We worked together as a technical team to exchange cultural teachings, respect protocols, and build mechanisms for giving back to the Nation.1 Margaret Kovach, Indigenous Methodologies (Toronto: Uni-versity of Toronto Press, 2009), 147.ReflectionsLearning to be good planners that work together with other Indigenous communities in a good way (Ts’ee’in Lhekh ‘It ts’idit’ah) involves developing a reflexive practice. Looking back on our time over the past 9 months with Lake Babine Nation, we have identified four main reflections from our planning practice. They are: relationships, community planning champion, flexibility/adaptability, and decolonization.RelationshipsAs our methodology section outlined, being able to work together in a good way was foundational to our planning practice with Lake Babine Nation. We needed to effectively work together as practicum partners, and also as a CCP technical team. Healthy relationships are foundational to productive working environments, and we committed to working together in a truthful, loving, respectful, and reciprocal way.As practicum partners, we realized early on that we have very different personality types, working styles, strengths, and weaknesses. These differences made our partnership stronger, rather than weaker by providing a breadth to our skill set and a balanced team. Despite our personality and working style differences, our motivations for pursing community planning are very similar. We also share similar values and belief systems. Alone, each of us would have struggled throughout different portions of the practicum, but together we were able to rely on one another, have important and difficult conversations, and bounce ideas back and forth. The practicum was an exhausting experience, filled with CCP Technical Team on a visit to TachetCredit: Jeff CookWaves roll in to shore in Donald’s Landing as we reflect on our time working in Lake Babine Nation45to data analysis, communication styles, our roles, and decolonizing the discipline of planning), it was through our community-planning champion that we were able to discuss these issues, connect with the community, and have support building a collaborative, community-driven planning process for LBN. Flexibility/AdaptabilityFlexibility and adaptability are key skills to have when working in any community. This is especially true when working in Indigenous communities because things seem to change at a much more rapid pace for a variety of reasons. Indigenous communities are often smaller and more closely connected than a non-Indigenous counterpart. An event that in some contexts may be viewed as inconsequential, may actually affect a large portion of the community. Being flexible enough to adapt to changing situations is an essential skill for anyone working with and in Indigenous communities. There were countless times throughout the practicum when we pre-planned an engagement session with our community partners, only to land at the airport in Prince George to find that everything had changed for our upcoming visit. Instead of our original plan, we often needed to plan for a different community event, presentation, or activity. Because our relationships with each other and also the community-planning champion were strong, we were able to work well as a team to get the work done amidst the flux and constant change. We learned quickly to anticipate that our plans would change, and this was built into how we approached the work that needed to be done for LBN. Community ChampionAs outsiders working with an Indigenous community that was not our own, having a strong community champion was essential and crucial for the success of the planning process. The community champion knows the ins and outs of their community in a way that outsiders will never fully understand. A community champion can provide important insights into the design of the planning process to ensure it is culturally appropriate and meets the needs of the community. Most importantly, the community champion can give legitimacy to outsider planners. Without a strong community champion, outsiders are often viewed negatively by the community and struggle to make important initial connections that foster productive community engagement sessions. Planners that are coming in to an Indigenous community have a responsibility to cultivate respectful, reciprocal, open, and honest relationships with the community champion in order to be offered any part of their knowledge, experience, and legitimacy. Currently, Deanna Brown Nolan is the community-planning champion for Lake Babine Nation. We invested a significant amount of time building strong and healthy working relationships with Deanna. This initial investment of time allowed for discussions around identity (who we are as people), motivations (why we are engaged in the type of work we’re doing), and values (our hopes for the future of planning). This process was time consuming, emotionally charged, and difficult to work through at times for all of us. However, our relationships would not have grown into the strong partnerships we have today, had we not worked through these difficult moments and conversations together. When we faced challenging moments during the practicum (related Sometimes both literal and figurative means of flexibility are required in Indigenous Community PlanningRoad trips with our Community Planning ChampionCredit: Murphy Patrick46of post-secondary institutions, our program, and practicum requirements prescribed us to introduce some colonial processes and procedures in our work with LBN. We strive to be reflexive in our practice, and to hold ourselves accountable to all of our relations. As students, and newly minted planners, we strive to create resistance to the colonial discourses in the discipline of planning, and also the university. Like throwing a stone into the water creates ripple effects that radiate on the surface of the water long after the stone is gone, we strive to make small ripple effects in the discipline of planning, and the western academic institutions that study planning. The words of Métis Elder Maria Campbell on the ripple effects of resistance stuck with us during our time with Lake Babine Nation, and also the University of British Columbia. The retelling of the story by Leanne Simpson is as follows:[A]cts of resistance are like throwing a stone into water. The stone makes its initial impact in the water, displacing it and eventually sinking to the bottom. There is the original splash the act of resistance makes, and the stone (or the act) sinks to the bottom, resting in place and time. But there are also more subtle waves of disruption that ripple or echo out from where the stone impacted the water. These concentric circles are more nuanced than the initial splash, but they remain in the water long after the initial splash is gone. Their path of influence covers a much larger area than the initial splash, radiating outward for a much longer period of time.3 We hope that our presence at SCARP, UBC, and our interventions into the discipline of planning will contribute in some small way to the ripple effects of resistance that are being undertaken by Lake Babine Nation, our c o m m u n i t i e s at home, and Indigenous peoples everywhere.3 Leanne Simpson, Dancing on our Turtle’s Back (Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2011), 145.DecolonizationDecolonization was a fundamental component of our work with LBN. We centered the work of Indigenous scholars, our own Métis values and teachings, and the Nadut’en values and teachings shared with us throughout the practicum in all aspects of our work. Indigenous community planners play a key role in helping to create spaces for decolonization in the communities they work in. This was especially true for us in our work with LBN, the CCP process, and also within the broader university community and planning discipline. We strove to create spaces for decolonization within the planning process, and consciously worked against the norms of the planning discipline that often colonize and impose foreign processes on Indigenous communities. The previous three reflections are pivotal in understanding how we created space for decolonization in the planning process. For the CCP technical team, the planning process could only work in LBN if it pushed back against the colonial planning norms and centered Nadut’en ways of decision making, planning, and interacting with one another through Inuk Nu’at’en. Persian scholar, Aftab Erfan and Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw planner, Jessie Hemphill argue that the most important role of an outside planner is to:“actively challenge his or her own tendencies to speak too much, or to privilege some bureaucratic or reporting requirement over what is culturally appropriate and relevant at any moment in the planning process. This is the “decolonizing role”, the reversing of power relations, so that the professional planner is fully in service of the local community.”2As Indigenous students, working within colonial institutions and disciplines, we are constantly navigating tensions. We have obligations to Lake Babine Nation, the university, the discipline of planning, our own communities, and other Indigenous students. Navigating the complexities of these relationships are things that non-Indigenous students do not encounter in their graduate work. As students and planners, we are intimately connected to the colonial history of these western institutions, and in some ways, we continue to perpetuate colonialism and its effects in and on Indigenous communities by virtue of pursuing graduate level education at a western academic institution. Even though we consciously work to deconstruct the hegemonic legitimacy of these institutions, the nature 2 Aftab Erfan and Jessie Hemphill, “Indigenizing and Decolo-nizing: An Alliance Story,” Plan Canada 53, no. 2 (2013): 19. Wearing traditional Métis ribbon clothing and sashes at our final UBC presentationCredit: Maria Trujillo12 Conclusion48ConclusionOur work over the past 9 months with Lake Babine Nation has been a period of immense learning and personal growth. From the beginning, our practicum has been filled with ups and downs, struggles and perseverance, tough conversations and endless laughter. We have learned a lot about the complexities of collaborative Indigenous community planning, the resiliency of Lake Babine Nation, and most importantly how we want to carry ourselves in the discipline of planning moving forward. Our community partners, and all of the people we have interacted with from LBN over the past 9 months have impacted our lives deeply. Their teachings, words, and actions will stick with us throughout our future careers. It is the people that we have been fortunate enough to meet during our practicum placement that have made this learning experience so memorable. Our only hope, is that the work we have contributed to LBN during this practicum will be beneficial and useful in some small way to the Nation in achieving its long term planning goals.This report has attempted to outline the extensive work we have accomplished since September 2014. Undoubtedly, we have missed some details and/or failed to communicate events or ideas to their full extent. However, we hope that we have been able to share a small piece of our role in an important story of Indigenous Community Planning. This story, and our relationships are complex, ever evolving and will continue well beyond our brief practicum partnership with LBN.Our community partners are more than equipped to continue planning for Lake Babine Nation well into the future. They had strong planning skills and processes in place before we arrived to start our practicum.During our time together, we have all grown as community planners, sharing skill sets, and honing new planning skills. It is clear that a rich history of planning already exists in LBN and that systems of knowledge transfer are in place to learn from past ways and to carry these traditions into the future. Phase 1 of Comprehensive Community Planning in LBN is merely one iteration in the long planning history of the Nation. The end of Phase 1, and this practicum placement is bittersweet for us. We are sad that our time with LBN is over, but are grateful to have the stories, friendships, and memories to carry with us. We are also humbled to have been invited in to the community and allowed to play a small role in helping the Nation on their path towards self-sufficiency and greater overall community wellbeing. Our learnings from LBN have already helped us become better Indigenous Community Planning practitioners, and have become foundational to our planning approaches and methodologies. Mesiy, Hiy Hiy, Thank You.49Literature CitedErfan, Aftab, and Jessie Hemphill. “Indigenizing and Decolonizing: An Alliance Story.” Plan Canada 53, no. 2(2013): 18-21. Kovach, Margaret. Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations and Contexts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.Simpson, Leanne. Dancing On Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-Creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: ARP Books, 2011.Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books Ltd., 1999.“This is your land, you need to take care of it. We need to take care of it. We need to find a way to strengthen one another.”-LBN Member13 About Us52About UsMeika TaylorMeika is a Métis woman from Fort McMurray, Alberta. She currently holds an Aboriginal Graduate Fellowship at the University of British Columbia where she is completing a Masters degree in Indigenous Community Planning at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP).With a background in applied research and information management within an Indigenous context, Meika’s professional experience complements her graduate degree specialization in Indigenous Community Planning well. She has a particular interest in utilizing planning as a tool for Nation building and decolonization.During her time at SCARP, Meika received training in conflict resolution, graphic facilitation, deep democracy, intercultural planning, digital storytelling/video editing, and international research related to climate change adaptation planning in the Philippines. She also completed an 9 month planning practicum placement with Lake Babine Nation in Burns Lake, British Columbia during the 2014 - 2015 school year. Justin WiebeJustin is a michif (Métis) man from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He is completing a Masters degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP) in Indigenous Community Planning, and thanks the Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh peoples for allowing him on their territories as an uninvited guest. Justin is very interested in Indigenous planning in the city, reclaiming, renaming and reoccupying spaces, Indigenous education, and decolonization/anti-colonial efforts more generally. During the 2014-2015 school year, Justin completed an 9-month planning practicum placement with Lake Babine Nation, which is located in northern British Columbia. He is incredibly thankful to Lake Babine Nation for allowing him to learn in their territory. Justin graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2013 with a Bachelor of Education degree focusing on Indigenous and anti-racist education. Credit: Pauline GoertzenCredit: Deanna Brown NolanCredit: Beatrice Michell-MacDonald“You can’t stay still in life, you gotta move around. You gotta feel it to strengthen our young people.”-LBN Member
Graduating Project
eng
Unreviewed
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
University of British Columbia. SCARP Graduating Projects
Ts’ee’in Lhekh ‘It ts’idit’ah : Working Together in a Good Way : Collaborative Indigenous Community Planning with Lake Babine Nation
Text