Reclaiming Indigenous Planning

Centuries-old community planning practices in Indigenous communities in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia have, in modern times, been eclipsed by ill-suited western approaches, mostly derived from colonial and neo-colonial traditions. Since planning outcomes have failed to reflect the rights and interests of Indigenous people, attempts to reclaim planning have become a priority for many Indigenous nations throughout the world. In Reclaiming Indigenous Planning, scholars and practitioners connect the past and present to facilitate better planning for the future. With examples from the Canadian Arctic to the Australian desert, and the cities, towns, reserves and reservations in between, contributors engage topics including Indigenous mobilization and resistance, awareness-raising and seven-generations visioning, Indigenous participation in community planning processes, and forms of governance. Relying on case studies and personal narratives, these essays emphasize the critical need for Indigenous communities to reclaim control of the political, socio-cultural, and economic agendas that shape their lives. The first book to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors together across continents, Reclaiming Indigenous Planning shows how urban and rural communities around the world are reformulating planning practices that incorporate traditional knowledge, cultural identity, and stewardship over land and resources. Contributors include Robert Adkins (Community and Economic Development Consultant, USA), Chris Andersen (Alberta), Giovanni Attili (La Sapienza), Aaron Aubin (Dillon Consulting), Shaun Awatere (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Yale Belanger (Lethbridge), Keith Chaulk (Memorial), Stephen Cornell (Arizona), Sherrie Cross (Macquarie), Kim Doohan (Native Title and Resource Claims Consultant, Australia), Kerri Jo Fortier (Simpcw First Nation), Bethany Haalboom (Victoria University, New Zealand), Lisa Hardess (Hardess Planning Inc.), Garth Harmsworth (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Sharon Hausam (Pueblo of Laguna), Michael Hibbard (Oregon), Richard Howitt (Macquarie), Ted Jojola (New Mexico), Tanira Kingi (AgResearch, New Zealand), Marcus Lane (Griffith), Rebecca Lawrence (Umea), Gaim Lunkapis (Malaysia Sabah), Laura Mannell (Planning Consultant, Canada), Hirini Matunga (Lincoln University, New Zealand), Deborah McGregor (Toronto), Oscar Montes de Oca (AgResearch, New Zealand), Samantha Muller (Flinders), David Natcher (Saskatchewan), Frank Palermo (Dalhousie), Robert Patrick (Saskatchewan), Craig Pauling (Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu), Kurt Peters (Oregon State), Libby Porter (Monash), Andrea Procter (Memorial), Sarah Prout (Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, Australia), Catherine Robinson (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia), Shadrach Rolleston (Planning Consultant, New Zealand), Leonie Sandercock (British Columbia), Crispin Smith (Planning Consultant, Canada), Sandie Suchet-Pearson (Macquarie), Siri Veland (Brown), Ryan Walker (Saskatchewan), Liz Wedderburn (AgResearch, New Zealand).

The continued strengthening of Indigenous communities is globally recognized as an urgent priority, and the creation and application of practices that prepare planners for walking with Indigenous people in this process are becoming important necessities for their discipline. Planners of Indigenous origin are reclaiming and recreating traditional methods, and their contributions, though as yet modest in relation to needs, are growing and standing strongly within planning institutions. In this context, critical planners of non-Indigenous origin have begun to question and cast off past practices that perpetuated colonial relations. They strive to transform the ways that planning is thought of and carried out, working alongside Indigenous planners and community members. This book draws on Masters of City Planning theses recently completed at the University of Manitoba which show how, in several different situations, the authors have contributed to planning projects and to the decolonization of their discipline. The work presented here addresses physical planning and social services with Indigenous communities in the city, as well as planning in First Nations. The experiences are based in the region of Winnipeg, Canada, yet have global relevance for work with different Indigenous peoples, and they contribute to the consolidation of Indigenous planning.

"The objective of this thesis is to contribute to the emerging context of Indigenous planning, recognizing that it is both a theoretical framework and professional practice of resistance to historical colonial planning and the production of place/space relationships. Specifically my thesis employs an Indigenous research framework, whereby the participants are experts, respect for relationships is foremost and contribution to social change is part of the design (Smith, 1999). Through the use of Photovoice (Castleden & Garvin, 2008; Wang & Burris, 1997) as a participatory research framework of qualitative inquiry, participants examine place/space relationships between Lheidli T’enneh Nation Members and Lheidli (the now City of Prince George) in the specific contexts of (1) the colonial hegemony that has erased Lheidli history and (2) the wider neglect of planning policy in not meaningfully engaging with urban Aboriginal communities. Ultimately my thesis does not transcend Western research methods; rather, it creates a political challenge to the Western model of the planning process by acknowledging an Indigenous planning methodology that is accountable to Indigenous communities."--Leaf ii.

"This volume showcases how Native nations can reclaim self-determination and self-governance via examples from four important countries"--

How Indigenous peoples are reclaiming community planning practices and ideologies.

A nuanced study of conflicts over possession of Aboriginal artifacts.

From a variety of methodological perspectives, contributors to Living on the Land explore the nature and scope of Indigenous women’s knowledge, its rootedness in relationships, both human and spiritual, and its inseparability from land and landscape. The authors discuss the integral role of women as stewards of the land and governors of the community and points to a distinctive set of challenges and possibilities for Indigenous women and their communities.

Bounty and Benevolence draws on a wide range of documentary sources to provide a rich and complex interpretation of the process that led to these historic agreements. The authors explain the changing economic and political realities of western Canada during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and show how the Saskatchewan treaties were shaped by long-standing diplomatic and economic understandings between First Nations and the Hudson's Bay Company. Bounty and Benevolence also illustrates how these same forces created some of the misunderstandings and disputes that arose between the First Nations and government officials regarding the interpretation and implementation of the accords.