Land use planning is a profession and realm often omitted from the discourse around truth and reconciliation. Yet this profession is tasked with managing how we care for and share land, including lands that are part of Indigenous nations’ traditional territories.
Indigenous cultures are inherently connected to land and the ongoing dispossession of their land is a major contributing factor to many challenges faced by their communities. The laws, policies, and practices of local governments have historically denied Indigenous peoples’ voices and control over treaty lands and traditional territories, leading to conflicts such as the Oka crisis in Quebec, and in Ontario the Red Hill Valley Parkway and ongoing Caledonia land disputes.
Localgovernmentsand those empowered to make decisions about the land need to hear the voices and perspectives of Indigenous communities if we are to move away from these disputes. Shared Path is working to amplify these voices in the planning realm so that our communities can make better decisions together.
Last year, Shared Path hosted a workshop called "Indigenous Perspectives Shaping Planning", which was a space for Indigenous participants knowledgeable about Indigenous ways of knowing, land use and planning to connect. The participants wanted Shared Path to keep creating these spaces where they can meet with each other to discuss experiences and share ideas.
With this in mind, Shared Path is raising funds to be able to host an ongoing space for Indigenous community leaders, land, resources, and consultation workers to connect. The main objective of this project is for participants to make new connections, share experiences, and learn from each other. A secondary objective is to identify further tools and resources that should be developed to support Indigenous-municipal engagement.
Simultaneously, Shared Path will launch a special blog series featuring the experiences, thoughts, and opinions of Indigenous people with regards to land, law, and governance. Stipends will be provided the authors of each blog post. Through these posts we hope to educate the broad public about how Indigenous peoples are affected by land use decisions and initiate conversations about how truth and reconciliation can be achieved at the local level.
To learn more about Shared Path Consultation Initiative please visit www.sharedpath.ca
