A collaborative Indigenous Community Planning Project with the Tobacco Plains Indian Bands

Our practicum with Tobacco Plains Indian Band (TPIB) began in October 2013, and concluded in June 2014. TPIB acquired funding through the British Columbia Community Initiative (BCCI) to fund a second phase of community planning. In combination with funding provided through the Real Estate Foundation of BC, we were able to travel to and from TPIB, developing our understanding of Indigenous planning, planning for and with Indigenous people, and supporting planning in the community. Tobacco Plains is a small First Nation in Southeast BC, along the Montana border, with a total population of about 140, only about half of which live on reserve. We joined the Community Planning Coordinator, Band Administrator and Administrator’s Assistant, and our UBC Instructor in forming the core Planning Team in TPIB to complete this phase of the TPIB CCP. The practicum represents the pinnacle learning achievement for students in the new Indigenous Community Planning specialization at the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP). Our approach for the practicum was founded on a positive and collaborative relationship with TPIB, identifying both personal and mutual learning objectives (see page 10). Our practicum was a 9-month, immersive and applied cultural experience in Indigenous community planning. In total, we visited the community seven times and contributed well over 800 hours in combined planning capacity to TPIB, with the end result of drafting a new community plan (phase 2) for TPIB (see page 88). We were guided by the creation of key documents and strategies, including our Learning Agreement, Student Partnership Agreement, and Work Plan. As an exercise in comprehensive community planning (CCP), the practicum gave us real, on the ground experience in Indigenous community. We witnessed the results and ineffectiveness of Western based planning in TPIB, envisioned and experimented with our own new and creative planning process based strongly on community participation and interactive, engaging planning activities. In total, the Planning Team engaged 50 members, including 15 youth and 3 elders, through seven community events, three youth events, three elder interviews, and one off-reserve session, formed a Community Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC), and gathered the issues, needs, concerns and vision of the community through the use of various tools, methods and techniques (see page 23). Planning information and knowledge was gathered from three distinct areas: Past planning history, community sessions, and Chief and Council’s Strategic Planning Session. Information was gathered, recorded, analyzed, documented and presented by the Planning Team. Information was placed into a framework that highlighted TPIB’s pressing issues, it’s strengths, it’s overall planning themes, strategic directions, pathways and actions. Continuing with the framework from CCP phase 1 in 2011, information fit into 8 planning themes: Economic Development, Governance, Infrastructure, Health, Social, Language & Culture, Education, and Lands & Resources. Within these 8 themes, the Planning Team identified 8 strategic directions, 15 pathways and 33 action-options (see page 29-33). The broad nature of CCP meant that we gained experience and familiarity with a broad range of planning areas that impact the community members of TPIB. These issues are represented in the eight planning themes identified above. Each of these planning themes has an accompanying action strategy (see Table 6). We also gained critical experience in process design, research and analysis, documentation & presentation, and employed culturally relevant metaphors to represent the planning process (see page 34). Our practicum encompassed pre-planning, developing a situational analysis, visioning, identifying issues and actions, and formulating action-strategies. Important next steps for TPIB is to continue on with the planning process the Planning Team identified for the community (see page 34). This means continuing into the implementation and monitoring and evaluation phases (see 36); the Planning Team developed important tools to assist in the delivery of these planning phases. Continuing on with the community planning process will help to create unity and cohesion in TPIB, and encourage Chief and Council to work more collaboratively with TPIB members. SCARP is trying to reimagine it’s place in the planning education world, and its impact on and relationship with First Nations people, through the creation of the ICP program. Still in its infancy, ICP has the potential to impact greatly the planning realm, and the complex interconnections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Finally, determining the nature and scope of the practicum projects at an early enough date will help students, communities and the school to gain the most from the practicum process.Applied Science, Faculty ofCommunity and Regional Planning (SCARP), School ofUnreviewedGraduat