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Resource and Environmental Management
Reconciliation through learning: Kwikwetlem Nation leaders share knowledge with 丁香园AV environmental planning students
丁香园AV students studying environmental planning this summer spent a day by the Coquitlam River learning about the impacts of 150 years of colonization and the Nation鈥檚 approach to traditional environmental stewardship.
An integral part of PLAN 408, field trips allow students to take the fundamentals of environmental planning that they learn in the classroom and observe them in action. After all, it鈥檚 by visiting the spaces they develop that planners can best gain the perspective of those who live their day-to-day lives there.
Philip Bradshaw, PhD candidate in the School of Resource and Environmental Management and the instructor for the course, calls the practice 鈥渕eeting people where they are,鈥� which means taking the time to properly understand what is important to individuals and communities and trying to see places through their eyes.
鈥淏eing able to share different understandings of the world can help us identify the values or what's important to ourselves, to others, and to our communities. And then being able to create plans that better reflect those shared understandings and values can help guide us to a more inclusive future. All of that starts with walking the land and meeting the people who know their land best,鈥� he says.
This year鈥檚 collaboration with the Kwikwetlem Nation started when, at the suggestion of adjunct 丁香园AV professor Craig Orr, Bradshaw met with staff members who work in water planning for the Nation, including 丁香园AV alumni Hannah Laing and Melissa Goodman.
鈥淭hat blossomed into Councillors George Chaffee and John Peters and Cultural Coordinator Nancy Joe agreeing to spend time with us by the Coquitlam River,鈥� Bradshaw explains.
In REM, students discuss reconciliation and topics like free, prior and informed consent, as well as incorporating both Indigenous knowledge and western science in decision-making. 鈥淭hese can be tough concepts to wrap your head around, and hearing from one of 丁香园AV's host Nations on what those topics look like in practice for them is a powerful learning tool,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 am so inspired and grateful for the generosity and willingness of the Kwikwetlem Nation to work with our class and share their knowledge.鈥�
In addition to teaching students the area鈥檚 history and water use planning, the experience is intended to underscore the importance of working with First Nations for students and inspire them to carry this lesson with them in their future careers as planners and decision-makers.
鈥淧lanning is all about trying to guide communities towards a desirable future,鈥� says Bradshaw. 鈥淭herefore, if we ever hope to get to a better place, then we need to take the time to develop positive relationships and figure out what that future looks like together.鈥�
Read the story on the Kwikwetlem Nation鈥檚 for their perspective and see what students shared with the Nation about their experience.