By Jim Barr

It was an exciting day last week when British Columbia announced new adjustments to its governmental system allowing for additional Indigenous education and leadership to be heard.

Ktunaxa citizen and College of the Rockies University Studies Instructor Michele A Sam’s goal is to work with ambitious Columbia Valley “do’ers” who really want to make a difference in how the landscape is leveraged in favour of “economic development.”

She’s partnered with Amanda Sheedy to offer ‘Healthy Country Planning’ an innovative workshop series, kicking off next week, for 10 weeks, that puts new tools in the hands of land use and community planners on how to really emphasize place and the power sense of place really has.

“This topic of Indigenous Education on land use and water ways matters for everybody,” explained Sam. “We are all in the same place but not all on the same page yet. Development is happening, and has been happening, and will continue to happen. How do we plan for our future as climate conscious people? This course is a good way to learn about land planning in ways that cross, include and centre various perspectives. It’s about being ‘healthy’ not just for the place, but also the people and then self-determining what that looks like where you are and with whom.”

The course’s main goal is empowering attendees with one key takeaway.

“Amanda took the course before too. When I took this course, I was part of a team in a project near and dear to my heart. The course validated the past work done and it emphasized that role of place,” said Sam. “Planning in general, and my own experience of strategic planning is it can unintentionally be done in a bit of bubble, this approach, bursts that bubble and enables an inclusive approach, to include the plans that are already done, so that they can land in relation to other bubbles, other plans and projects, purposefully from the get go or mid-stream.  The course definitely gave a chance for my group of colleagues; to validate what we were doing already, and that we do need other voices at the table and that a lot of that work had already done before.”

In a recent call, Sam gave an example how for many, a great project will sit on a shelf.

Health Country Planning, which was developed and workshopped in Australia and based upon the Open Standard for the Practice of Conservation, is about how to build and/or embrace community around projects, to bring them new connections and strengthen ones already in place.

“Indigenous Peoples have been planners long before colonial days, this course creates space for that understanding and knowledge to re-populate.”

Listen to the land and gain perspective in a way you’ve never had the opportunity to do before. Sam and Sheedy invite you to introduce yourself to the concepts, principles and steps of that sense of place and how to ensure it’s at the core of any busy planners’ life.

For more and registration can be found here.

Photos courtesy birr Agency/#KtunaxaHomelands

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