Growing together: A principle-based approach to building collaborative Indigenous partnerships in Canada’s forest sector

Abstract

While a great deal of recent research has focused on opportunities for Indigenous participation in Canada's forest sector, relatively little has explored how to translate various lessons learned into inclusive and mutually-beneficial collaborative processes. Through a review of recent peer-reviewed literature examining Indigenous participation in forest management and development, this paper seeks to fill the current knowledge gap by proposing a set of five principles, with twentythree underlying supporting mechanisms, that can be adopted by Indigenous communities, resource managers and government policy makers to help facilitate meaningful collaboration within the forest sector. These principles include: building respectful relationships; broad community engagement; bridging knowledge and value systems; flexible and holistic management systems; and clear and relevant measures of success. Although the proposed principles may be implemented either individually or in various combinations, to both improve existing collaborative arrangements and develop new ones, they may be best conceptualized as an integrated, incremental process involving any number of motivated partners. It is hoped that the lessons presented in this article will serve as a basis for diverse stakeholder groups to better understand each other's needs and ultimately work more effectively towards achieving respectful co-existence and equity in Canada's forest sector.Key Words: Aboriginal, collaboration, development, First Nation, forest, Indigenous, management, natural resource, partnership, planning RÉSUMÉBien qu'une grande partie des recherches récentes ait porté sur les occasions de participation pour les peuples Autochtones dans le secteur forestier, relativement peu de travaux se sont penchés sur les façons d'appliquer les différents enseignements retenus dans des processus de collaboration inclusifs et mutuellement profitables. En s'appuyant sur une analyse des documents scientifiques récents sur la participation des Autochtones à l'aménagement et au développement forestier, cet article cherche à combler le manque actuel de connaissances en proposant un ensemble de cinq principes, accompagnés de 23 mécanismes de base pour les appuyer; ces outils sont à la portée des communautés autochtones, des gestionnaires des ressources et des décideurs gouvernementaux et pourraient améliorer la collaboration au sein du secteur forestier. Voici donc ces principes : établir des relations de respect; une grande implication de la communauté; le rapprochement entre le savoir et les systèmes de valeurs; des systèmes de gestion flexibles et globaux et des mesures précises et pertinentes du succès. Bien qu' on puisse choisir d'adopter un seul ou une combinaison de ces principes, il serait préfé-rable de les voir comme un processus intégré et progressif auprès de partenaires motivés pour améliorer les processus collaboratifs actuels et en développer de nouveaux. Espérons que les enseignements présentés dans cet article serviront de base à différents groupe...

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