Planning Around Reserves: Probing the Inclusion of First Nations in Saskatchewan's Watershed Planning Framework

Abstract

Watershed-based planning in Saskatchewan began in earnest after 2006 under the auspices of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority. Within a decade, a dozen watershed plans were produced following a planning framework that included technical and watershed resident committees. First Nation communities, or "reserves," exist within these watershed areas. This article probes the inclusion of First Nations in those plans. Using document analysis and keyword search, our analysis explores any spatial relationship that may exist between First Nation inclusion and the amount of reserve land in a watershed. The results of this research show that First Nation inclusion is limited in watershed planning in Saskatchewan. We see opportunity for more effective watershed planning through greater collaboration with First Nations.

Measuring First Nations Engagement in Water Governance in Manitoba

“…The purpose of a content analysis is to "draw inferences about related patterns in the contexts in which those texts are produced or used" [68] (p. 28). A similar approach has been used to study water governance in Saskatchewan and Alberta [19,20] and climate change in British Columbia [69]. Our content analysis has two components: a summative approach explored the manifest use of words and phrases, and an interpretative approach explored the latent meaning in the use of the keywords [67].…”

“…We can examine a subset of these formal interactions recorded in watershed plans and related documents. Prior studies have examined First Nations engagement in watershed planning in Alberta [19] and Saskatchewan [20]. This study analyzes Indigenous engagement in the prairie provinces by describing how Indigenous engagement has been practiced in provincial water governance in Manitoba, Canada (Figure 1).…”

A Parallel Approach to Water Stewardship Planning

“…In a relatively short period of time (2007-2014) a dozen of those plans were created for the 27 major watersheds in Saskatchewan (see Figure 1). Baijius and Patrick (2019b) report an absence of Indigenous consultation and engagement throughout the development of these watershed plans. In addition, the completed plans are concentrated in the southern, more populated, watersheds of the province.…”

“…Indigenous communities in Canada continue to be negatively impacted by upstream water resource and land use development activities (McGregor, 2012(McGregor, , 2014Basdeo &Bharadwaj, 2013;Baijius & Patrick, 2019a). Current water resource planning and management approaches nested in westernscience offer little space for Indigenous engagement, resulting in lost opportunities for collaboration, partnership and reconciliation (Castleden et al, 2017;Baijius & Patrick, 2019b). As a consequence, land use planning practices in Canada and other colonial states have mostly served to reproduce colonial relations nested in conflict and mistrust between settler-state actors and Indigenous communities (Lane, 2006;Arsenault et al, 2018).…”

“…In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, for example, provincial watershed plans completed under the authority of the provincial government (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013) fail to meaningfully engage Indigenous people despite Supreme Court of Canada (2004) rulings that the Crown owes a duty to consult Indigenous people on matters affecting treaty or Aboriginal rights (Viswanathan, 2019;Baijius & Patrick, 2019b).…”