Colleagues: Wooooo. Two good ones in two weeks.
Last week I was up in Fairbanks, Alaska with Michael Herman and Judi Richardson and a bunch of others from this list, like Julie Smith, Dan and Heidi Chay and Dave Athons, and we did a good one there on peacekeeping. And then yesterday I was in the dry central plateau of British Columbia and we did a good one there too. This one brought together First Nations and non-Aboriginal people in a rural regional visioning exercise. The region I was working in is called The Cariboo. It got the unusual spelling from the friend of a judge who was once posted there during the gold rush: "You're going to the Cariboo-hoo-hoo" It was, and still is to some extent, regarded as a backwater, populated with frontier minded loggers, miners and ranchers, the kind of people who are always unfairly tarred as "plaid-shirted rednecks." Pickup trucks, guns and big machinery forms the currency of conversation a lot of the time. Most folks from the urban south of British Columbia perceive the Cariboo as a place rife with confrontation and exclusion. But that profile of the Cariboo is a dangerously generalized thumbnail sketch of the region. What lies beneath it, and what gives rise to the fierce pride that Cariboo residents are famous for is that fact that people love that region with their entire spirits. Like Fairbanks, people consciously choose to live in The Cariboo, choose to put up with uncertain economic opportunity, harsh weather (cold in winter hot in summer) and ever increasing conflict over the land base. To throw a wrench into the mix, the First Nations people of The Cariboo, called Secepemc te Qelmixw, or the Northern Shuswap, have never settled a treaty, and this big piece of unfinished business is hanging over the whole region like a bad smell. It puts uncertainty over the land and resources, creates confusion about rights and the local economy and fosters conflict between First Nations and settlers. Passion everywhere you look. My client is the British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC), an independent organization that oversees the implementation of the treaty making process in this province. Recently, the BCTC decided to create a regional visioning process which would provide funds and in kind services to regions who wish to explore their futures and how treaty making might play a role in those futures. A group of Cariboo residents, including folks from local government, the local Tribal Council as well as logging, mining and ranching interests decided to take the BCTC up on its offer of supporting regional visioning and quite on their own arrived at the notion that OST would be a useful process for beginning the dialogue and creating an agenda for further action. When we gathered yesterday there were 60 people in a room, about half from the First Nations in the region and the other half from the towns and outlying areas. I was really nervous about the opening, because people in the Cariboo are blessed with both retiring shyness and an inherent suspicion of anything too new or unusual. Our theme was "Building healthy individuals, enterprises and communities together in the Cariboo." I opened space and 28 topics were quickly posted. They included things ranging from building a baseball field to encourage non-Aboriginal kids and parents to visit the reserves, to creating a joint history and a community storytelling project, to engaging in tourism partnerships. Some discussion groups were more abstract and served as useful awareness sessions, even if nothing concrete came out of them. What was missing was discussions about activities on the land base like logging and mining and ranching, which are the three most controversial areas. This happened for two reasons. First, these issues are just not at the stage where joint action can happen yet as they are mired in land use planning processes and controversial economic and political machinations. Second, the positive forward looking theme helped people self-select for areas of activity that were able to start NOW, and so the resource sector folks didn't show up, and that was fine. OST allowed the group to focus on what was do-able, to build networks and ideas together and propose action. It became clear that the process was exactly what was required for the region. Several people remarked that they had been waiting for years to talk to each other like this, instead of in angry and positional public meetings that only served to polarize issues and people. People also responded positively to the notion that relationships get built between people and not between groups, and that vision resides in everyone, and not in a statement. It was remarked in the closing that people wanted much more of this, and so the follow up plan may include OST sessions along the lines of "Inviting Action on ..." , where we gather with planning tools such as day books and contact lists and craft meetings, activities, projects and events. Folks are interested in regional visioning only if it translates into action now and seizing the opportunities that are before them. They are not hung up on the process of articulating a vision, but rather want to jump directly to the stage of moving on. Knowing this region well, and seeing my nervousness about their skepticism overcome with this event gives me a great deal of confidence that I can use this process in other places. For those of you thinking of using OST for regional visioning, especially in rural regions, I think my experience shows that it can work well in a crucible, where even high degrees of conservatism, skepticism and shyness can be overcome by the passion people feel for their lands and futures. Chris -- CHRIS CORRIGAN Consultation - Facilitation Open Space Technology http://www.chriscorrigan.com ch...@chriscorrigan.com * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu, Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
