Developing Participation and Understanding Through Community Engagement. Engaging with the Kitsumkalum Land Code Policy

Abstract

Kitsumkalum Nation is an Indigenous community located in Northwest British Columbia, Canada. They are working to redefine their relationship with the Canadian Government by pursuing a major policy change through Land Code. Kitsumkalum Nation realized that they needed to undertake community engagement strategies about the proposed Land Code policy change, with the goals of increasing community awareness of this complex technical issue and securing First Nations’ input into the decision-making process. This research, designed to contribute to the scholarly literature on community engagement processes, was based on the expressed desire of the Kitsumkalum Nation to determine the best way to communicate with community members. After several meetings with Kitsumkalum Nation staff, I conducted a literature review on community engagement. As a result of my preliminary research on this topic and extensive consultations with community leaders, the Kitsumkalum Nation decided to experiment with video communications as a method to share information more efficiently and to engage the community in discussions and decision making. Typical methods of communicating information to Kitsumkalum Band members, such as public meetings, have not met the Nation’s needs or expectations. They hoped that the shortcomings in earlier communications methods may be overcome in part through the use of video communications as a community engagement tool.