 | Home page |  | Text size |  | E-mail this page |
Inuit leaders consulted for sustainable community plan Two-part document outlines five-year action plan and 50-year vision
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 9, 2013
IQALUIT
After seven years of extensive planning, the city of Iqaluit's Sustainable Community Plan is a week away from completion.
Rather than going down the traditional path of creating a sustainable plan made up of three to five pillars, sustainability co-ordinator Robyn Campbell, who began working on the project in 2011, chose to approach things differently.
"Typically sustainability concepts from the south are good but not resonant," she said.
"People told us they aren't very 'human' and they don't feel like they mean very much. Because Inuit culture is all about relationships - to the environment, the land, the people - we decided early on to listen to the Inuit leadership and create a plan that allows scope for modern and traditional economies."
Sustainability plans are documents used by communities across Canada to make good decisions today that won't harm future generations, she added.
The City of Iqaluit committed to a plan in 2006 when it joined the Sustainable Cities PLUS Network. A grant by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in 2010 helped make the plan possible.
The exhaustive document is split into two parts - an overview, which describes the context and history behind the planning process, and an action plan, which lays out the objectives for the next five years.
The 50-year vision embraces both Inuit knowledge (Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit) and non-Inuit (Qallunaat) knowledge, while getting as many Iqalummiut involved in the process as possible.
The research includes more than 300 documents about Iqaluit that were collected over the past 10 years, and 150 of those were given in-depth analysis.
From that information and input received from the community, a "what we heard" document was created and work began on categorizing themes and ways of grouping them together.
The action plan features three distinct sections with a variety of sub-sections, including relationship to our environment, relationship to social and family well-being and relationship to a productive society.
Campbell said she was able to avoid running into challenges while putting the wealth of information together because of Iqalummiut's resiliency.
"In a way, our community is so adaptable," she said.
"We don't really recognize all the time how big the challenges we face are. We keep adapting to what people say we should be doing."
Feedback for the document has been overwhelming so far, with more than 900 hits to the plan's website in the first two weeks alone.
An implementation and monitoring strategy has also been put into place and an annual progress report on the actions in the action plan will be delivered to city council.
A five-year comprehensive review of the sustainable community plan will also be created, to re-evaluate certain aspects if necessary, "and also to celebrate our successes," Campbell said.
Iqaluit councillor Mary Wilman contributed to the plan by facilitating a workshop with long-term Iqalummiut last November.
She said communities have more chances of being successful when they receive input from its residents.
"If a sustainability plan is developed in isolation of its people and only driven by certain groups, that isn't dynamic or inclusive," she said.
"This is why this plan is so wonderful, because it has included everybody. The continuum of giving people a say is very empowering to them and I think it's critical."
Iqalummiut have until Sept. 15 to provide feedback on the draft.
Drop-in sessions for any additional questions will be taking place at the Iqaluit Centennial Library on Sept. 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and on Sept. 13 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The draft is available for viewing and downloading online.
| 
