Topic Archives: Planning

how Truth & Reconciliation interwine

On Thursday, September 7th 2017, CBC interviewed Professor Nicholas Rose from King’s College, U.K. on his sociological studies for an upcoming Mental Health and the Mega-city workshop in Switzerland. Professor Rose discussed the apparent link between higher rates of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia and city life.

The intention of the workshop was to raise awareness about the intersection of land use planning and Aboriginal & Treaty rights. In one short day, it is impossible to cover more than just the tip of the iceberg, but it did provide a broad overview of the history of colonialism in North America and how planning fits into that story.

On the 2nd of June 2015, Archbishop Fred Hiltz read an ecumenical response on behalf of Anglican, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic and United church leaders “Acknowledging that their apologies for harms done at Indian residential schools “are not enough,”… [and] welcomed the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which they say will offer direction to their “continuing commitment to reconciliation” with Indigenous peoples.”

The relationship between Aboriginal communities and Canadian society continues to evolve in 2015. On the 2nd of June, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its Call to Action, and, among its many recommendations, advocated accepting Aboriginal claims over land and shifting of the burden of proving any limitations onto those asserting such limitations.

It has been more than 50 years since Jane Jacobs wrote her opus The Death and Life of Great American Cities, a seminal critique of the rationalist assumptions underlying urban renewal and sub-urban sprawl. Her challenge to planners is that abstraction will not work “…You’ve got to get out and walk” (Downtown is for People, 1957).

Several years ago, Mark Douglas, an Elder from Rama First Nation, offered a prayer of welcome at a planning event. He praised the long registration period that morning for the chance it gave everyone to greet and mingle, indicating that it represented the true spirit of consultation.

Without it there’s dust and decay. But with water, there’s life… The 2013 celebration of World Town Planning Day at Monsignor Lee Catholic School in Orillia used the theme of water, with some of the many floods and droughts from last year being noted.