Indigenous Community Planning (ICP)

Indigenous peoples everywhere have been stewards of their lands and resources, planned their communities, and passed on teachings since time immemorial. The Musqueam people revitalized this tradition in 2011 by creating a Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP). In February 2013, Musqueam’s CCP was recognized by and included on UN Habitat’s website as a Best Practice plan for sustainable community development.

SCARP is honoured to be in a teaching and learning partnership with the Musqueam Indian Band in the design and delivery of the ICP concentration. This concentration attracts both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, from a range of academic and professional backgrounds, who want to work with Indigenous communities. Ten committed students are accepted each year to enter into this concentration.

Our intent is to train a new generation of community planners who will break with the colonial legacy and culture of planning in order to work in respectful partnership with Indigenous communities.

We seek to equip emerging community planners with the necessary theory, skills, knowledge, and capacity to support Indigenous communities in achieving their own aspirations for land stewardship, cultural revitalization, strong governance, health and well-being. 

Our approach is grounded in community and land-based learning, emphasizes mutual and transformative learning, and integrates these principles with grounding in Indigenous worldviews (ways of being, knowing, and doing).

Our scope is Canada-wide, but focuses on practical learning with/in First Nations communities in BC, where historical legacies as well as current political, economic and demographic realities present numerous complex issues, including governance, resource management, land use, health, education and employment.

Students in ICP complete a modified set of general MCRP requirements plus a set of ICP-specific requirements. Foremost, this includes undergoing a Practicum (instead of the Planning Studio) which partners pairs of students with an Indigenous community for eight or more months to work on a planning project (typically a comprehensive community plan).

ICP students complete the program requirements over two academic years and six academic terms.

Throughout the ICP core curriculum and practicum, students will explore:

• The meaning and significance of Indigenous planning as a re-emerging theory of action among Indigenous community planners, civic leaders, and professionals
• Values underpinning Indigenous approaches to community development
• How an Indigenous planning paradigm challenges existing planning practice in Canada
• How mainstream planning needs to adapt to achieve recognition of and justice for Indigenous peoples
• Challenges faced by First Nations in BC when implementing projects in their communities
• The impacts of surrounding jurisdictions (municipal, provincial and federal) on Indigenous planning
• The impacts of First Nations community development (social and economic) on surrounding jurisdictions
• Knowledge and skills needed for working with/in an Indigenous community
• Concepts, praxis, methodology, and ethical/cultural considerations regarding decolonizing planning
• The role of non-Indigenous planners in Indigenous community planning and development

The Future of MCRP and ICP

SCARP has updated the course requirements for all future sessions of the MCRP program, in order to keep pace with a rapidly-changing world and the range of problems that planners try to solve. These updates were shaped by a consultation between SCARP faculty, students, alumni, and the Canadian Institute of Planners and the American Planning Association.

The updated program addresses some of the biggest challenges facing society today, including climate change, systemic injustice, and planning for more resilient communities; as well as ongoing efforts to repair relationships with Indigenous people and decolonize planning in Canada. 

The updated program is in effect as of the 2022/2023 academic year. Students enrolled in September 2021 will not be held to the updated requirements, and can proceed as per their established program plan. 

Graduates from the ICP concentration work for Indigenous nations, at local municipal planning departments, provincial and federal agencies, consulting firms, and non-profit organizations. Graduates from the ICP concentration have found work within a range of communities and organizations including but not limited to: