A culturally appropriate approach to civic engagement: Addressing forestry and cumulative social impacts in southwest Yukon

Abstract

This article reports on an experimental civic engagement approach to link community observed cumulative effects of numerous local events and periods of resource development to indicators for sustainable forest and land management for the future. We describe a process where the interview findings with 28 key aboriginal and non-aboriginal informants in the Champagne Aishihik First Nations' (CAFN) Traditional Territory were summarized into key themes by researchers in a community workshop to elicit a selection of social indicators for future cumulative effects assessments. These responses were visions for the future based on a great deal of experiential learning that interviewees identified-part and parcel of any betterment to the community as new developments unfold. Themes such as "social healing" were further broken into indicators such as "community support systems" and then further broken into local measures, such as "the presence of, and access to, a youth centre, youth programs, and youth centres". The local historical approach to cumulative effects assessment helps us not only understand more about forestry, but more about the broader connections between community members and leaders, forestry and other resource developments, and lessons people have learned from the past and visions for the future. © 2010 Canadian Institute Forestry.