Story of an Open Space with First Nations and local government

Sat Sep 16 02:01:11 PDT 2000

Colleagues:

I was privileged to particiapte in what has been described as "an
historic meeting" between First Nations and local government here in the
Vancouver area.  On Thursday i opened the space for dialogue on how
these two groups can live together as neighbors.

As you know if you have been reading my stories, British Columbia is in
the midst of a process to finally conclude treaties between the federal
and provincial government and First Nations in British Columbia.  This
is very much unfinished business, and it is a highly charged and
emotional undertaking.  In the hinterland regions of the province, the
issues are farily straight forward, but treaty making in the Vancouver
region is incredibly complex with more than 20 local governments, 3
Regional Districts, and lots of quasi-governmental jurisdications like
water districts and port authorities.  Over 1.2 million people live in a
region claimed by 6 First Nations.  At the negotiating table with these
First Nations are federal and provincial governments with little more
than a token representative from local government.

Needless to say, at the end of the day, it is First Nations and local
governments that are going to have to live with the treaties that the
senior level of government negotiate.  And the relationship between
First Nations and local government has historically been acrimonious at
best and downright confrontational at worst.  It seems however, that
change is finally on the horizon.

The Lower Mainland Treaty Advisory Committee, which represents local
government interests in the treaty process and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation
(TWN) decided to co-sponsor a community to community forum to explore
common issues that face their futures together.  The theme they picked
was "Our Communities Together" with a poetic sub theme:

"Together our communities touch the past, hear the present, see the
future; Together we seek to understand and respect our differences,
identify current and common issues and develop co-operative solutions."

They took a great leap of faith on their part and opted for Open Space,
not knowing whether or not the conflict that was sure to occur would be
contained by the process.  The tremendously difficult task of convincing
local politicians to let go of their need to have a controlling process
and a predetermined agenda was handled masterfully by the steering
committee.

I structured the day for maximum relationship building.  Four 1.5 hour
sessions were held with no convergence or action planning.  Instead I
asked that each group identify one way the discussions could be "taken
out of the room" at some point during their discussions.  But the
important part of the day was going to be the interaction that would
occur, and this is what I was looking forward to.  As it turned out, one
group did convene an action planning session after they had finished
meeting, and they continued on with a smaller group for a half hour or
so while they nailed down committments.

38 people showed up, about two thirds of whom were local government
politicians and staff, and the rest were from five First Nations.  The
going was slow in the agenda setting, as people were really quite
nervous about coming forward.  After a long time with lots of silences,
we had 15 topics, 13 of which were reported on.  Interestingly, 9 of the
groups were convened by First Nations reps, while 5 were convened by
local government folks (including one on "Tradition and Chaos" proposed
by a mayor/physicist).  One group was convened by a third party group
who was also invited.

It seemed to me that the subjects were mostly foundational, relating to
the task of building relationships.  I was expecting more concrete
issues, but clearly the group was not ready to deal with these.  It was
like returning to square one, and asking some very basic questions about
each other.  I was surprised at how little each knew of the other.

We could hardly have asked for two more conflicted groups of people to
come together.  I am certain now that if we had pre-determined the
agenda and proposed concrete topics for people to work on together, we
would have set up uncontainable conflict.  The agenda would have been
too stressful to the embryonic relationships that were forming, and for
sure they would have broken these delicate bonds.

That isn't to say that conflict did not arise.  But it was dealt with in
the groups.  One participant told me that he thought the reason for this
lay in the fact that there were no facilitators.  Ordinarily, combatants
would have looked to a facilitator to resolve the conflict, but when
talk became heated and emotional, he noted that everyone looked around
and then realized that they were on their own.  THEY had to take
responsibility for resolving the conflict.  And they did.  I think part
of this is that the Law of Two Feet means that people have the choice of
avoiding conflict at the outset, but if they find themselves in
conflict, they realize that they are solely responsible for being
there.  They can resolve it or leave.  And no one left until things were
smoothed out.

It should also be said that the lack of a predetermined agenda makes it
very difficult for people to prepare for the meeting by becoming
positional.  People are therfore open when they arrive, and they maybe
nervous or scared or angry, but they aren't positional.  Until we set
the agenda there's nothing to fight against.

The result was discussions that were shockingly frank in terms of
preconceptions and assumptions, yet generally stayed very civil.  Those
who seemed to be spoiling for a fight never seemed to get one.

The lesson that Open Space grows appropriate structure came home for me
very clearly, and in a truly humourous way.  You have to remember that
probably 80% of the participants were politcians: cheifs, councilors
(both Band Councillors and municipal ones) and mayors.  And these people
do their best work during coffee breaks --  that is where the deals are
made.  We did not schedule coffee breaks but the group took them
anyway!  It took between 20 and 30 minutes between sessions for everyone
to get into groups away from the coffee table.  They were busy
networking and relationship building!  Of course I let this go, never
calling out the times or forcing people to get down to work.
Appropriate structure was growing before my eyes, and it worked absolute
magic.  The result was that people got to know each other in the groups
and deal with heavy issues there and then process that experience in the
impromptu coffee breaks.  There was a real sense of watching the group
breathe in and out as they moved between the two forms of structure.  It
was a very beautiful dance.

The closing circle was very special.  The co-sponsoring mayor proclaimed
the day an historic occaision, and said that he had finally found a
meeting process that worked.  He cited all the years of acrimonioous
public meetings and declared himself officially sick and tired of them.
Open Space surprised him, and he stated that his expectations were blown
away.  He called it an exceptional day.  Several others remarked on how
their eyes had been opened for the first time to people they only held
dim stereotypes about.  This comment was shared by both Aboriginal and
non-Aboriginal people.  One Aboriginal person said that she wanted to
see what we had strated "spread out like Amway!" A pyramid scheme of
process!  Several speakers concluded by remarking on the sense of hope
and optimism that had been generated, despite the hard truths that were
revealed and the heavy differences that still existed.

I understand that both the mayor and the cheif who had so-sponsored the
meeting did interviews with CBC radio after the meeting.  I haven't
heard anything yet, but if I get a transcript I'll add it to this story
on my website.

This was easily the most conflicted group I have ever worked with.  And
the good news is that the process not only passes the litmus test in
these environments, but succeeds spectacularly in bringing people
together to share honest and forthright views and use that passion to
develop at least the seeds of transformative and enduring relationships.

Chris.

--
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

108-1035 Pacific Street
Vancouver BC
V6E 4G7

Phone: 604.683.3080
Fax: 604.683.3036
corcom at interchange.ubc.ca
http://www.geocities.com/chris_corrigan

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