Story of using OST for regional visioning (long)

[Chris Corrigan]

Colleagues:

Wooooo.  Two good ones in two weeks.

Last week I was up in Fairbanks, Alaska with Michael Herman and Judi
Richardson and a bunch of others from this list, like Julie Smith, Dan
and Heidi Chay and Dave Athons, and we did a good one there on
peacekeeping.

And then yesterday I was in the dry central plateau of British Columbia
and we did a good one there too.  This one brought together First
Nations and non-Aboriginal people in a rural regional visioning
exercise.

The region I was working in is called The Cariboo.  It got the unusual
spelling from the friend of a judge who was once posted there during the
gold rush: "You're going to the Cariboo-hoo-hoo"  It was, and still is
to some extent, regarded as a backwater, populated with frontier minded
loggers, miners and ranchers, the kind of people who are always unfairly
tarred as "plaid-shirted rednecks."  Pickup trucks, guns and big
machinery forms the currency of conversation a lot of the time.  Most
folks from the urban south of British Columbia perceive the Cariboo as a
place rife with confrontation and exclusion.

But that profile of the Cariboo is a dangerously generalized thumbnail
sketch of the region.  What lies beneath it, and what gives rise to the
fierce pride that Cariboo residents are famous for is that fact that
people love that region with their entire spirits.  Like Fairbanks,
people consciously choose to live in The Cariboo, choose to put up with
uncertain economic opportunity, harsh weather (cold in winter hot in
summer) and ever increasing conflict over the land base.

To throw a wrench into the mix, the First Nations people of The Cariboo,
called Secepemc te Qelmixw, or the Northern Shuswap, have never settled
a treaty, and this big piece of unfinished business is hanging over the
whole region like a bad smell.  It puts uncertainty over the land and
resources, creates confusion about rights and the local economy and
fosters conflict between First Nations and settlers.  Passion everywhere
you look.

My client is the British Columbia Treaty Commission (BCTC), an
independent organization that oversees the implementation of the treaty
making process in this province.  Recently, the BCTC decided to create a
regional visioning process which would provide funds and in kind
services to regions who wish to explore their futures and how treaty
making might play a role in those futures.

A group of Cariboo residents, including folks from local government, the
local Tribal Council as well as logging, mining and ranching interests
decided to take the BCTC up on its offer of supporting regional
visioning and quite on their own arrived at the notion that OST would be
a useful process for beginning the dialogue and creating an agenda for
further action.

When we gathered yesterday there were 60 people in a room, about half
from the First Nations in the region and the other half from the towns
and outlying areas.  I was really nervous about the opening, because
people in the Cariboo are blessed with both retiring shyness and an
inherent suspicion of anything too new or unusual.  Our theme was
"Building healthy individuals, enterprises and communities together in
the Cariboo."

I opened space and 28 topics were quickly posted.  They included things
ranging from building a baseball field to encourage non-Aboriginal kids
and parents to visit the reserves, to creating a joint history and a
community storytelling project, to engaging in tourism partnerships.
Some discussion groups were more abstract and served as useful awareness
sessions, even if nothing concrete came out of them.

What was missing was discussions about activities on the land base like
logging and mining and ranching, which are the three most controversial
areas.  This happened for two reasons.  First, these issues are just not
at the stage where joint action can happen yet as they are mired in land
use planning processes and controversial economic and political
machinations.  Second, the positive forward looking theme helped people
self-select for areas of activity that were able to start NOW, and so
the resource sector folks didn't show up, and that was fine.  OST
allowed the group to focus on what was do-able, to build networks and
ideas together and propose action.

It became clear that the process was exactly what was required for the
region.  Several people remarked that they had been waiting for years to
talk to each other like this, instead of in angry and positional public
meetings that only served to polarize issues and people.  People also
responded positively to the notion that relationships get built between
people and not between groups, and that vision resides in everyone, and
not in a statement.  It was remarked in the closing that people wanted
much more of this, and so the follow up plan may include OST sessions
along the lines of "Inviting Action on ..." , where we gather with
planning tools such as day books and contact lists and craft meetings,
activities, projects and events.  Folks are interested in regional
visioning only if it translates into action now and seizing the
opportunities that are before them.  They are not hung up on the process
of articulating a vision, but rather want to jump directly to the stage
of moving on.

Knowing this region well, and seeing my nervousness about their
skepticism overcome with this event gives me a great deal of confidence
that I can use this process in other places.  For those of you thinking
of using OST for regional visioning, especially in rural regions, I
think my experience shows that it can work well in a crucible, where
even high degrees of conservatism, skepticism and shyness can be
overcome by the passion people feel for their lands and futures.

Chris

--

CHRIS CORRIGAN
Consultation - Facilitation
Open Space Technology

http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com

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