Open Space and indigenous process (was RE: American and native OS)

[Chris Corrigan]

Hi Mikk:

Good timing on your message.  I have been holding off posting this for a
while, but now that the project is under way I can let you know about
it.

My partner Chris Robertson and I are working with a First Nation here on
the southwest coast of Canada in using OST to compliment their
traditional governance processes.  The First Nation is currently
governed by a Chief and Council in the colonial fashion designed and
accountable to the Department of Indian Affairs.  The Chief and
Councilors are elected by First Nations members, but it is not a
traditional form of governance.

This particular First Nation is involved in a process to negotiate a
treaty with the federal and provincial governments with respect to land,
self-government and other rights and is one of the "lead tables" of the
45 or so First Nations currently doing so in British Columbia.

Of course when there is so much on line, as there is with treaty
negotiations, communities become stressed.  In the first land offer that
was made to this First Nation a few years ago, several families were
excluded in the final land selection, meaning that they had no access to
their traditional lands.  As a result, the agreement-in-principle was
voted down by the First Nation by the narrowest of margins: 49%-51%

In order to move forward, the First Nation commissioned a small study to
ask the families what it would take to create a treaty that was better
supported.  Overwhelmingly, the response was that the families required
a more inclusive form of governance, and that families needed to have
more influence over the four areas of government on the First Nation:
Chief and Council, Health Care, economic development and the treaty
negotiations.

As a result of the study, the Chief and Council decided to research
their traditional forms of governance and especially the role that
families played in organizing the community.  The research uncovered a
number of traditional practices, one of which was called "Sijitus" which
is a Halkomelem word meaning "advise or advisory process."  Sijitus
traditionally was a group composed of family Headmen who reviewed the
needs of the community and appointed tasks to members of their families
based on skills for the benefit of the whole community.

The Sijitus concept was chosen by this First Nation as a way to create a
traditionally based process of inclusionary government.  We were
contacted when the person who had planned and designed the process
learned of Open Space and our work with traditional governments in BC as
well as with more contemporary organizations and First Nations community
structures.  Our contact at that First Nation saw Open Space as a
natural fit with this process, and so we have been invited to facilitate
monthly Sijitus meetings in Open Space.

The meetings themselves are short, only four hours long.  As the process
unfolds, the families will all appoint spokespeople to show up and
convene conversations about issues their families care about.  We will
do a quick convergence process to get the top five recommendations
flowing from these conversations and then we will spend time ensuring
that the recommendations are clear and supported by a consensus of the
people present.  The recommendations are then forwarded to Chief and
Council who have pledged to act on them within a month, and who will
repot back to the Sijitus on their progress via the community
newsletter.  If there are recommendations that cannot be implemented for
one reason or another, the reasons will be made clear and the Sijitus
can re-consider an alternative way of making the recommendation happen.

This is a non-binding process, but it holds great promise for bringing a
traditional sense of inclusion to the traditional families structures
that, although no longer formally recognized by the colonial government,
are still powerful forces within the community.  Our first meeting was
last Saturday and we received some very good advice from a small group
mostly relating to getting the process up and running.  I'll continue to
advise the list if there are significant developments.

I have a short Word document that the First Nation has prepared that I
can send to anyone who is interested to learn more.  Myself, I am very
intrigued by how the First Nation is working to bring together
traditional dynamics, structures and processes with Open Space, which
they see as a bridge between the contemporary realities of First Nations
government and the need to recognize and operate within a deep cultural
context.

Cheers,

Chris

---
CHRIS CORRIGAN
Bowen Island, BC, Canada
http://www.chriscorrigan.com
chris at chriscorrigan.com
(604) 947-9236

-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Mikk
Sarv
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7:55 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: American and native OS

I agree with HO that OS is in a great extent native and natural thing,
what has been practiced in one or another form around world for
thousands of years.  This is perhaps the reason, why it is so easily
applicable in whatever language and environment.
Another question is the renewal of this ancient and powerful tool.
There is a nice rule: don't fix it if it works! Most of facilitators of
OS around world seem to stick pretty punctually to the way OS
facilitation is proposed to convene in Users Guide, repeating carefully
all sentences etc.
As the OS in English (American) works so powerfully there seems to be no
need for it's alteration.  In many languages even the name of it, Open
Space is often left untranslated.
I am passionate to find the contact with native OS traditions.  I am
much grateful for any guidance to resources in listserve archives about
this topic.  I am also much interested to develop here further ideas and
experiences of OS in other languages and traditions.
August 15-17 there is going to be held the second OS conference Earth
and People in a small village Shongui of Murmansk region, Russian
Saamiland.  Russian Saamis (lapps) are rediscovering their native ways
of OS nad plan to have annually a meeting on that topic in their
country.
We from Estonia invite people to face2face OS meeting "Native OS as
Practice of Peace" in Tartu University for the first week of February
2004.
With greetings,
Mikk Sarv
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