Community Meeting with Aroland First Nation, 2019
As we all know, having as many people from your Indigenous Nation engaged in your land use planning process is important! It is a powerful way to ground the plan in your Nation’s values, visions and priorities. When the plan is so deeply rooted, it is bound to be successful.
In our last post, we listed 6 ways to get your community engaged in the planning process. Today, we are sharing a useful tool in organizing those community engagement sessions. See below for our ideas, and reap the rewards of a successful session with lots of community input — good luck!
It is important to be prepared and to plan for your various community engagement activities. Creating a community engagement checklist that is specifically designed for your own community is a great strategy for increasing community participation in your planning engagement session.
Here is an example checklist:
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Selecting Date & Time Date:____________ Time: __________ |
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Does the proposed time conflict with other important community events? |
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Can the community meeting be attached to another event that is already planned and taking place? |
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Does the proposed date & time conflict with regular trips from the community (i.e. medical centre days) |
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Selecting Venue Venue:_________________ |
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Is the venue centrally located and easily accessible for participants? |
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Is the venue a location where participants already gather? |
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Promotion of Event |
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Can the community meeting be promoted by: |
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- Identifying a community champion to invite people? |
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- Flyers/posters to be distributed in the community? |
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- Posting details on local community boards? |
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- E-mail blast? |
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- Social media (consider Facebook ads)? |
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- Local radio stations, news outlets and/or local newsletters? |
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- Local community groups? |
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- Personal phone calls |
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Is there a contingency plan in place if nobody shows up to the meeting? (i.e. local coordinator drives around to pick people up, going around and knocking on doors) |
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Food |
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Is a feast required? (If so, select appropriate meal that caters to the audience) |
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Are snacks (beverages and snacks) required? (If so, who will provide?) |
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Equipment |
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Do you need any equipment for this meeting or activity? |
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- Projector & extension cord |
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- Laptop, power cord & HDMI/VGA cords |
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- Portable microphone & speakers |
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- Sign-in sheet |
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- Other: (e.g. aisles, flip charts, markers, pens, note pads, etc.) |
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Miscellaneous |
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Are child care services required for the meeting? (If so, they must be advertised) |
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Are adequate transportation options available for participants? |
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Read more posts from this series:
If you are trying to figure out how to get started, do give us a shout. We’d be happy to discuss your options and help you weigh the pros and cons of your planning options. We’re a team of self-proclaimed planning geeks who love to talk about this stuff, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Looking for a quick overview of some planning options you might be considering?
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We are a Canadian B Corp, and we assist Indigenous communities with support throughout regulatory processes surrounding major development projects like mines, hydroelectric facilities, transmission lines, highway expansions, oil and gas pipelines, natural resource transport applications and nuclear power.
We have deep context and experience behind the recommendations we provide, having worked for our clients on almost every major project in Canada over the last 10 years. For us, it’s all about building long-term relationships with our clients. We want to get to know you and what you want to do so we can help you move your plans forward.
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