Enhancing Aboriginal participation in Northern land use planning

In the Northwest Territories (NWT), land claims created tripartite co-management boards, a power-sharing mechanism between Aboriginal organizations, territorial, and federal governments. Land use planning is overseen by such boards and is intended to be a community driven process but Aboriginal organizations and communities have difficulty participating at the same level as their government counterparts. The Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) agreement in British Columbia was considered as a "success" case study on Aboriginal participation in land use planning. Interviews with Aboriginal leadership and non-Aboriginal resource people were conducted in the GBR, the Dehcho and Sahtu for "lessons learned", and to identify ways to create enabling conditions for Aboriginal participation. Three spheres of influence were identified. Aboriginal leadership can create enabling conditions by influencing the technical planning process, exhibiting strong leadership and by adopting good governance practices and structures.;Keywords: land use planning, Aboriginal participation, co-management, Northern Canada, Aboriginal voice, Aboriginal interests and values, land and resource management, enabling conditions for Aboriginal participation...