Sustainable development focus of workshop

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The Mohawk people at Akwesasne believe that planning today must reflect the thinking of seven generations in the future.

This concept is the basis of sustainable development. It was also the theme of a key note address presented by Henry Lickers to the National Model Forest Network workshop on social and economic indicators of sustainable development.

The workshop, held recently in Port Alberni, gave Aboriginal representatives an opportunity to share their perspectives on forestry and the environment with other delegates from across Canada and around the world.

The focus of the workshop was on determining the importance of indicators of the planning and management of forests and on developing indicators as tools to be used in decision-making processes. Lickers, the director of the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, environment division, told a story which reminded delegates that indictors, in order to be useful, must be taken in context.

"Quite a long time ago, maybe in this area, maybe at Akwesasne, there was a very rich lumber man driving down the road in his very expensive BMW convertible, smoking his big cigar. "As he was driving, he came to a corner, around which came a longhaired hippie-looking environmentalist driving a beat up old microbus. The environmentalist rolled down his window as he passed the lumber man and yelled, 'Pig!'

"The lumber man was quite indignant and said to himself, 'What in the world is wrong with these people?' and he drove around the corner and ran smack into a pig standing in the middle of the road.

"In this story, the person assumed the indicator he was looking at was the guy in the microbus yelling "pig" at him and that the guy was making a social comment, not a physical one. I think one of the things we have to be careful about when we are looking at indicators, is in which context we are looking at them," said Lickers.

Also key to understanding and determining indicators is realizing that timber production is only one value of the forest and can't be exploited at the expense of all other interests.

"People don't act as the dominant force in forest ecosystems in Aboriginal thinking," said Gene Kimbley, manager of forest operations for the Montreal Lake Cree Nation.

"Economic advantage must be balanced against cultural preservation," said Doug Elias, a professor at the University of Lethbridge who spoke about regional economic development in Aboriginal communities.

According to Elias, Aboriginal people have been clear about what they want for forest management and economic, political and cultural development since 1969.

"It is important that we be consistent with existing work done by Aboriginal models. We have sources of information on comprehensive development plans. Why reinvent the wheel?"

Although Aboriginal participation in forest planning and management is crucial,

it must be meaningful involvement. "Sometimes the Aboriginal component of co-management is just token. We have to have a real voice," said Clarence Kennedy, Manitoba Model Forest.

Co-management must involve Aboriginal people in the decision-making, incorporate Aborignal ideas in planning and encourage the exchange of knowledge between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal.

"Aboriginal heritage is based on hunting, trapping, gathering and fishing and it is vital that we continue harvesting in a way consistent with tradition," said Peggy Smith, National Aboriginal Forestry Association.

Smith also recommended that forest management planning should recognize and integrate the value of Aboriginal ecological knowledge.

'Aboriginal people are not just another 'stakeholder.'

Lickers reminded delegates that incorporating Aboriginal perspective in forest management must begin with a balanced relationship.

"There are three components to a balanced relationship: respect, equity and empowerment. If I take lots of respect, but I give you no equity and no empowerment, I am treating you like children. If I give you a littl bit of respect, with lots of equity and no empowerment, then I am treating you like prostitutes.

"If I give you lots of empowerment, with little equity and little respect, then I am treating you like police officers. The task that we have (during this conference) is to see how we can balance that deal. How can we bring those things together so that there are adequate amounts of respect, equity and empowerment."