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Wahnapitae, Ontario
For generations, the Wahnapitae First Nation has hunted, fished, and held their Traditional gatherings and ceremonies around the Wahnapitae watershed, just north of Sudbury. The Wahnapitae First Nation, in partnership with GeoConnections' Sustainable Communities Initiative and Natural Resources Canada's Minerals and Metals Sector, and with financial assistance from Indian and Northern Affairs, has embarked on an extensive geographical information systems (GIS) program. By mapping the Wahnapitae watershed, they aim to promote sustainable development on their land and create an economic base for their members, while protecting the environment and their sacred sites.
"Our primary resource is water, but we need to know the areas where our traditional gatherings are held, where our burial sites are, and do a forestry and wildlife inventory," says Peter Recollet of the Wahnapitae First Nation. They called on their elders to share their knowledge of the plants, animals, and the Traditional uses of the area, and that information has been used, in part, to develop a Traditional Knowledge Framework and Values Map.
"There is extensive resource extraction happening in our area – mining, forestry, water, hydro-electric power," says Mr. Recollet. "When development happens, there are so many different provincial ministries and regulations that there can be conflicting information." Wahnapitae uses a two-prong approach to minimize that confusion, as well as make sound land use decisions. First, they have a resource development policy for the watershed. "We are pro-development," Mr. Recollet explains, "But there must be more benefits than impacts – to the environment, and to the social and economic components of our community." Any company that requests a development permit must first speak with the Wahnapitae First Nation and follow the bullet points' contained in the policy. Second, the ongoing work to digitally map the area will enable all the provincial, business, and community partners to work from common ground. "The policy has opened the door for us to work in partnership with the developers so that they can also benefit from the information we are compiling with GIS."
To illustrate the benefits of GIS, Mr. Recollet recalls a time when Wahnapitae was considering housing a tree nursery on their reserve. They used GIS tools to compile information on soil types, the groundwater, aquifer, and the forestry and wildlife inventory, but when they used that data to search for the necessary conditions for the nursery, all suitable areas were quickly eliminated. "It was obvious we couldn't house it on the reserve because we looked at the long term impacts," he says. "Although some might see this as a lost economic opportunity, we made a well informed resource decision."
When the project first began, the Wahnapitae Council was concerned about the confidentiality of information, such as the locations of their sacred sites. "GIS is helping us identify all the resources in our community so that we can protect them. This has really hit home with our Council, and we've been mandated now to put in a whole land use policy using the GIS on the reserve."
Career opportunities for their members are also beginning to bear fruit. Band members conduct all water sampling, and some of their younger members are now studying GIS at university.
"It's a big project," Mr. Recollet admits, and they are just scratching the surface of what the technology will be able to do for their reserve. "In the long run, GIS is the best tool for any land use planning for our area."