ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the potential for applying the concept of decolonization and principles of recognition and reconciliation to reforming land use planning and policy with First Nations in Southern Ontario, with the intention of enhancing Indigenous rights to planning cities and regions. The author presents a case study of the revision of the Ontario Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) in 2014 involving a collaboration of Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers and planning practitioners to show how First Nations in Southern Ontario are involved in informing, managing, and mitigating land use planning and development processes on First Nations’ traditional territories. The paper concludes that formal policies and plans encouraging and/or mandating recognition of First Nations and reconciliation between First Nations and non-First Nations must be tested or run the risk of becoming largely symbolic gestures. The principles of recognition and reconciliation can translate into planning practice when practitioners incorporate the principles as attributes to their own practice and use the policies as precedents to change the course of development affecting First Nations’ traditional lands.
