UBC Indigenous community planning program secures funding for five years

The Indigenous Community Planning program at UBC will continue for another five years thanks to a $500K grant, reports the Vancouver Sun. Funded by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the grant will allow the program to hire an Indigenous instructor and increase the program’s student intake from six to 10 students per year. ICP is offered as a masters concentration in which students attend core courses, followed by an eight-month practicum where students are sent out in pairs to spend 400 hours living in and working with an Indigenous community. “I think it’s a breakthrough way of doing planning with indigenous communities,” said program Chairwoman Leonie Sandercock. “I think we’re the first planning program in North America to recognize the need to think deeply about how to work in a good way with indigenous communities, given the range of issues affecting indigenous communities and their relationships with the Government of Canada.” Vancouver Sun