Shared Path Consultation Initiative

We at the Shared Path are working towards a future in which Indigenous voices and rights form an integral part of the Ontario land-use planning process. Shared Path aims to facilitate relationship-building opportunities for rights holders, First Nations and local governments, institutions, through workshops, seminars, and projects designed to advance reconciliation. We believe that planning can be a tool for supporting the creation of healthy and vibrant communities. In response to the Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Calls to Action 47, 57, and 92, Shared Path provides resources for education, information, sharing, and relationship-building. History Shared Path Consultation Initiative (SPCI) stems from many conversations between Indigenous consultation staff, municipal planners, environmental lawyers, archaeologists and other stakeholders. It began with the idea of creating an online resource; a clearing house, which would provide useful tools for all those participating in the consultation process. Under the name of the Aboriginal Consultation Initiative, Carolyn King and Clara MacCallum Fraser developed a two-year exploratory partnership with the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN). This initial research was supported in its first year with seed funding from Archaeological & Cultural Heritage Services (ASI), as well as the McLean Foundation. The Shared Path Consultation Initiative began to truly take form during a year of collaboration with the Negotiating Justice Research Group, funded by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. This collaboration culmination in a two-day roundtable gathering bringing together experts from throughout Ontario, to discuss Duty to Consult & Planning in Ontario – examining the context today, for a just tomorrow. Hosted and supported by the Ontario University Institute of Technology, it was from this collaborative meeting that the name Shared Path Consultation Initiative, vision, and goals were formed.