Story
Placekeeping, righting relationships and an Indigenous reimagining of cities
An interview with author and Civic-Indigenous toolkit writer Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook
March 8, 2022
Story
May 27, 2022
Civic-Indigenous relationships in the era of Truth and Reconciliation
Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook
Associate, Evergreen
Lifelong commitment centred on truth-telling and dismantling settler colonialism required.
The history and future of cities in Canada are interwoven with Indigenous Peoples, lands, rights, systems, identities, and futures. The natural and built spaces that are often called civic commons are imprinted with the presence, stories, seeds, hunting and trade routes, medicines, artistic creations, and aspirations of diverse Indigenous Peoples.
These spaces – intended for the well-being and productivity of all residents – are on Indigenous lands. Yet, they have often been designed and planned in ways that privilege the worldviews and rights of access of particular settler groups above those of urban Indigenous and racialized communities. Civic commons are thus complicit in producing and maintaining colonial structures and have become naturalized settler spaces.
Click on the button below to open the full magazine article as it appeared in Municipal World, November 2021.