The Possibilities for Legally Pluralistic Planning: An Exploration of Haudenosaunee Planning Law

Abstract

This paper uses ideas of legal pluralism to explore how Indigenous law might coexist with and productively challenge non-Indigenous planning systems. We ground our arguments in an exploration of the planning principles embedded in Haudenosaunee law, comparing it to non-Indigenous notions of the public interest to identify points of allyship and incommensurability. Instead of using Indigenous planning principles to address the deficiencies of the public interest, we argue for a legally pluralistic approach that encourages ongoing interaction, while still respecting the sovereignty of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of articulating the role and purpose of planning.

Keywords:

• Indigenous peoples
• public interest
• legal pluralism
• incommensurabilities
• allyship

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and feedback, which greatly improved the clarity and depth of our arguments. Katie would particularly like to thank Nicole Bilodeau, her Mohawk language teacher. Any errors or omissions are entirely our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 “White-coded” refers to a Indigenous person or person of colour who is read by others as white.

2 The Indigenous words used in this paper are Kanien’kéha or Mohawk, though the concepts are found in the other Haudenosaunee languages. Kanien’kéha was chosen for this paper as it is the language that Katie has studied.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katie Turriff

Katie Turriff is a white-coded Mohawk and European woman from Belleville, Ontario. With undergraduate and master’s degrees in planning from the University of Waterloo and University of British Columbia, she has developed a passion for Indigenous community planning theory and practice. She currently works as an Indigenous Community Planner with Alderhill Planning Inc. and is based in Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Territory in Vancouver, BC.

Janice Barry

Janice Barry is a settler of primarily Irish ancestry who currently lives and works on the lands of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She is a Registered Professional Planner and an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo. Her scholarly work focuses on the dynamics of settler-colonial planning and the possibilities for Indigenous reconciliation in and through planning. She has also been invited to work in partnership with several First Nations engaged in community-based planning.