Indigenous State Planning as Inter-Institutional Capacity Development: The Evolution of “Government-to-Government” Relations in Coastal British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Known for a large concentration of unlogged watersheds and the presence of the white spirit bear, British Columbia's Central Coast was also a key site in a larger re-imagining of the possibilities for government-to-government (G2G) planning between Indigenous peoples (First Nations) and the state. This paper explores the evolution of G2G planning: how external forces within the broader institutional system were interpreted and embodied in the strategic actions of various collaborative actors. Significant legal changes coalesced with an unstable timber market to fundamentally alter the discursive and political terrain of British Columbian natural resource planning. New coalitions and alliances were formed, and previously held conventions regarding both the process and outcomes of planning were challenged. These changes are analysed through the Institutional Capacity Development Framework, which frames institutional change as a measure of actors' ability to mobilise existing and emergent institutional resources. As one of the few empirical studies to apply the framework, this paper proposes several modifications to improve its conceptual clarity and to underscore the importance of changing political identities.