| Summary: | This study identifies and assesses the implications for community development in the Northwest Territories resulting from the structures and processes that have evolved from the Northwest Territories Northern Land Use Planning Program. Community development is described as a purposeful learning process whereby people identify their situation and plan and implement appropriate responses to it The original development strategies that have been applied to the Northwest Territories have been overwhelrningly modeled after the Western economic model, and have contributed to the dependency of northern communities upon government. Community development can help alleviate the powerlessness and economic and political dependency native northerners experience. Community development literature argues that any process leaving out those most affected by decisions will not lead to self-reliance. The Northern Land Use Planning Program was established as a "community-based" process to resolve land use conflicts; its 1983 Basis of Agreement mandated the sharing of authority to make land use plans between the native organizations, and the federal and territorial governments. The principle implication of the findings of this study is that although the Northern Land Use Planning Program is described as a community-based process, and has the potential and opportunity to develop structures and processes which contribute to community development in the Northwest Territories, it has done little to reduce dependency of communities on government. This is because the key elements of decision-making in the Northern Land Use Planning Program are held external to the communities. Applied Science, Faculty of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of Graduate
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