Supervisor
Biography
Scott Alain completed a Bachelor’s of Arts (Honours) in Anthropology from Carleton University in 2015. He obtained his Master of Urban and Regional Planning (M.Pl.) degree from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Queen’s University in 2017. Scott is currently based out of Ottawa, Ontario, as a Planner with Fotenn Planning + Design.
Research with PWIP
Scott's research examined the interface between urban planning policy and “on-the-ground” planning practice; in the process investigating the ways that indigenous interests are thought about and addressed within these fields of discourse. More particularly, he was concerned with the way that legislation set out in the Provincial Policy Statement (PPS) is implemented through updates to official plans in Ontario municipalities and subsequently applied in the development process. Two specific contexts in the contemporary Canadian planning process which engage prominently with Indigenous peoples are firstly, public consultation regarding areas wherein these groups have a stake, and secondly archaeological assessments prior to development.
The primacy of these planning domains which greatly affect Indigenous peoples lies in the reality that both public consultation with Indigenous groups and mandatory archaeological assessments are relatively new additions to the Canadian planning process and as such still pose a great opportunity for elaboration and improvement while they are remain malleable from a policy standpoint. In their current state, they are victim to holes of vagueness and a lack of specificity which affect successful outcomes in actual planning practice, especially when considering Indigenous perspectives. As Canada continues to contend with the importance of indigenous agency and culture to our shared experience and livelihood, planners are in a position to advocate for and elaborate upon the ways by which peoples' collective experience can be augmented by improved partnerships with Indigenous peoples through the urban planning process; both in policy and in practice.
Other Research Interests
- The relationship between planning policy and practice as it pertains to legislation concerning indigenous peoples in Canada
- Embedded socio-cultural understandings of Canadian indigeneity and how they affect policy decisions
- Embedded socio-cultural understandings of Canadian indigeneity and how they affect planning processes
Master's Report
Unearthing Recognition: Examining Indigenous Agency in the Land Development Process - http://hdl.handle.net/1974/15857