Writing
the plan
Are you getting ready to draft your comprehensive community plan? Would you like some ideas to develop the plan’s structure? In this section, we invite you to explore the five main sections that make up most community plans, with tips and examples to inspire your writing.
Section 1 - Context and History
Two main questions guide the writing of this section :
Where did we come from?
How did we get to where we are now?
Section contents
To tell your collective history, look as far back into the past as possible and identify the key elements and moments in your history.
You can consider creating two versions of the Context and History section: a short version that will be included in the plan; and a long version that will be shared with your community separately, to give your history back to your people.
You can present your history in a variety of ways, while respecting your culture and being aware of sensitive data :
- Your Nation's Creation Stories
- Stories and teachings that speak of your values
- Stories that present your Nations's way of life and worldview (before and after colonization)
- Maps of your territory, through time
- Summary of the significant events in your history or a timeline
- Archive photos and artworks
- Videos and audio recordings
Methods for sharing your history
To gather information about your history, you can combine several methods :
- Interviews with Elders and Knowledge Keepers
- Storytelling and legend activities bringing together Elders and youth
- Educational outings with people who know the territory and its history
- Documentary research (books, audio-video archives, maps, etc.)
- Community timeline and participatory mapping activities
- Collection and exhibition of photos and objects telling the history of the community
- Interviews with experts and external organizations that have information about your community (cultural centres, museums, etc.)
Don’t hesitate to involve your community in gathering information about your collective history. Take advantage of every opportunity to bring together people from different generations and families, so that knowledge can be shared.
Giving back their history to your community is an opportunity to recognize and honour the lives of your ancestors, and the efforts of all the people who contribute to keeping your history alive.
Use Your history to structure your plan
To ensure your plan reflects your culture and values as much as possible, let your collective history inspire you as you develop the plan’s structure. This is what Westbank First Nation and Skidegate Haida Nation did.
Establishing a common definition
Westbank First Nation’s plan is divided into four sections, named after the four Food Chiefs from their creation story. The values associated with each Food Chief guide all of the First Nation’s actions. This way, in carrying out their plan, Westbank First Nation citizens ensure that they are always guided by the teachings of their ancestors.
The Skidegate Comprehensive Community Plan presents the laws and constitution that guide their way of being and living as Haida. The community’s planning cycle is inspired by the life cycle of Salmon, an essential being to the Haida. Together, these elements serve to ensure that the plan is rooted in their territory and that all actions reflect their Haida worldview, as per their Plan Implementation Tree.
The Context and History section also helps to situate your First Nation’s CCP in the present.
Two more questions guide the writing of the section :
Why did you choose to pursue a CCP?
What does CCP mean to you and your community?
At first, each member or citizen has their own individual definition of the CCP and their reasons for wanting it (or not!). Through your community engagement activities, you develop a common definition that everyone will eventually share. It is this definition that will guide your planning work.
Words matter. What words are used to talk about concepts like future, planning, action, and together in the language(s) of your community? For inspiration, take some time to visit this section: Rooted in Culture. You will find examples of how the concept of CCP is expressed in the languages of the 10 Nations in our region.
CCP is...
“For us, it’s a learning process and a sharing experience that touches on present and past knowledge and that includes our youth and elders. It’s a collective relationship, the voice of our people. It’s about listening a lot and letting our people know that we hear them to foster trust. It’s our roadmap, a vision, a change and healthier lifestyle habits for the present and the future. It’s creating a context for miracles.”
“It’s thinking about the future of the entire community, being inclusive and including everyone, children, elders, women and men, and finding ways to hear the quieter people. It’s thinking about the community at all levels and for all departments. It’s a vast process of listening, sharing and communicating. We have to be patient and avoid thinking that we know everything while accepting that we are learning with our community. It’s about rebuilding relationships.”
“It’s a map developed by the community while reflecting its collective voice to move toward its vision. Trust is at the heart of it all and supports all relationships.”
“It’s the voice of my community. It’s about making positive changes, bringing my community together and building relationships. Building bridges between different perspectives. Listening and learning from what’s already happening in my community.”
"CCP is this sacred ground where we feel safe to be ourselves."
WHAT WORDS WOULD YOU USE TO DESCRIBE ccp IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
Going further
Want to go further? We have selected for you resources and examples of existing plans. We hope they’ll inspire your exploration of how to write the History and Context section of your plan!
- CCP Handbook (4th edition, 2018) – pages 29-30
- CCP Toolbox (NADF, 2017) – pages 57-65
- Essipit Innu First Nation Comprehensive Community Plan (in French, 2022)
- Westbank First Nation Comprehensive Community Plan (2015 and 2022)
- Skidegate Haida Nation Comprehensive Community Plan (2012)
- The 7Cs: A Guide to First Nations Planning and Reporting Standards - British Columbia First Nations Information Governance Initiative
Section 2 - Planning Process
The Planning Process section serves to show that the plan genuinely belongs to the community.
Two main questions guide the drafting of this section :
Why is this a community plan?
Where did the ideas in the plan come from?
This second section presents the information gathered throughout the process. It presents the team and/or committee that coordinated the CCP, a summary of the engagement activities, and an overview of the documents used to write the plan. This section is where you have the opportunity to acknowledge the enormous contributions of your community, without whom the plan would not exist. As we always say: there is no community plan without community!
Here is a list of key information that should be included in this section :
- Names of the CCP committee and/or planning team members
- Summary of the CCP team and/or committee's creation process and mandate
- Number and types of engagement activities organized during the planning process
- Participation statistics (e.g., number of people, participant age groups and genders, proportion of participants living in and outside the community)
- Principles and values that guided the planning process
- List of key documents used to write the plan (e.g., your Nation’s constitution, existing plans, etc.)
Building trust
We suggest creating a CCP website or page. This way, you can share important documents which citizens or members of your First Nation can easily access. The more transparent and honest you are, the more people will trust their community plan.
To keep your data confidential, you can create a private website or page, accessible only to citizens or members of your community.
Click on the images to visit the CCP websites created by Essipit Innus First Nation, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, and Long Point First Nation.
Organizing the data
You and your team will be gathering a LOT of information during the planning process. Getting organized early on will make your life easier and prevent you from losing important information along the way.
Looking for a simple solution?
You can use shared online folders (e.g., Google Drive, SharePoint) and Excel spreadsheets, for which you can control access. Here’s a sample you can download:
Are you an English-speaker looking for a more specialized solution? The Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council (BC) has created an online platform specifically designed for CCP teams. The CCP Planner brings together CCP participation data, contact information, documents and the CCP work plan, all in one place. You can access the CCP Planner here:
Are you looking for practical tips and tools?
We’ve also created a comprehensive page on data collection and management. It features many other tools and advice to help you with your planning.
Going further
Want to go further? Here are examples of community plans and resources to help you write this section :
Section 3 - Community portrait
The Community Portrait section is used to take a snapshot of your community’s situation at the outset of the planning. This gives you a baseline from which to measure the changes created by your actions.
The question that guides this section is :
Where are we now?
Section contents
To answer this question, we encourage you to incorporate facts (e.g., the number of homes in your community or a list of existing programs and services) and perceptions shared by community members or citizens. What concerns or inspires them? What do they like or dislike about their community? What changes do they want to make?
Combining facts and perceptions will give you a more complete portrait of your community’s baseline state.
Tools to go
Not sure where to start? Here is a model checklist inspired by existing tools and our experience in CCP.
The checklist provides examples of data to collect to create a portrait for 8 planning themes, as well as suggested sources for this data.
Click on the image to open the document
Practical advice
Most communities choose to create their portrait based on the major themes of their CCP: culture and language, economy, education, etc.
To make it easier for you, here is some practical advice shared by CCP Coordinators in our region :
Set aside some time to get organized – Use a database to record all the documents and people you consult. By making data more accessible to everyone, you will save a lot of time and make it easier to give back to your community.
Build on what already exists – Use a checklist to identify what data already exists, involving external partners if necessary. Compare past and current data to identify trends (what is increasing, decreasing, staying the same?). Also check to see if forecasts available, such as for your community’s population or income.
Use your community’s strengths – Identify people who know the community well and have expertise, then ask them to work with you to collect important data.
Collect new data as needed – Work with your team and the departments of your administration to gather new information as needed. You can use surveys, interviews, focus groups, SWOT (strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats) analyses, etc.
Data that reflects your worldview
Choose data that reflects your worldview rather than measuring yourself based on someone else’s standards. Start with your strengths and what matters to your community. What do you really want to know about yourselves?
We share with you examples from three First Nations who created inspiring community portraits.
Click on the images to access the whole documents.
Animbiigoo Zaagiigan Anishinabek
Animbiigoo Zaagiigan Anishinabek
The community has structured its portrait into four themes: community, economy, government & administration, and territory. The data comes from two surveys that reached approximately 40% of all members, and from documentary research. For each of the community’s eight key issues, the portrait presents: the current situation, the objective, and the trend perceived by members (improvement, deterioration, mixed outcome).
Essipit Innus First Nation Council
Première Nation des Innus Essipit (in French)
The Report on the Members’ Perception provides a snapshot of the members’ points of view regarding their community on day zero of the CCP. The data is drawn from three types of activities: a community survey, workshops on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), and a documentary analysis. The current state, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the administration’s departments are presented. Priority issues are clearly identified.
Listuguj
Listuguj
The first chapter of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Community Plan presents in detail the community’s context at the time when the plan was being created. Four themes are explored, from the perspective of natural, human, built and economic resources. Each theme is illustrated by numerous maps and graphs to show evolution and available data. The strengths and challenges of the community are also presented, with opportunities for action.
Going further
Here are two more examples of data lists by theme, which you can find online, with lots of practical advice for creating a portrait and making observations.
Section 4 - Action Plan
The Action Plan is the heart of the plan.
Two questions can guide your exploration :
Where do we want to go?
How can we get there together?
To answer these questions, we suggest you ask the people in your community what they want for their future, as well as the future of the generations to come. Talking about what you want takes courage; it is a moment of great vulnerability for many people.
That’s why this step comes after the others: you will have had time to build trusting relationships with your community, and to create spaces where people will feel safe enough to share their hopes and dreams.
Not sure how to create a safe space? The Reforming the Circle section is here to guide you.
Section contents
This is where you share your vision for your collective future, the values that guide you, the main paths you want to take to achieve your vision (your focus areas, directions and objectives), and the first steps you want to take (priority actions).
The vision can take various forms: an image, a slogan, a paragraph, a full-page description. The important thing is to ensure that each person in your community can see themselves in the vision and know how they can participate in it.
Creating a collective vision
Once you have gathered the data, you can create your community’s collective vision statement. The vision is the central point of the plan. It is both the space where all citizens or members of your community gather, and the future towards which you are all moving together.
For inspiration, we share with you the vision statements created by Listuguj, Essipit Innus First Nation, and Waskaganish.
Would you like to know more about creating your collective vision? We invite you to explore this presentation on Creating a vision statement, by our colleagues at NADF.
Action plan vocabulary
In planning, there are many ways to name the core elements of the action plan. There is no right or wrong way, the key is to choose words that have meaning for you and your community and, above all, to agree on their meaning.
WHAT WORDS OR IMAGES ARE USED IN YOUR COMMUNITY TO TALK ABOUT ACTION, SUCCESS, AND CHANGE?
Here is how we define the most commonly used planning words :
Vision
An image of the future desired by the community, rooted in values, culture, language, and territory.
Direction or focus area
A general direction in which you want to go. Used to group goals or objectives into more general categories.
General goal or objective
A general objective that the community wishes to achieve in the long term.
Examples:
- Increase the number of people who understand and speak Innu-aimun
- Protect our territory
- Strengthen our economic self-sufficiency
Specific goal or objective
A precise, measurable and time-limited objective.
Examples :
- By 2030, develop Innu-aimun teaching programs that cover all age groups and language levels
- By 2028, adopt a land use and protection plan
- By 2029, identify three new sources of income for the community
Action, path or course of action
A means used to achieve one or more objectives.
Examples :
- In 2024, set up a language committee. In 2025, implement a mentoring program for students who wish to become language teachers
- In 2025, hire a land use planning team. In 2026, consult and engage the community to create the land protection and development plan
- In 2024, conduct an analysis of the community’s economic strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In 2026, identify the community’s investment priorities
Target
Level of success that we want to achieve in a given time, the fruits that we want to harvest or the changes that we want to see.
Examples :
- In 2030, 100% of people in the community have access to Innu-aimun courses
- In 2028, 100% of the territory is covered by a protection and development plan
- In 2029, at least 20% of the community budget comes from independent revenues
Engaging creatively
Planning teams use a variety of means to engage community members, depending on their age group, interests, location, technological abilities, etc.
To write this 4th section, we invite you to make sure you have engaged as many people as possible, to represent your community’s full diversity. This way, everyone will see themselves in your collective vision, and the CCP will truly belong to your community.
Here are some examples shared by CCP Coordinators in our region. Click on the image to access the document or website.
Paper and online survey
Kebaowek First Nation used a survey to learn about the community’s dreams and priorities. Divided into themes, the survey invited people to share what they liked most about their community, and what they wanted to change. People could respond anonymously, either online or on paper.
Participatory mapping
Abitibi8inni First Nation used participatory mapping activities with students at Migwan School and at a community meeting. Participants were asked to share their vision for the future, individually, in small groups, and then to the larger group.
CCP Grande Soirée
The Essipit Innus First Nation used sticky notes during their CCP Grande Soirée to ask people to share what dreams they had for Essipit in 30 years. Each participant could respond as many times as they wanted. The dreams were then integrated into the community’s action plan.
Dreaming a new governance
The Kitigan Zibi Youth Council, which was created with the CCP Coordinator’s support, spent a lot of time learning about Anishinabeg identity, history, values, and culture. Participants chose to brainstorm together and propose a new governance model for their community, informed by the lessons of the past and prepared for the future. They shared their creation with the community’s leadership.
Looking for more ideas to engage your community? Check out the Communicating and Engaging section.
Getting organized to take action
In order for your collective vision to come to life, it needs to be translated into actions and desired results. When actions are organized – by theme, degree of priority, etc. – it makes implementation much easier.
You can also organize your actions visually, using symbols and images that are meaningful to your community. Here are three examples to fuel your creativity :
Ktunaxa
ʔaq’am – Ktunaxa Nation
“Early in this process, our Elder Leo Williams saw how our plan was like a tipi, with each topic being like a tipi pole. The tipi pole structure connects the overall plan according to Ktunaxa traditions. The tipi also shows us that we are strong when we work together. Ktunaxa tipi structure has 13 poles or ʔa·kiȼ; four of which form ʔa·kinqu—the foundation poles. These are tied together, when the poles are lying down. The rope used ʔa·kuka̓ȼinqu represents wuʔunaⱡa—the waterways. The sticks that fasten the canvas front of the tipi are called ʔapak̓inⱡu·k̓uʔnaⱡ. ʔapak̓inⱡu·kuʔnaⱡ are our youth, they connect our past and future in an active manner.”
Skidegate
Skidegate – Haida Nation
The Skidegate Haida Nation used the image of a tree to structure their action plan :
- Roots – the collective vision constitutes the plan’s roots, a picture of the future. All directions, paths and actions should lead toward the vision.
- Trunk – directions form the trunk of the plan. They represent the broad objectives that determine the paths to take.
- Branches – like the branches of a tree, there are multiple planning paths. Paths are milestones to achieve the objectives.
- Leaves – actions are the leaves of the plan. They represent specific activities, projects or programs to achieve the objectives.
- Fruits – indicators are the fruits of the tree. They represent the results of the plan. They are used to track and evaluate the success of the plan, helping us achieve our vision.
Essipit Innus First Nation
Essipit Innus First Nation (in french)
The Essipit Innus First Nation used a compass symbol to organize its action plan. The compass clearly illustrates how their values, vision and orientations will guide their actions for the next 30 years. At its heart, community spirit serves as a foundation and hub around which everything is built. On the path that leads towards their collective dreams, it serves as a reference and a guide. Around the vision are the 4 focus areas that give meaning to the evolution of the community: back to basics; living together; innovation and sustainability; and members’ well-being. The last circle illustrates the 8 themes according to which the community’s orientations and dreams are organized.
Going further
Want to go further? Check out the following tools :
Section 5 - Action, Monitoring,
and Review
The 5th and final section of the plan is particularly important. This is where you show your community how their plan will be implemented. By clarifying your strategy for taking action, monitoring, and reviewing the plan from the start, you explain how you will move from dream to reality.
The question that can guide your exploration is :
How will we know when we get there?
Section contents
The transition from the planning stage to the implementation stage is often difficult for communities. The plan risks being shelved and forgotten if you don’t give yourself the tools to keep it alive.
The Action, Monitoring, and Review section gives your community the tools to ensure that its plan leads to change.
Minimally, it should contain the following information :
- Roles and responsibilities : what citizens or members, elected officials, managers, etc. will be responsible for
- Coordination : who will coordinate the action, monitoring and review; and with what support or with which team
- Coherence : how community priorities will be integrated into upcoming plans (e.g., Council strategic plan, sector plans, etc.)
- Monitoring tools : what indicators will be used to monitor and measure changes resulting from the plan
- Accountability : who will be responsible for collecting the results and presenting them to the community, how and how often
- Review cycle : what is the plan’s review cycle (number of years, those responsible, etc.)
- Plan review : who will be responsible for reviewing and updating the plan
- Commitment : how your government commits to achieving the plan’s objectives
THE CLEARER AND MORE SPECIFIC YOU ARE, THE BETTER THE CHANCES THAT THE PLAN WILL BE IMPLEMENTED
Taking action and tracking change
To inspire you, here are four examples of communities that have already completed a planning cycle and developed effective tools to achieve their dreams :
Listuguj
Listuguj
Following the adoption of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Community Plan by the Council in 2019, the planning team developed a results tracking plan and a tool to report to the population. Both tools were co-created by the CCP Coordinator, in collaboration with the managers of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government departments. They were designed to be easy to use and to facilitate reporting to the community.
Musqueam
Musqueam Nation
Musqueam Nation published a revised version of its community plan in 2018. This second edition highlights everything that has been accomplished since the first edition of the plan, and the changes that have been made in the community. To track actions and results, the Nation created two surveys that are completed by its citizens every 4 years. The surveys ask citizens to evaluate key aspects of their nation, using indicators chosen by the sectors, to measure whether they are moving towards their vision. The results of the surveys are used to report to the population and create the new version of the plan.
Westbank First Nation
Westbank First Nation
Westbank First Nation revised its community plan and released an updated version in 2022. The plan continues to be structured around the Syilx/Okanagan creation story and incorporates many teachings. The action plan presents clear goals and measures of success that can be easily used to track progress. The implementation section outlines how the community plan should be integrated into the First Nation’s other plans and management tools. It also clarifies everyone’s roles and responsibilities in addition to illustrating the plan update cycle.
Essipit Innus First Nation
Essipit Innus First Nation (in french)
The Essipit Innus First Nation put a lot of effort into planning how its 2022-2050 community plan would be implemented. Among other things, the CCP Coordinator and the planning team worked with the management committee and elected officials to clarify roles and responsibilities. In this way, all Essipiunnuat are involved in the implementation of the plan. They have also adopted a 5-year cycle to review and update the plan, which is integrated into the Council’s strategic directions. This ensures that their collective vision continues to guide their development, even in the event of political changes.
Essipit Innus First Nation Comprehensive Community Plan (in French, 2022)
Commitment of elected officials
Having the support of your First Nation’s government goes a long way in terms of ensuring that the plan will be implemented. Adopting the plan and committing by way of resolution to its implementation is an even stronger way for elected officials to support the community plan. The advantage of a resolution is that it commits not only your current elected officials but also those to come.
Your elected officials can demonstrate their commitment in several ways, such as :
- Participating in planning and activities related to launching the plan
- Sharing messages on the radio, at public meetings, etc.
- Publishing commitment texts in the local newsletter
Here are some examples of declarations and resolutions adopted by elected representatives from various Nations, formalizing their support for CCP :
Measuring success
CCP Coordinators have shared these helpful tips with us :
Use what already exists – Start with data that has already been collected by your local government and organizations, in line with your objectives (e.g., percentage of the population that has access to language classes, percentage of the population that has access to comfortable housing, etc.).
Identify key indicators – Choose one or two key indicators for each of your objectives, rather than multiplying the data to be collected.
Identify key indicators – From the very beginning, think about who will collect the data and how. Keep it simple!
Choose indicators that are meaningful to you – The indicators will be used to report to your community, they need to make sense to your people.
Build on your strengths – Choose positive indicators that measure what's really important to you. For example, you could measure the number of people who no longer or don't speak your language, or you could measure the number of people who speak or learn your language. Which one brings you closer to your goal?
Tools to go further
Want more examples of tools and practical activities to take you further?
- Resolution template (Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund)
- Action tracking sheet template (Nishnawbe Aski Development Fund)
- The 7Cs: A Guide to First Nations Planning and Reporting Standards (BC First Nations Data Governance Initiative)
- Doig River First Nation - Sample Indicators and Community Plan (2017)
TAKE-AWAY SUMMARY
To view the take-away summary, click on the link bellow to open the PDF.
Take away summary