Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Don Carruthers Den Hoed (he/him) is a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia where he leads the Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership (CPCIL). CPCIL is a pan-Canadian parks and protected areas leadership and research network funded by the Canadian Parks Council (CPC) and Parks Canada and delivered in collaboration with Mount Royal University Institute for Environmental Sustainability, York University Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, Royal Roads University, and the University of Moncton. The CPCIL project is a boundary-spanning initiative aimed at revealing, connecting, and transforming an inclusive community of park leaders, academics, and Indigenous knowledge-holders.

Don is an academic practitioner who combines his scholarly work with 26 years of experience in parks interpretation and education, public engagement, and land management based in the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies. He led the development of the Alberta Parks Inclusion Plan, chaired the CPC Youth Engagement Working Group, and managed two of Canada’s largest urban provincial parks (Fish Creek and Glenbow Ranch Provincial Parks).

Don is a Senior Researcher with the Conservation Through Reconciliation Partnership (CRP), a member of the Ethical Space Stream and co-chair of the Knowledge Mobilization Learning Circle.

He shared how his connection with the various learning circles and groups within the CRP has helped to bring a diversity of voices, knowledge systems, and experiences to parks leadership training programs at CPCIL, to not only challenge current thinking and approaches, but also to build relationships and trust.

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Full Transcript

Kristy Tomkinson

Hello, kwe’, boozhoo, taanishi, oki, Atelihai , čačim hihak kʷaa, bonjour and welcome to Community Connections – a collection of stories from the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership that explores relationships that strengthen our work to support and elevate Indigenous-led conservation across what is now known as Canada.

In this episode, I am speaking with Don Carruthers Den Hoed. Don is a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia where he leads the Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership (CPCIL). Don is a Senior Researcher with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership, a member of the Ethical Space Stream and co-chair of the Knowledge Mobilization Learning Circle.

Kristy Tomkinson

So first I just want to welcome and thank you, Don, for joining us for the Community Connections Series.

I'd like to begin with you briefly introducing yourself and in doing so, could you tell us more about the lands and waters that you have a relationship with?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Sure, thanks. So, I'm Don Carruthers Den Hoed. I'm a research associate at the University of British Columbia at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, and I coordinate the project That's called the Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership.

So, it's a leadership development program for federal, provincial, territorial, community and other types of parks and protected areas, as well as for academics and scholars that are working in the space of parks and protected areas.

And I'm coming to you from Nex̱wlélex̱m or Bowen Island on the West Coast, so in the traditional and ancestral territory of the Coast Salish peoples and this island in particular, is of significance to the Squamish First Nations Is the understanding I'm starting to learn.

And it's actually a very new place for me, so I've only lived here for a year and a half. And it's been interesting 'cause it's somewhere where the CRP has actually played a role is as I've moved to a new place, thinking differently about what it's like to move to a new territory and to try and take steps to say, ‘how do I understand this land and the people who are here and have been here forever and the oceans?’.

I'm not an ocean person, learning how to be one, and so the relationship I have now is this really new fascination with how does this place work and how do the people here interact with the landscape and the seascape?

My closest relationship with land though, and where I started when I started with the CRP was in the Rocky Mountains and in Treaty 7 territory and land of the Stoney-Nakoda Nations and the Blackfoot so the Piikani and the Kainai and the Siksika, and the Tsuut'ina. And there that landscape had such a great, a great story to tell because of the mountains that were there and the interface with the prairies.

And it was there that I connected, you know, Robin Roth does work in that area too, and so we were able to start looking at how conservation fits on a landscape like that where you also have parks like Banff National Park and Jasper. And so, I'd say actually when I think of my relationship to the land, I automatically think of where I was, not where I am right now.

Kristy Tomkinson

Thank you.

And you talked A little bit about meeting with Robin Roth, or you know, intersecting some of your work with Robin. So how did you come to this work in terms of Indigenous-led conservation and what does That journey look like for you?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

So, my work with Indigenous-led conservation came through my career with parks. So, I spent nearly 30 years in parks and protected areas in Alberta in the provincial park system, and it was in that role that I was able to start initial conversations or be invited to conversations on things like the South Saskatchewan River Land Use Planning Sub-table for First Nations relationships and various education initiatives with the Stoney-Nakoda in particular.

And where I moved out of parks and into an academic role and under this professional development role, it was working with the full Canadian Parks Council, so Parks Canada and the provincial park agencies and the federal, or sorry, territorial park agencies.

And at that broad collaborative level, it became so clear so quickly that reconciliation and working well with Indigenous people was a priority. And that was around the time that the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership was forming.

And so the initial relationship was about how do we, how do we work together to support individuals like I had been in a park system who were trying to figure out how to engage in a good way, and how to work well with Indigenous partners at a local level and a watershed level within the sphere of this really high level coordinated, strategic kind of direction that all the parks agencies were trying to head in?

So, CRP became this really nice landing place to bring those things together. It was sort of this intersection of building the relationships, learning from Indigenous-led conservation in Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and then finding ways to bring it as a learning opportunity, or as a relationship building opportunity into the actual agencies that were represented by the parks collective.

And that's been probably the most exciting part, is this conversation about IPCAs aren't something outside of parks and protected areas, they're something that can very much inform current conventional parks and protected areas.

So that was that was really always kind of the fingers tented 'Where can this go?', scheming kind of thing was, can the CRP inform Parks and protected areas that existed before the CRP, and create an opportunity for people to listen and to learn and to benefit from the leadership being shown by the partners in the CRP.

Kristy Tomkinson

So how did you first get involved with the CRP and how are you involved now?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

So, I was involved initially because the Canadian Parks Council was asked to be involved as a supporter and to ensure that the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership had good links out into the federal, provincial and territorial agencies.

My role, though, because it was focused on professional development and on working with Knowledge Holders and researchers and scholars, it evolved into a more of a direct role into how do we mobilize the knowledge of CRP?

How do we bring the learnings into a curriculum space or into a professional development space or into a as we have seen sometimes co-hosting webinars or events where we're really directly doing something together because it makes sense to say 'Hey, let's have this conversation once with more people in the room than a whole bunch of times where every single time you regret that those other people weren't in the room'. So, it becomes this really nice opportunity to have some conversations that are in a shared space.

And so, my role came in initially there, I guess, and I honestly don't remember technically what it looked like because it has changed by being part of the CRP. Like I would say that I have trouble even pinning my finger on, you know, what roles did I come in at?

Because it's been just opportunity after opportunity to say, you know, sometimes it is as a co-host of an event, sometimes it's working on a working group, now in the Ethical Space Stream where I very much feel like a learner in this incredible privileged opportunity to hear what these conversations are and then to try and reflect on them and say 'OK, how do I now bring that to the broader parks community so that we can elevate everybody and uplift the whole community of parks and protected areas through the CRP?

Kristy Tomkinson

Thank you.

So, you talk a bit about the webinars and the working group and through your own role with the parks collective.

Could you tell it about a specific relationship that means a lot to you with an individual or an organization that you've developed or strengthened as part of your role with the CRP? How did this relationship come about and how is it evolved and how is it supported or advanced your work?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Oh, that's a really good question and hard too hard to think off the spot of a single instance because everything has sort of built one thing after the next after the next.

At the very beginning though, are our park leadership programs that they used to be face to face, but even now that they're online they're fairly immersive, designed to be a transformative learning experience. Like we really are challenging mid-career park leaders to think of things in different ways and we're trying to do that as much as we can by bringing in the actual other voices and perspectives and worldviews.

So, the partnership has actually helped me connect with various Elders and Knowledge Holders who've co-facilitated sessions or have come in to frame a session or to present an alternative perspective, even act as you know, we've called them an 'Indigenous conscience'.

Like to say 'hey' at the end of each session, 'is there somebody who can make sure we're not overlooking an Indigenous worldview that matters for the topic that we're talking about?', whether it's climate change, adaptation or connecting people in nature or something like that.

So, the CRP has created these opportunities to build relationships with individuals, and when we were actually traveling to different parts of the world, or of the continent, we'd actually able to connect with people in their place, which was incredible.

It was incredible to go to actual Indigenous protected areas and look at what they have in mind. And as a so as a transformative experience, it really opened many people's minds and hearts to what can happen if we work well together and if we have good Indigenous relationships.

In terms of a specific organization, though, I mean I, there's two that I'd point out.

You know, Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources has been a great partner on the east coast where we've worked with Lisa Young, she’s come in and presented with us. We've been able to bring up really good examples of Indigenous collaboration and co-management like on the moose management project on Cape Breton Island's National Park and Mi’kma’ki and that wouldn't have happened without the CRP to be there to help support the relationship building and help build trust and say like 'this is what we're trying to do together'.

And then IISAAK OLAM Foundation and working with Eli Enns and with the group that they've pulled together, in particular, the new Innovation Centre. We've brought them in several times to programs to speak to That really great holistic approach they're taking where sustainability, and IPCAs, and tourism, and community engagement, and energy are all connected with each other.

You know that whole Indigenous-led economies that come from conservation economies, things like that. So we've had a really exceptional opportunity to say to them, 'What can you tell us that you think park leaders need to know?'

And they've been gracious enough to actually spend time thinking about that and guiding us through some goals of a conversation and facilitating some incredible learning experiences that I've taken a lot away from.

Kristy Tomkinson

Are there additional, sorry.

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

I was just going to say is that sort of the partnerships or things you were thinking of or?

Kristy Tomkinson

Yeah, yeah, and if there's any individuals that you've connected with that has helped advance your work, but those two examples are really great. And I'm curious to know if there are additional organizations or groups of individuals that you'd like to connect with to further that experience and bring even more experiences into your work with CPCIL?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Yes, and it really, it's an open invitation. It's always an open invitation.

The more we can deliver things collaboratively, the better and most of the sessions that CRP has brought to us or been able to co-facilitate with us, or lead to support our learning.

They brought in multiple individuals. They've generally been panels, and every single time it's the right people in the room at the time and every time it's like, 'OK, let's do this again' because another group of five partners will tell us something that will really help.

So, I kind of have trouble saying any specific person or group I'd want to connect with, because it's all been great. I think maybe though it probably warrants saying that working in both the Knowledge Mobilization Working Group and the Ethical Space Stream have become themselves, a group that I like connecting with and want to connect more with.

Like, those groups feel like more than working groups. They feel like individuals going on a journey together and I've really appreciated that opportunity to connect.

And being part of those groups has become Equally as important as having the CRP present at a session. You know it's that ability for me to say 'OK, can I contribute in any way to these working groups?', and I hope I can. And then being a part of it becomes this whole new great learning and listening opportunity.

Kristy Tomkinson

That's great, thank you.

As you may know, the CRP Elders Lodge had shared with us the seven Grandmother Grandfather Teachings which are love, respect, bravery, truth, honesty, humility, and wisdom.

I'm curious which of these sacred gifts have been present for you in your journey of relationship building?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Uh, I think it's bravery, but I find it hard to say that that's the right one because I don't think as an able-bodied white man, I have to be that brave.

Like it's kind of a weird one 'cause I think it's the community has shown bravery and the community is standing up and speaking truth to power and as an effort Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership is doing something that is long overdue and as it is at exactly the right time.

And it's provoking some really important conversations that people like me, who have been in positions of power for a very long time, and have not necessarily had to question where that came from, the bravery, It's like it almost comes from a place of having to confront our own privilege.

So, there's the bravery of that. So, if that makes sense, that's the one that to me came, like I kept going back to it, saying, 'it's kind of a weird fit', but it fits because I think it's that 'speak truth to power' moment that we're in.

This is an opportunity for us to amplify things that have been known for a long time but had been held back. You know that there's inequity, or that there's learnings and teachings that are useful and helpful, and that are exactly what we need today and that are complementary to other ways of knowing.

And yeah. so, to me, I keep coming back to that. Like it's the pushing forward. It's standing tall and trying to do the right thing and confront where we've not necessarily lived up to the promises we made.

Kristy Tomkinson

Thank you and it's appropriate because this is within the CRP lifecycle, this is the year of bravery. And so, it's very appropriate and fitting.

I'm curious to know if you have had opportunities to support or connect others into this work and help build relationships that way?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

Yeah, so, one of the things that comes out of the leadership programs, it's surprising to me how many people in the parks and protected areas in conventional systems or conventional park organizations either only kind of knew about CRP or didn't know about it at all.

So really every time we're bringing in the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership and almost more so bringing in the ICE report and the ideas that come through, 'We Rise Together', that becomes a new person who is now at the very least following the CRP, or they're curious about it, or they want to know how to get involved.

And I'm not sure how many of them have translated into more than just reading your blogs, but I think it's an important first step to get them aware that an opportunity to connect is there.

We've also had a great opportunity to have some youth get involved, like Ebany's gotten involved in one of the working groups. She's one of the youths who's worked with Canadian Parks Council. And I know it’s not enough to say that she's youth, she's you know a graduate who's got a degree working in law and society, and she's somebody who's a really incredible thinker on equity and diversity and leadership.

And she came from a totally not parks background and that was a really great. I bring her up as an example because it's a great opportunity to see how relevant this work was to somebody, even though they weren't in a narrow field related to parks.

And then I've had other interesting opportunities, and they haven't necessarily panned out yet, but for example, I work with the Stoney-Nakoda First Nations on several research projects that are being done, not through CRP. And we've kept revisiting the idea of weaving that work into the partnership.

And it hasn't happened yet, mostly because of capacity out there, and you know they're focused on this bison study, they’re doing work, they’re busy, like everybody, and stressed with COVID But it's been interesting because I think they're seeing Kind of a landing pad maybe.

I'm, I don't know, maybe I'm, it’s probably unfair to say what they're seeing, but we've talked about it in those terms. We've talked about 'OK when this research is done, is there a way we can share it through CRP And then use that to help raise awareness with them that this partnership exists?’ So that's starting to come out a bit more.

And I think that's also, because we're seeing more examples of work that CRP does that, we can then show people. Like to say 'look here, go watch this video of this this campfire talk that's about the thing that we were talking about', and then that can lead to something further, so I think that's, those are some of the examples I can think of that have been great opportunities to connect people into the CRP.

Kristy Tomkinson

Great, thank you.

Do you have any additional thoughts you'd like to share or reflections on your relationship with the CRP and the relationships you've built as part of being in the CRP?

Don Carruthers Den Hoed

I think, I kind of thought about this in terms of it sometimes feels like an odd fit for me in the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership, but it's not to say I don't feel welcomed at all. In fact, I feel incredibly welcomed and like it's a great group to be a part of.

Because I represent people working in conventional parks and protected areas that are struggling with sometimes, sometimes doing incredible work, and sometimes really don't know where to start in terms of their colonial history or in terms of how do they work with local Indigenous people better? How do they get past some of the, even limitations to partnering and engagement or hiring? It's always sort of felt like, At the very least, CRP became this place for those agencies to just listen. Like to just be observers.

So, you have, fly on the wall to be able to say 'We don't know what's going to happen out of this. We know there's an important conversation coming about reconciliation in parks and protected areas.'

But it sure feels like the right way to get to that conversation is through bringing those park leaders, and managers, and researchers into a space like CRP where they're exposed to Indigenous-led conservation, and they're exposed to these great thinkers and leaders and Knowledge Holders and can just hear what's happening in IPCAs.

And I think there's, I think the opportunity to just scaffold is really irresistible. Like this sense to say, 'We can actually do something even better than we had imagined with conventional parks and protected areas'.

And I guess the reason I kind of framed it as I don't know where the fit Is yet because it, that's still really fuzzy. I don't really know what that looks like yet, but I feel like the pieces are coming into place.

I feel like this seems like it's a time where the more we can make those links between CRP and non-Indigenous protected and conserved areas so that those non-Indigenous protected and conserved areas can become Indigenous-led, or co-managed, or informed by, or guided by Indigenous people.

Yeah, it just seems like an exciting time for that. I think it's something that's on the horizon.

Kristy Tomkinson

So, I just want to thank you very much for your time and for sharing your story with us today.

That concludes this week’s story on Community Connections. New episodes will be released biweekly and you can find all episodes on our website at www.conservation-reconciliation.ca.

We would like to extend our gratitude to all of our community members who have made this series possible, including Heather Patterson, Allison Bishop, and our guest contributors. The music for this series is called Moonrise and is produced by Reed Mathis.

If you are enjoying this series and are interested in sharing your stories of connection, please email us at crpinfo@uoguelph.ca

Thank you and tune in next time to Community Connections.

CRPApril 26, 2022