Stewards: Expressions of Place-keeping with Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook
Unpacking and unlearning colonial relationships to the land, as well as their implications for public safety, takes time. As we highlighted in our most recent Snapshot, reimagining public spaces requires centering diverse Indigenous peoples and worldviews across Turtle Island with the ultimate goal of reconnecting people to place. For our inaugural Stewards piece, we’ll dive deeper into this subject matter, speaking to Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, Senior Lead of Indigenous Engagement at Evergreen and Future Cities Canada about safety in urban spaces and the Indigenous leadership transforming them for the better.
About Tanya and her work
Tanya (she/her) is a self-described eclectic professional who uses her diverse life experiences and professional training as a foundation to her approach to Indigenous place-keeping. With Akawaio Indigenous and mixed ancestry from Guyana and the Netherlands, Tanya’s work is inspired by her experiences of kinship and reciprocity with the natural world and the more-than-human beings that share their animacy with her. She completed a PhD in Environmental Studies, an MA in International Development Studies and a diploma in psychotherapy before joining Evergreen and Future Cities Canada.
Her thoughts on safety
As the Senior Lead of Indigenous Engagement, Tanya leads national-level Indigenous programming through three partnership-based programs at Evergreen. Closest to her heart is the Indigenous Re-imagining of Cities program, which showcases diverse expressions of Indigenous place-keeping and champions Indigenous leadership and approaches. This work aims to provide a model of guidance and practical application for civic and cultural institutions as they explore their roles in an emerging movement to transform Canada’s cities and social institutions.
“I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all formula for how to make or remake an urban space safe for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) and other marginalized peoples. That’s why it is imperative that urban planners and city builders engage relevant communities and culturally-specific expertise in the design and planning process. Even in 2020, public spaces and institutions in cities can be extremely unsafe, unwelcoming, and even deadly for many Indigenous people.”
In lieu of a universal remedy, Tanya shared with us the following key elements for any work in making safe spaces. When applied in collaboration with affected communities, they serve as a foundation for public space practitioners to reimagine safer and more equitable urban spaces:
Engage in robust targeted consultation: Before engaging in any city-building project, consult advisory councils who are representative of the different ethno-cultural and social identities and priorities of participating/affected communities.
Apply tools that centre BIPOC inclusion & cultural safety: These approaches, which often include a combination of facilitated trainings, revisiting and updating policies, and creating dedicated and culturally appropriate channels for communication between groups, must be applied across the public space field—from design to programming to governance.
Address violence & harassment: In collaboration with affected communities, develop, implement, and evaluate policies on the prevention of, and responses to, harassment and violence against BIPOC communities, girls and women, and LGBTQ2S communities across urban public spaces. Also, improve reporting systems to include racialized violence and sexual harassment and provide clear pathways to report.
Make space for ceremony & cultural practices: Create spaces for, and negotiate City by-laws in support of, Indigenous ceremonial and cultural practices in outdoor gathering spaces.
Educate the broader public: Implement widespread public education on injustice, racism, and violence against BIPOC communities; and ways we can work together to eradicate racism and its multiple impacts.
“The countless Indigenous, other BIPOC and LGBTQ2S people who are working tirelessly to reclaim and reimagine built and natural spaces in cities so they can be the inclusive, regenerative, equitable, creative, vibrant, collective and safe civic commons they are meant to be – they are the ones that give me a great sense of hope and energy.”
