THOMPSON-OKANAGAN REFERRALS PROJECT

This website contains information and links to documentation, tutorials, and mapping tools pertaining to the Thompson-Okanagan Referrals Pilot project for standardizing referrals for First Nations.

• Project Background and Overview
• Mapping Tools
• Internal Users (IDIR users only)
• Help

PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

First Nations (FNs) have often expressed concerns about inconsistencies and lack of clarity of referrals  that they receive from different government agencies.  This issue was explored in meetings held in 2007 between the Southern Interior Inter-Agency Management Committee (IAMC) Regional Projects Team (RPT) and Shuswap Nation Tribal Council (SNTC) member Bands.  As a result of these meetings, RPT recommended that the Thompson Okanagan Managers Committee (TOMC) establish a temporary, operational-level inter-agency working group to work on improving referrals to FNs.

This project was initiated in 2008 with the following objectives:

• develop consistent formats of materials referred to FNs by natural resource agencies, such as  letters, maps and other consultation documents, while also recognizing individual agencies' specific business needs;
• address concerns raised by FNs about consultation documents;
• promote greater efficiencies in how FNs review and respond to government consultation documents; and  
• foster electronic approaches wherever possible, as part of the consultation process.

Developing the new referral package was a joint undertaking of the Thompson Okanagan inter-agency working group with representatives from the Ministry of Environment (MOE); Ministry of Forests and Range (MoFR); Ministry of Transportation (TRAN); the Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB); the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Arts (MTCA); the Ministry of Energy, Mines, and Petroleum Resources (MEMPR); and the Thompson Okanagan First Nations Coordinated Consultation Team (FNCCT).  The package includes templates for an initial consultation letter and various types of maps.  In addition to the referral package, the two teams developed tutorials and mapping checklists to aid government staff and proponents in preparing the package or parts of it. 

In July 2010, the Thompson-Okanagan Consultation Letter Template was revised to reflect the Province’s Updated Procedures When Consulting with First Nations and guidance in the new First Nation Consultation Letter Guide (Letter Guide). It is expected that over time, additional letter templates will be developed using the Letter Guide and endorsed by TOMC) for more efficient communication for different situations requiring communication with First Nations.

Whenever possible, proponents are encouraged to use the mapping templates.  We hope proponents will find them beneficial and will come to use them to the maximum extent possible.

The Thompson Okanagan FNCCT and First Nations Initiative Division (FNID) will be responsible for monitoring and amending the templates.  Please contact Caryn Stroh if you have any questions related to this aspect of the project.  She can be reached at 250-377-2431 or e-mailed at Caryn.Stroh@gov.bc.ca.  For questions related to the process that was used to develop the templates, please contact Merima Domazet at 250-377-7048 or e-mail at Merima.Domazet@gov.bc.ca.

Mapping Tools

Mapping tools are available to public and government users to help create referral maps with standardized information and layout.  A custom theme and custom print layouts are available in iMap.  For public users using ArcMap, MXT map layout templates are also available.  The user guide for each tool (iMap or ArcMap) will give detailed instructions.  Please see the links to each user guide below under 'How to create the Maps'.

Map Types
 

Three maps for each submission are generally required:

(To see an example of each map type, click on the map name)

• The Location Map - to show an overview of the area in relation to major landmarks
• The General Site Map - a mid-scale map to show the proposal location in relation to the local area
• The Specific Site Map - a detailed view of the proposal area.

The customized map layouts include the basic elements that should be shown on each map.

How to create the Maps

The process to create the maps involves three main components:

1. The Mapping Checklist is used to determine which spatial layers are included on which map, depending on the type of application and which government agency the referral is being submitted to.  For advanced GIS users, the Map Layer list contains details of the source data included with the iMap and ArcMap templates.
    

2. The Customized Mapping Tools - a custom theme has been developed in iMap which contains the basic map layers outlined in the mapping checklist (see above).  Please see the iMap User Guide for details on how to prepare the maps using the iMap custom theme.
   
   Public Users- click here to link to the Public iMAP custom theme
   
   IDIR Users - click here to link to the Secure iMAP custom theme (for internal gov’t access only)
   
   Note: iMap saved sessions cannot be shared between public and secure iMap applications.
   

3. The Customized Layouts  - included in iMap are four layout templates with different page size and orientation used for creating the final PDF maps. The templates include the basic elements required on the map (Proponent name, application description, location description etc). The user will fill in the appropriate text to show on each map.  Note that the layouts can be used with any map view, not just the referrals custom theme. See the iMap User Guide for full instructions on using the layout templates.

For advanced GIS Users, ArcMap (v.9.2) map layout templates (MXT files) are available.  These templates provide layouts for the map surround only - no data layers are included.

Download MXT Templates - download .zip file which contains four MXT layout templates for ArcMap (click on file to download).
 

Instructions for using the MXT files can be found in the ArcMap User Guide. This guide is geared towards internal government users, however external users will also be able to implement the general procedures (what data should be on the maps) and to use the ArcMap MXT files as layout templates - see the user guide section Using the MXT Map Templates.

Internal Government Users click here for access to additional information.

Help

For specific help or to provide feedback on using the referral checklist or custom referral templates, you can email the Thompson-Okanagan ILMB Regional GeoBC contact.

For general help with iMap issues, please contact the GeoBC Help Desk.

Page last updated Aug 19th 2010