Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

cost almost twice that amount if significant numbers of remote households are included
in the sample frame and the survey is administered in person by surveyors ($20,000 to
$30,000). Travel time and costs to remote villages would need to be carefully calculated
in developing a budget.
Advantages and disadvantages of this method:
Administering quantitative surveys in remote communities is expensive, but would be the
only realistic way to include remote First Nations communities in the data collection and
analysis. Obtaining quantitative data from randomly selected communities and
households that allow results to be generalized across the plan area would allow for
comparisons across time.
8.1.3 Local Census using Proxy Method
Description: The Skeena Native Development Society (SNDS) is a non-profit economic
development organization that provides resources to individuals for capacity growth and
business development initiatives in Northwestern BC It conducts an annual Labour
Market Survey for communities in its service area based on a data collection method it
calls the Proxy Method. This approach is used to obtain community and individual
economic, demographic and education related data in remote First Nations villages by
working with band offices and by hiring local interviewers who interview key informants
in the community. The survey is a source of existing data for the North Coast LRMP
area, and it also can serve as a model for data collection methodology that could be
conducted on the Central Coast.
Frequency: Every three years to correspond with the frequency of the Skeena Native
Development Society census timeline.
Cost per time: Costs would roughly estimate $35,000-$45,000 total for both plan areas.
Costs would be considerably higher for the first survey than subsequent surveys (perhaps
50% less) after the methodology is established.
Advantages and disadvantages of this method:
This community-based data collection method provides an opportunity for local First
Nations community members to be employed and involved in the data collection effort.
The method appears to overcome the under-reporting issues of the Canadian census in
First Nations communities and enables information on subsistence uses of resources and
cultural participation. It enables collection of data on indicators that are not available
through existing sources such as BC Stats and Statistics Canada. This method can be used
to field check and localize existing sources that are available. The methodology has
already been established by the Skeena Native Development Society on the North Coast
and would be relatively easy to adapt to the communities inside the Central Coast plan
area. The frequency of data collection is flexible depending on budgets, frequency of
change in the communities, and other factors that would influence the desired or
necessary frequency of data collection.
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