Island communities in Canada and Scotland are mapping their own governance systems to find pathways toward self-rule that don't simply replace one form of dependency with another. This matters because many islands face a double bind: they rely on mainland resources and markets, yet risk becoming exclusive enclaves for wealthy outsiders—as seen on Mackinac Island and Fogo Island. Existing governance models often ignore how deeply food sovereignty, tourism, and natural resource management are tied to local identity and ecology. The project fills a gap by treating governance not as a top-down structure but as something that emerges from relationships between people, place, and environment. If successful, the research will produce a literature review and systems map offering actionable insights for policymakers in Canada and the UK. These could reshape how island communities balance external economic pressures with preserving local agency—particularly in food systems, tourism, and resource management. The work is exploratory and synthesising existing knowledge rather than testing a specific intervention, but it aims to generate concrete governance pathways defined by islanders themselves, not outside experts.
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This knowledge synthesis project focuses on governance systems on island communities in Canada and Scotland, with a key theme being successful Indigenous governance models for sovereignty, such as on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. We aim to identify key lessons and themes that emerge from Islands regarding pathways and roadblocks toward self-governance and equitable socio-economic development. By conducting a comprehensive literature review, scoping interviews, and systems mapping, we will explore what makes these places unique yet vulnerable to external pressures, such as over-reliance on mainland resources and the danger of becoming exclusive enclaves for wealthy outsiders, such as Mackinac Island and Fogo Island. Drawing on systems thinking, this project examines "governance systems that work" as an emergent process intertwined with ecological, cultural, and social systems. To explore this idea we will incorporate anticipatory systems thinking to guide our literature review of how Island governance structures can be designed to adapt to future challenges while maintaining local agency. By then talking to individuals on the Islands we will generate and explore "adjacent possibles" defined by the participants to identify innovative and context-specific governance pathways. In our analysis we will draw on Ingold's emphasis of the relational nature of humans and their environment, particularly within industries that are important on these islands such as food sovereignty and tourism, to show how they are deeply rooted in place which should then shape governance systems so that they are sustainable, resilient, and intrinsically tied to the lived experiences and identities of the local communities who inhabit them. By bringing these frameworks together we hope to produce a better understanding of how Island governance systems can balance external pressures and dependencies with the preservation of local identities all while supporting sustainable and place-based community economies that foster agency for marginalized voices. The resulting literature review and systems map of the interviews will provide actionable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in Canada and the UK, particularly around food sovereignty, tourism, and natural resource management, which will offer opportunities for future research on strategies to build equitable governance structures rooted in the experiences of island communities.
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