Convening for Action in British Columbia

“The Strategy brought together extensive technical information and highlighted the most important water management issues and how they connect to one another. The Strategy included recommended actions designed to protect water at its source, share water in times of shortages, manage water demand, and identify the best structure for valley-wide governance,” stated Ted van der Gulik.

“The 2010 Progress Report outlined the progress made on the Strategy’s 45 action items over the first two years. It highlighted successes to date, identified areas where more work needed to be done, discussed barriers to implementation, and suggested next steps,” stated Nelson Jatel.

“The Surrey Sustainability Charter is about making the right choices and doing the right things. The Charter provides a comprehensive lens through which we will view all future initiatives, programs and plans. It provides us with a framework to best develop and manage Surrey’s human and physical resources to create a strong, sustainable city,” states Mayor Dianne Watts.

“Once we know what we want our watersheds and neighbourhoods to look like, the next step is to decide what the tools are that will get us there. All of us – regulators, developers or designers – need to understand and care about the goal if we are to create the future that we all want,” states Vincent Lalonde

“The workshop demonstrated how local government practioners in Metro Vancouver are meeting the challenge of moving from planning to action. By bringing people together to share their experiences, we believe effective implementation of the design with nature principles can be addressed through practical changes,” Paul Ham stated.

“The goal was to build regional capacity through sharing of green infrastructure approaches, experiences and lessons learned as an outcome of ‘designing with nature’. The pilot series was a building block process – each time the objective was to raise the bar when celebrating successes,” states Ray Fung.

“The learning outcome for the mini-charrette was that participants would be able to express how green infrastructure policies and practices can be successfully implemented at the site scale to protect stream health at the watershed scale,” stated Remi Dube.

“Living Water Smart provides a framework and sets a direction. The purpose in convening for action is to establish consistent expectations on-the-ground: This is what we want to achieve, and this is how we will get there. Our immediate objective in convening for action is to encourage ‘green choices’ that will ripple through time,” stated Kim Stephens.

“The course was designed to assist local governments and consultants delivering the ISMPs to understand options available. Many local governments were struggling with having these done in a fashion that is meaningful for their community – we hoped that the course would open minds and lead to application of new ideas,” stated Carrie Baron.

“Creating a lasting legacy requires sustained commitment to make things happen. The Penticton Forum was not the be-all and end-all; rather, it was an important milestone in advancing a regional team approach that aligns local actions with provincial goals for the common good,” recalls Kim Stephens.