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Ramin Seif is a visionary leader. At the Township of Langley Township, he carved out a one-of-a-kind role as general manager of a portfolio that combined planning and engineering. His dual role was an essential ingredient in enabling organizational integration, horizontally and vertically. “What we do as individuals, as engineers, as community builders to effect change is very much dependent on education, raising awareness, and developing a culture. And I think that is the story of Langley. We developed a culture that future generations can now take forward,” stated Ramin Seifi.

“In a system, everything is connected. That is a key message. The systems perspective is not a new idea. John Muir, known as the father of the American national parks system, was an exponent of systems thinking in the late 1800s. Housing supply, affordability, and home ownership. Health care. Crime. Sustainable and affordable funding for municipal infrastructure over generations. Water supply and food security. Agricultural land and food security. Weather extremes, creek system integrity, and risk management in the urban landscape. All are connected,” stated Kim Stephens.

Melony Burton’s actions in driving positive change are guided by her no-nonsense approach to keeping it simple, practical and implementable. She is results-based and has a history of accomplishment with three local governments. Her responsibilities encompass the entire infrastructure portfolio. “I have leveraged my career into a position that allows me to have more influence and positive change. This came, in part, from channeling the frustration at being limited in the role I was in. When you are comfortable, you are not motivated to make a change,” explains Melony Burton.

“Streams need a place to be. If we cannot get our heads around that, we are not going to keep our streams. EAP provides a value picture of a stream system as a land use. Because nature is a system, you cannot slice and dice it. EAP, the Ecological Accounting Process, recognizes this and is a financial tool to give streams the support they need to survive in the local government setting. Think of Blue Ecology as a compass in terms of how it relates to a water-first approach. We are on a journey. The compass points the way forward. EAP is an expression of Blue Ecology.” stated Tim Pringle.

Ray Fung captured the mood of the summit with this summation: “The Partnership is seen as a resource that is stable, that is there, and that people can draw upon. I liked the comment that THIS IS A MOVEMENT. I find that is really inspiring to not see ourselves just as a network. We leave the summit inspired to figure out how the FORM of the Partnership will follow the FUNCTION. We can learn things from expanding our perspective. Part of that holistic approach includes the SPIRITUAL as well as the physical connection to the land.”

“The notion of a superficial understanding explains the challenge that I am seeing. There are post-2000 graduate engineers coming out of university who are familiar with green infrastructure ideas and concepts, but they do not know the details behind them: details that they did not have to know at university or in their previous jobs. But without the background and history, can they really appreciate the complexity of interactions in a whole-systems approach and why certain targets and approaches were selected while others were not? This is why it is so important to find a way to pass on information and deep knowledge,” stated Robert Hicks.

Jody Watson provided inspirational leadership as chair of the Bowker Creek Initiative (BCI) for 13 years from 2005 through 2018. Without determined champions, nothing gets started and nothing happens. Champions motivate others. “The BCI is more than the people sitting around the BCI table. The BCI represents an extensive network that includes three Councils, every department, 11 community associations, and the CRD too. This network is a true community-driven collaboration made up of people with a lot of heart, grit, commitment, and dedication,” stated Jody Watson

“At the time, all this stuff was happening when we were doing our regular jobs. We were quite jealous of how other municipalities were highlighting what they were doing. If it was not for the Partnership for Water Sustainability and the waterbucket.ca website, we would not have taken the time to report on what we were doing! We were just doing the job. It was always, one day we should write about it. I remember thinking if we could just write this stuff down. And the only place that we did it was through the Partnership,” stated Rémi Dubé.

Carrie Baron has always been a trailblazer. She could always be counted upon to lend her credibility to a good idea. Her efforts helped get multiple regional, intergovernmental, and inter-regional initiatives off the ground. three words define Carrie Baron’s engineering career: leadership, innovation and science. “We were lucky that we had the framework and the people in place at Surrey. We worked hard to get environment and drainage and notions of sustainability embedded over time, whether it was in stormwater bylaws or the Sustainability Charter,” stated Carrie Baron.

“If done right, I see Asset Management for Sustainable Service Delivery as being at the core of Risk Management to achieve informed and superior planning for land and water. It certainly helps that risk management is language that gets the attention of elected representatives. With risk management as the lens, an integrated approach would help them focus them on levels-of-service and consequences for water, land, and finances. Layered over risk management is the question of what local government will do to fulfil the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act,” stated Kim Stephens.