“Fin Donnelly, Ted van der Gulik and Jordan Point – this may be one of the heaviest-hitting panels I’ve ever participated on,” states Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director, Okanagan Basin Water Board
Note to Reader:
The 6th annual Canadian Water Summit is coming to Vancouver, BC on June 25. This national event will offer expert plenary sessions and panel presentations filled with case studies, real world projects and positive examples of nexus opportunities that exist for water and energy which benefit government, industry and first nations. A featured breakout session is the panel on Farming, Fishery and Watershed Connections on the Fraser River. For more details visit www.watersummit.ca The Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC is an ‘endorsing organization’ of the 2015 Water Summit.
Canadian Water Summit 2015 features “Panel on Farming, Fishery & Watershed Connections on the Fraser River”
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The Energy of Water theme for the 2015 Canadian Water Summit is more than the water/energy nexus conversation – it’s about water professionals celebrating the positives and opportunity that water can bring to Canada. We will have panel sessions on the Water-Land Nexus – that is, the ways that water and land use influence each other. Anna Warwick Sears is the moderator for the session on Farming, Fishery and Watershed Connections,” states Todd Latham,” Director of the Canadian Water Summit 2015.
Introduction to Panel
The three panel members are: Jordan Point, Executive Director, First Nations Fisheries Council; Fin Donnelly, Board Chair of the Rivershed Society of BC, and Member of Parliament for New Westminster-Coquitlam & Port Moody; and Ted van der Gulik, Certification Board Chair of the Irrigation Industry Association of BC, and President of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.
“The Canadian Water Summit holds breakout sessions early in the afternoon to get people out of their normal chairs and shake things up,” notes Anna Warwick Sears, Executive Director, Okanagan Basin Water Board. “We are the only panel that will be talking about watersheds. Because our audience will be national and international in nature, we will be as frank and forthcoming as possible about the challenges and opportunities.”
The Best Panels are Conversations
“To provide the audience with a common understanding, each member of the panel will speak to Water/Land Use interactions in BC, and along the Fraser River in particular. Each will elaborate on the biggest concerns for the future, anticipated positive changes, what civil society can do to ensure a better future, and where we are going from here.”
“Fin Donnelly will be first up, talking about his experiences swimming the length of the Fraser (twice!), what he’s learned over the years about the watershed, and how he’s educating new water leaders about watershed governance and protection by traveling the mighty Fraser River.”
“Ted van der Gulik will be talking about agriculture in the Fraser Valley and irrigation from the river, and will also talk about the risks and implications of flooding by the Fraser onto the land.”
“Jordan Point will bring it all together at the end: land use, water use, watershed health, and the restoration of the fisheries from a First Nations perspective.”
“This may be one of the heaviest-hitting panels I’ve ever participated on. We have leaders in watersheds, agriculture and fisheries all coming to tell us their stories of work on the Fraser River,” concludes Anna Warwick Sears.
To Learn More:
Visit www.watersummit.ca. The Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, will provide closing remarks at the conclusion of the 2015 Canadian Water Summit.
