Under the theme of Green Approaches to Development, Eric Bonham and Kim Stephens provided a progress report on “CAVI – Convening for Action on Vancouver Island”. In his part, Bonham articulated the CAVI vision for water-centric planning and a Design with Nature way-of-thinking and acting to create liveable communities in balance with ecology. His unifying theme was collaboration.
To capture their attention, this question was posed to local governments on Vancouver Island: how can your Regional Growth Strategy or Official Community Plan be aligned with A Positive Settlement Strategy? “If we are to control our destiny, then we need to challenge Vancouver Islanders to visualize what they want this place to look like in 50 years and get on with creating our future,” stated Rod Sherrell.
“We started the day with high expectations that the Beyond the Guidebook Seminar would prove to be a transformational event, and we exceeded those expectations as the day unfolded. Further, my prediction is that this event will become part of our green infrastructure folklore,” stated Kim Stephens. “A key is that those who were there come away inspired and start doing things differently in their day jobs as a result of what they learned by being part of the moment.”
“We had a good mix of elected officials, chief administrative officers, and senior managers. Because people gave up their Sunday to attend, we believe this reflects the credibility that CAVI is establishing with local governments on Vancouver Island. Participants travelled from as far away as Tofino and Courtenay,” stated John Finnie.
Environment Minister Barry Penner singled out the accomplishments of the BCWWA Water Sustainability Committee in delivering the Water Sustainability Action Plan for British Columbia through partnerships with his Ministry and others. The Minister’s recognition of the WSC set the stage for a half-day Action Plan session within the main conference program, organized by the WSC in collaboration with the Green Infrastructure Partnership.
The pre-conference session addressed the question: how does a community weigh the benefits and liabilities of changes driven by demand for land use?
“This workshop is the first one organized by the Ministry of Environment for the purpose of bringing together water resource specialists and planners at all levels of government. We hope that it will be the first in a series of annual events,” stated John Denesiger, Workshop Chair.
According to Eric Bonham, the consultation workshop, held as an adjunct to the Water in the City Conference in Victoria, provided a timely opportunity to test and validate an approach that can bridge the gap between talk (interest) and action (practice)in advancing a water-centric approach to community development.
“The landscape and livability of Vancouver Island is rapidly being transformed by settlement, economic growth and water supply pressures. This CAVI workshop provides the opportunity to participate in a real life process that has relevance to what Vancouver Island may look like in 50 years,thell.” stated Graeme Bethell.
“Experience shows that big meetings don’t work in terms of creating change. The program design for Water and Cities is predicated on the realization that moving from talk to action starts with people having a conversation. Spontaneous communication in turn leads to dialogue; and it is dialogue that leads to consensus on what needs to be done,” stated Patricia Gallaugher.
