Convening for Action in British Columbia

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John Finnie

    CONVENING FOR ACTION ON VANCOUVER ISLAND: “We have it in our hands to create our future, because what we do on the ground sets the pattern of development for generations,” stated Eric Bonham in his keynote address at the CAVI launch event in 2006


    “Change in standard practices does not happen overnight. It takes time. Therefore, it is important to manage expectations when embarking on this journey towards water sustainability. Getting there is Mission Possible and is a top-down and bottom-up strategy. First comes the vision. Then community involvement. Support from municipal decision makers follows next. Finally, communities must apply ‘Design with Nature’ as a consistent future approach to development. Everyone needs to agree on expectations and how all the players will work together,” stated Eric Bonham.

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    DOWNLOAD A COPY OF: “Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Shared Responsibility Underpins a Regional Team Approach to Creating Our Future” – released by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in November 2021


    “Shared responsibility can work at different levels. Senior government, regional government, municipalities, the development community and their consultants – all of us have an impact on the land, on the water, and on the way things look. Policy and legal tools can help developers, regulators and designers collaborate to implement green infrastructure solutions and ensure responsible outcomes. Each party in the process has a responsibility. Our purpose in developing the Responsibility Matrix is to encourage players with different perspectives to talk candidly with each other about green infrastructure or other sustainability goal implementation,” stated Susan Rutherford.

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    IMPLEMENT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE TO ACHIEVE WATER SUSTAINABILITY: “The Vancouver Island Learning Lunch Seminar Series will help facilitate inter-departmental alignment and a consistent regional approach. The City of Courtenay and Cowichan Valley Regional District are partners who are helping us pilot this work,” announced Deputy Minister Dale Wall, Ministry of Community Services (May 2008)


    “We have to develop expertise to support The New Business As Usual. Vancouver Island is the pilot region for much of this work through CAVI, Convening for Action on Vancouver Island. The approach to practitioner education is inclusive, and supports water-centric planning and a design with nature way-of-thinking. It actually helps to make liveable communities that are in balance with ecology. The goal is that today’s expectations will become tomorrow’s standards; and that we build the legal, technical and policy basis with which to support green infrastructure,” stated Dale Wall.

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    DIALOGUE IN NANAIMO: “We convened at Vancouver Island University to identify solutions and inspire action so that Vancouver Island would become a flagship model of fresh water sustainability,” stated Kathy Bishop of Leadership BC Central Vancouver Island (June 2010)


    “The Dialogue in Nanaimo was structured around a water sustainability panel. Rather than talking heads, the panel engaged in a form of ‘improv theatre’ to feed off each other in spontaneously expressing key messages about water. This primed the audience for ‘small group’ dialogues in eight theme areas. The small groups dialogue were followed by a ‘big group’ dialogue. A lot of ideas and information were generated by the small groups,” stated Kathy Bishop.

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    NANAIMO REGION WATER PRICING WORKSHOP: “Through our Team Water Smart, the Regional District of Nanaimo is promoting water conservation because we see the benefits for drinking water and watershed protection,” stated John Finnie at the Worth Every Penny Workshop, organized under the umbrella of the Water Sustainability Action Plan (September 2010)


    “Maintaining a balance between ‘Water OUT’ and ‘Water IN’ is essential because both sides of the equation are variable; and the safety margin is decreasing over time with population growth and water consumption. Conservation-oriented water pricing is also about achieving a balance – that is, a balance between charging enough to cover the cost to operate and maintain the water service, while being substantial enough to provide users with an incentive to curb wasteful water use,” stated John Finnie.

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