CHRONICLE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATION IN METRO VANCOUVER: “Technical people have to demonstrate cost-effectiveness in order to transform political acceptability into political will to implement change and spend money,” stated former Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk, political champion and moderator for the SmartStorm Forum Series (1999-2001)
Note to Reader:
Published by the Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia, Waterbucket eNews celebrates the leadership of individuals and organizations who are guided by the Living Water Smart vision. The edition published on January 28, 2025 celebrated the contributions of the late Barry Janyk (1952-2024), former 4-term mayor of the Town of Gibsons.
He was outspoken, funny and fearless in following his passions and advocating for the causes he believed in. One of those causes was “Smart Development”. Because he believed in doing the right thing, he played a leadership role in setting the green infrastructure movement in motion a generation ago. He was an influencer in a profound and public way.
Remembering Barry Janyk, political champion for Smart Development
“No shrinking violet, Barry Janyk brought a larger-than-life personality to preserving Gibsons’ small-town charm during his 12 years as mayor of the Sunshine Coast community. He had a witty and irreverent sense of humour and believed politics should be fun,” wrote Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director, in his tribute to Barry Janyk.
“Under Barry Janyk’s leadership through four terms, Gibsons was one of the first communities in B.C. to consider the implications of sea-level rise and recognize water as a crucial resource. He was thrilled when the town was awarded ‘Best Municipal Drinking Water in the World’ and deemed ‘most liveable community in the world’ in international competitions.”
Rural constituencies want a voice
“Barry Janyk died of a rare form of brain cancer, just days before his 72nd birthday. A celebration of his life was held in Gibsons on January 18th. The finale moment in his public service was organizing the Keeping It Rural Conference in June 2023.”
“Barry Janyk envisioned the conference as a springboard for creating a Rural Mayors, Chairs and Chiefs Caucus. Not long afterwards, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Did the vision for what the BC Rural Centre could be die with him? The story behind that story is the flashback included as an appendix in the downloadable version of this edition of Waterbucket eNews.”
Barry Janyk was an early political champion for Smart Development in urban BC
“In 1999, Barry Janyk had a vision which morphed into the SmartStorm Forum Series. The genesis for the series was a focus group workshop convened by UBCM in October 1997. Barry Janyk coined the term Smart Development to clearly differentiate the BC approach from the Low Impact Development terminology which was then being used in the United States.”
“Barry Janyk chaired the inter-governmental committee which initiated the series. He added political profile in his moderator role for the series. His tone-setting presentation to kickoff each event was titled The Political Consequences of Doing the Wrong Thing: Why Elected Officials Must Consider Smart Development.”
“In 2007, when he was Vice-President of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities, Barry Janyk was the political champion who helped the Partnership for Water Sustainability bring to fruition the vision for the inter-regional Green Infrastructure Leadership Forum,” concluded Kim Stephens.
To Learn More:
To read the complete story, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Remembering Barry Janyk, political champion for Smart Development.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_remembering-Barry-Janyk_2025.pdf