GEORGIA BASIN INTER-REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE: “With the change of government in late 1991, all of a sudden land use planning and natural resource management was front and centre, and I really wanted something substantive to do,” stated Joan Sawicki, land and resource management champion, and former provincial cabinet minister
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 April 30, 2024 features Joan Sawicki and her “story behind the story” of the genesis and early years of the Georgia Basin Initiative in the 1990s. The edition is dedicated to Darlene Marzari, former BC Ministry of Municipal Affairs, and champion of community and regional planning. Darlene Marzari was the single most important reason for the success of the Georgia Basin Initiative, says Joan Sawicki.
Georgia Basin Initiative legacy ripples thru time
“Launched in 1994, the Georgia Basin Initiative was a call to action by the provincial government led by Premier Mike Harcourt. The influence of the Georgia Basin Initiative has rippled through time in profound and lasting ways. In 2024, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of a watershed moment in BC history,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.
“Within a few years, the Georgia Basin Initiative led to a federal-provincial agreement to collaborate under the umbrella of the Georgia Basin Ecosystem Initiative. The first 5-year plan covered the years 1998 through 2003. The Georgia Basin Action Plan, an evolution of the GBEI, then covered the second 5-year period from 2003 through 2008.”
“The living legacy of the Georgia Basin Initiative is embedded in and embodied by the current Georgia Basin Inter-Regional Educational Initiative. Led by the Partnership for Water Sustainability and supported by five regional districts, the IREI is now in Year 13 and provides peer-based education among local governments.”
Joan Sawicki and Darlene Marzari at the announcement for the Urban Salmon Habitat Program at Deer Lake in Burnaby, 1995
Understand and learn from the past to chart a course forward in tumultuous times
“Later in 2024, the Partnership will publish a chronicle of the green infrastructure journey in the Metro Vancouver region. Who did what, why, and how. The chronicle covers the period 1997 through 2023 and is structured in increments of time, for example, 2018 through 2023,” continues Kim Stephens.
“These increments are bracketed by watershed moments. The period 1997 through 2005 was a transformational era in BC history. The seeds were planted in the first half of the 1990s with the Georgia Basin Initiative. An understanding of lessons learned in the 1990s could and should inform a path forward in 2024.”
“Joan Sawicki, former elected representative at the local and provincial scales, was an agent of change as Parliamentary Secretary for the Georgia Basin Initiative. In this edition of Waterbucket eNews, Joan Sawicki brings an exciting era to life with reflections that are fascinating, illuminating and prompt this question:
Will another Darlene Marzari emerge as Minister of Municipal Affairs and be the provincial champion for community and regional planning?
“Being an effective champion requires deep knowledge, experience and quiet resolve to make things happen, says Joan Sawicki.”
Because there was trouble in paradise…
“With the change of government in late 1991, all of a sudden land use planning and natural resource management was front and centre,” states Joan Sawicki.
“We had Mike Harcourt as Premier and Darlene Marzari as Minister of Municipal Affairs. Both had come out of local government. They were very familiar with the urgent growth pressures and the ecological impacts that they were having.”
“Then I was appointed Marzari’s Parliamentary Secretary and really wanted something substantive to do. I, too, had spent a term as an elected Councillor in Burnaby. So the Georgia Basin Initiative was a good fit for me.”
“I was also already a keen student of ‘Our Common Future’. As a naïve new Councilor, I actually bought 5 copies of the book and plunked them on the desks of all our Directors in Burnaby, including Finance and Engineering.”
TO LEARN MORE:
To read the complete story, download a copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Georgia Basin Initiative legacy ripples thru time.
DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/04/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Joan-Sawicki-and-Georgia-Basin-Initiative_2024.pdf