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Daniel Pauly

A VISION WITH A TASK IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD: “Honouring of Jody Watson with the 2023 Watershed Moments Award is both timely and a great example how one individual with a long term vision and determination can make a difference,” stated Eric Bonham at the Partnership for Water Sustainability Forum held in Nanaimo (October 2023)

November 28, 2023


“Early in her career, Jody Watson realized the importance and value of local government-community relationships built upon mutual trust, respect and common purpose. In her role as Supervisor of Environmental Initiatives, Jody has emphasized collaboration and teamwork at every opportunity. Creative community partnerships are being forged to address changing circumstances. An able communicator and mentor who ‘walks her talk’, Jody is both a visionary and a pragmatist, for the vision and task are equally important, and that is what makes the difference,” stated Eric Bonham.

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BRING SCIENCE INSIDE LOCAL GOVERNMENT: “The job of a scientist is to provide the best advice to help people make a good decision,” stated Dr. Dave Preikshot, Senior Environmental Specialist with the Municipality of North Cowichan

October 10, 2023


“Scientists walk that tightrope between being overly reactive or not bringing the appropriate dynamics to bear on a situation. That is the debate in so many policy decisions which ultimately are up to senior managers, politicians and the public to make. Hopefully, scientists can provide information that helps. I believe that scientists need to talk to politicians, managers, and community members. However, it is really hard to keep everybody interested over the long term that characterizes ecosystem management questions. That is a challenge I face,” stated Dr. Dave Preikshot.

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THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS GIVEN US TIME TO PAUSE, REFLECT AND SEIZE THE MOMENT: “The French word ‘prevoyant’ has no English equivalent. It is the power of a prepared mind to act upon chance events in a world of deep uncertainty,” wrote George Hanson, President & CEO, Vancouver Island Economic Alliance

April 28, 2020


“Being ‘stuck in the past’ has always been a liability. Now, as the pace of everything accelerates, it is logical to expect disruption. It is prudent to be nimble and responsive. Pulitzer Prize winning historian, David Hackett Fischer wrote that prevoyant is also ‘learning to make sound judgements on the basis of imperfect knowledge; taking a broad view in projects of large purpose; and thinking for the long run’. It has been said that ‘providence favours a prepared mind’. In business, in life, in community, it has always been beneficial to look ahead. ” stated George Hanson.

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FLASHBACK TO 2015: “I was just so encouraged to see that we in the Comox Valley are not alone and that we now have others who are eager to help. This relationship building is key to accelerating the sharing and learning further, and the Georgia Basin approach to water sustainability,” stated Nancy Gothard, City of Courtenay environmental planner, when she reflected on inter-regional collaboration

June 13, 2019


“That so many people earnestly working on this have reached the same point suggests that we are on the tipping point of a breakthrough in collaboration. We will now be eager, I expect, to share just how we permeated these concepts into our own organizations. This is organizational transformation that we are discussing here, not just Water Balance any longer,” stated Nancy Gothard. “I also thought – wow, we are all really supporting each other. Once we know that we can just get to the work of ‘doing the work’. We are now all on the same page.”

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PARKSVILLE 2019 SYMPOSIUM: “As the online survey showed, this ‘convening for action’ event met or exceeded expectations for 95% of delegates; furthermore, the event was successful because the right players were present, the urgency for meaningful collaboration was recognized, and ‘can do’ success stories were shared,” stated Kim Stephens

May 1, 2019


“In embarking on the year-long journey to plan and deliver Parksville 2019, our vision and mission was to demonstrate the power of collaboration between the stewardship sector and local governments, and give folks hope that good things would flow from such collaboration,” stated Kim Stephens. “Hence, our main focus was on showcasing success stories that would be inspirational. At the same time, we had to bring to life the phrase ‘improve where we live through restorative development’. This meant that we had to connect the dots between the two ideas in order to demonstrate that some communities are moving beyond rhetoric.”

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