Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR RECONCILIATION IN THE COWICHAN: “What is possible for climate resiliency in the Cowichan? How do we drive it? It is really hard to do really hard work unless you trust and have a relationship with the people doing the work,” stated Cindy Lise, co-lead for the Cowichan Climate Gathering

May 27, 2025 - Posted in water sustainability

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. Storylines accommodate a range of reader attention spans. Read the headline and move on, or take the time to delve deeper – it is your choice! Downloadable versions are available at Living Water Smart in British Columbia: The Series. Stories are structured in three parts: One-Minute Takeaway, Editor’s Perspective, and the Story Behind the Story.

The edition published on May 27, 2025 is the second in a 2-part series about the Cowichan Climate Gathering held in December 2024. The two provide an over-arching picture of what convening for action looks like in the Cowichan. The story behind the story is structured as three topics. First, Keith Lawrence introduces the network of networks context. Cindy Lise then reflects on the process for moving towards a common vision and explains why the artist’s storyboard is a foundation piece for build to Climate Gathering 2.0 in 2025.

A watershed moment for reconciliation in Cowichan region

Tackling the climate resiliency issue is a journey. It takes time. There is no quick fix. Concerns about extreme floods and droughts in the Cowichan region, for example, first surfaced in the 1990s. Three decades later, those concerns are still top of mind and are driving an outcome-oriented process.

Build something from nothing

“So you bring together a team of partners to try and figure out a way forward. Then something else whaps you on the side of the head. And you, as a collective, must figure out how to address that too. That is my experience because I get to live in a number of different worlds,” says Cindy Lise.

“But you do not have a preconceived history or notion of what it is you are going to do…because it is hitting you in a way you have never experienced before. The only way that you are going to solve a complex challenge is if you have trust in others and a willingness to try something new.”

The process is the journey

“It is really about a journey,” states Keith Lawrence, co-lead for the event. “It was the process of meeting on a weekly basis and connecting with each member of the team and with panel presenters. That was the relationship building.”

“On the day of, it was just the hope that everyone there had a rich experience. For me, the rich experience was building that deep connection with the planning team. That is why the journey is so important. The endpoint is more of a byproduct for me. What does it mean for where we go from here?”

EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE / CONTEXT FOR BUSY READER

“Grounded in the cultural ways of the Indigenous partners, the Cowichan Region Climate Gathering originated as an outreach initiative of the regional district’s watershed protection program. It morphed into something much, much bigger,” stated Kim Stephens, Waterbucket eNews Editor and Partnership Executive Director.

“My history of collaboration with Cowichan Valley local governments provides me with a firsthand context for judging the historical significance of what this watershed moment represents.”

“Because I co-delivered the Blue Ecology in the Cowichan breakout session as part of a Watershed Moments tag-team with Michael Blackstock and Paul Chapman, this also gives me a participant’ s perspective.”

Convening for action in the Cowichan to align efforts and work towards outcomes

“The Cowichan Climate Gathering was an amazing experience. The energy, the passion, the diversity of groups participating was something to behold. Success in convening for action on December 9-10, 2024 is a testament to the co-leadership of Cindy Lise and Keith Lawrence. Their enthusiasm and commitment inspired others to step forward and make a difference,” concluded Kim Stephens.

Now what do you do to achieve desired outcomes?

“The Climate Gathering was an opportunity for us to really build the network of networks, to recognize the complexity of the systems that we are working within, to strengthen those connections and highlight how rich a tapestry of interactions can happen at an event like that,” Keith Lawrence said in a moment of reflection.

“But it is going to take us a while. When I think about when we started with the Regional Airshed Roundtable in 2014, it took us a year to build the foundation. And that is where we are right now,” continued Cindy Lise.

“Cindy has framed that well,” concluded Keith Lawrence. “We are talking about the broad role potentially going forward of the group of folks that are interested in leading this forward, both in terms of balancing how we build the collaborative framework going forward while advancing the collective along the spectrum of collaboration.”

“And then, also reaching out to the public or those that can have a difference with the way they do things in terms of supporting climate action. There is a need for both the strengthening of the framework internally and broadening it externally to bring in new participants. Maybe this is where it intertwines with Michael Blackstock’s work with Blue Ecology.”

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: A watershed moment for reconciliation in Cowichan region – a conversation with Cindy Lise and Keith Lawrence

This story about the Cowichan Climate Gathering is the second in a 2-part series, and focuses on Cindy Lise. In the first installment, the spotlight shone brightly on Keith Lawrence. Read together, the two stories provide an over-arching picture of what convening for action looks like in the Cowichan.

The story behind the story is structured as three topics. In Topic One, Keith Lawrence introduces the network of networks context that brought people together at the Cowichan Climate Gathering.

Topic Two addresses the Now What question as Cindy Lise reflects on the process for building on the passion of the collective to move towards a common vision. In Topic Three, she describes the importance of the artist’s storyboard as a foundation piece for building to Climate Gathering 2.0 later in 2025.

TOPIC ONE: Network of networks

“Across the region we have collaborative networks that are each focused on a particular set of actions that support climate resilience,” stated Keith Lawrence in the earlier interview. “For example, stewardship groups for a particular watershed, airshed protection roundtable, energy reduction champions and climate action planning leaders.”

“I see myself as merely a narrator speaking about a shared experience that we all had in planning the Cowichan Region Climate Gathering. We just know that ultimately, the network of networks can help us to work together towards a common vision.”

Curious to learn more?

Download a PDF copy of Living Water Smart in British Columbia: Network of networks in Cowichan Region is like a forest ecosystem, published on February 25, 2025.

TOPIC TWO: Now what do we do? Reflections on process for moving towards a common vision

“After the Climate Gathering, we had stacks of evaluation and I wrote a report,” states Cindy Lise. “We really listened to participants and what they wanted to see moving forward, what the event meant to them. That is captured brilliantly in the story published by the Partnership in February.”

“What we heard was that nobody wanted it to be a one and done. So, as a community and a nitty gritty planning team, literally that event was pulled together by the collaborative process of partnerships that got us the little bits to make one big bit.”

THE CLIMATE GATHERING TEAM: David Reay, Fernanda Gutierrez Matos, Katie Mosewich, Cindy Lise, Sandra Thomson, Keith Lawrence

“And so, after the event we took the month of January to do the recapturing and reflecting, came back together in February as the small planning committee, and then asked ourselves three questions.”

“We are all coming from different places. So my vision of how we move the community forward is not necessarily the same vision as the partners of the planning team. For this reason, what we have been focusing on who are we, who needs to be at the table, and what is it that we see ourselves doing?”

“We have started with a terms of reference with this small group. Keith and I have a broader vision of building a collective in a big sense, and building that stream of collective impact that we worked so hard on.”

“And yet there are a couple of our members who sit at the table whose focus is on all the stuff that is already going on. What we need to do is focus on engaging with the public, they say, for getting information out there and for getting people thinking and so on.”

“We had to come to this place of almost doing both. Our terms of reference includes two things. In 2025, we would like to host some kind of an opportunity for all of those partners to come together and share with the broader community what they do.”

“The other thing we are planning is a Climate Gathering 2.0. Obviously we will not have the same capacity and funding as for the first one. So we envision it to be a one day gathering. And it will be about saying, let’s keep ourselves connected.”

“I have been doing collective impact work in the community for more than 10 years. It takes time, it really does. It is only NOW that it is really starting to have a profound impact on some of the other initiatives that we are doing.”

“For context, Keith and I have been involved with the airshed strategy and roundtable since 2014. We know it takes a sustained effort and a sustained backbone or people at the helm to drive it. And so, for this big climate gathering piece, we are at hello! But some of the work behind it is decades in.”

“If we really want this work to be successful, we need to have someone driving the bus all the way. And as a focus of their foundational work,” Cindy Lise underscores. “It takes time, it really does. There is no quick fix which is why you must know your history.”

TOPIC THREE: Artist’s storyboard is a foundation piece for building to Climate Gathering 2.0

“The story of the Climate Gathering 1.0 was encapsulated visually in a storyboard by artist Jenni Ottilie Keppler. The storyboard will be the foundation for Climate Gathering 2.0 and we will be using it along the way to tell the story of this watershed moment,” continues Cindy Lise.

DOWNLOAD A PDF COPY: Cowichan Climate Gathering storyboard

“When I look at the storyboard, what resonates most for me is shared knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know until you have an opportunity to experience that moment when you exclaim, aha, now I get it!“

“Climate Gathering 1.0 was shared knowledge in layers…cultural, elders, initiatives, learning, art. It is the complexities of so many pieces, and how do you hold that knowledge and what do you do with it. That event was about bringing to life all of those pieces.”

“I see all that in that storyboard. And that is what gives us the direction of where the group wants us to go. Stay connected. It is all in one picture. I use that as my tool for reflecting on my work,” concludes Cindy Lise.”

Living Water Smart in British Columbia Series

To download a copy of the foregoing resource as a PDF document for your records and/or sharing, click on Living Water Smart in British Columbia: A watershed moment for reconciliation in Cowichan region.

DOWNLOAD A COPY: https://waterbucket.ca/wcp/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/05/PWSBC_Living-Water-Smart_Watershed-Moment-in-the-Cowichan_2025.pdf

About the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

Technical knowledge alone is not enough to resolve water challenges facing BC. Making things happen in the real world requires an appreciation and understanding of human behaviour, combined with a knowledge of how decisions are made. It takes a career to figure this out.

The Partnership has a primary goal, to build bridges of understanding and pass the baton from the past to the present and future. To achieve the goal, the Partnership is growing a network in the local government setting. This network embraces collaborative leadership and inter-generational collaboration.