Workshop # 2 for Phase III for the Coquitlam River Watershed (CRW) Strategy was held in Port Coquitlam on March 18, 2010. The meeting notes for this workshop provide a full account of the presentations and discussions, expanding on all the topics outlined in this summary.
Entitled “Continuing the Dialogue on the Terms of Reference for a Coquitlam River Watershed Governance Body,” the evening workshop was opened by Acting Mayor Carroll, City of Port Coquitlam, who read a vision for the year 2030 drafted a decade ago. Representing the Kwikwetlem First Nation, Glen Joe then thanked the project team for their efforts over the past two years. He encouraged participants to keep their focus on the river and put their differences aside. Glen Joe is a Co-leader of the CRW Strategy.
Participants expressed appreciation when Judy Dobrowolski, of the BC Transmission Corporation (now refered to as BC Hydro), presented a cheque to the project co-leaders in the amount of $5,000 to support the next phase of work.
Using presentation slides, Margaret Birch, Environmental Services Coordinator, City of Coquitlam, and the second Co-leader of the project, explained that this meeting is the last in the third phase of a multi-year initiative, and its aim is to seek agreement on terms of reference for a new body.
Facilitator Julie Gardner introduced the agenda using the presentation slides and explained how a participants' workbook would be used to guide discussions. She reviewed agreed-upon components of the terms of reference – the vision and the values of the watershed. She presented a revised summary description of the watershed. While some participants wished to do more work on this text, it was put aside for a smaller group to work on in Phase IV. By a show of hands, most meeting participants indicated support for the current text.
Seeking agreement on a mission statement, Gardner presented an alternative to the earlier draft, both of which are in the participants' workbook. With much support expressed for wording in both drafts, but no quick consensus arising, this too was tabled until Phase IV, in the interest of making progress on the structure side of the terms of reference.
Working draft Guiding Principles for the new CRW governance body were presented in the participants' workbook in the form of a Worksheet soliciting written comments for consideration by the new body. The draft principles were generated from participant ideas from the February 2nd public meeting and subsequent work by the Project Team. Comments on the principles worksheet provided by 5 participants are compiled in Appendix 2 of the meeting notes.
Next, Gardner introduced a proposed structure: a roundtable for the watershed. The proposal is set out in the participants' workbook under the headings General priorities, and Explanation of the elements of the proposed structure, as well as in a diagram. The proposal again was based on ideas from the February 2nd public meeting and subsequent work by the Project Team. For the second half of the meeting, participants worked in groups to respond to the proposal, tackling questions and loose ends to do with the proposed elements of the structure. A worksheet in the participants' workbook helped structure the discussions. A synthesis of the results provided by the work groups is in Appendix 1 of the meeting notes.
Discussion showed that participants’ views converged on many aspects of the proposed structure. A way forward was agreed upon as follows: Current project leaders would facilitate the establishment of a Transition Committee of people representative of the sectors with interests in the watershed. This Committee would convene the first open roundtable meeting. At that meeting participants would elect the Core Group/committee for the ongoing roundtable at which point the Transition Committee would disband. The Core Group would proceed to set up mechanisms for housing the grants committed, hiring a coordinator for the Roundtable, etc. The Core Group would work with the terms of reference drafted in Phase III of the CRW Strategy, including the advice from this meeting.
Closing the meeting, Margaret Birch reviewed the steps for wrapping up Phase III and launching Phase IV using presentation slides. Results of Phase III have to be communicated to key stakeholders (authorities with jurisdiction and major tenures in the watershed) and their support for Phase IV has to be confirmed during spring-summer 2010. Substantial grants have already been attained to fund Phase IV.
A final worksheet in the participants' workbook provided at the meeting listed possible activities for the new body, based on input from participants in Phases II and III of the CRW Strategy. This was set aside for future reference, in favour of making progress on the structure of the new body during this last meeting of Phase III.
Information displays and reports were available for participants to view as additional background material in support of the evening’s discussions. These included panels on watershed governance experience elsewhere and on the geography and characteristics of the CRW.
