Seeking commitments amid suspicion and mistrust

In mid-April, 175 participants representing 98 municipalities, First Nations, government departments, NGOs and corporations, met in Sherwood Park for two days to open discussions on a watershed advisory planning council (WPAC ) for the Athabasca River Basin. 

Parks Canada was represented at the meeting, but the municipality of Jasper was not, opting to monitor the proceedings through Ian Duncan, a Hinton town councillor. The workshop offered perspectives and viewpoints on environmental, economic and social dimensions of development in the watershed from academics, government officials, and industry. 

None of the First Nations directly downstream from the oil/tar sands projects sent representatives to the conference. Without exception, they have aligned themselves with the Keepers of the Athabasca, a coalition of environmental NGOs and First Nations that is raising public awareness on the state of the historic waterway. 

Discussion was organized for Alberta Environment and led by Catrin Owen of Calder Bateman, specialists in public relations and image management. Owen wrote the final report on the meeting, including daily summaries, which the Fitzhugh has edited heavily in the interests of saving paper and to protect readers from bafflegab overload.

  Andy Lamb of Alberta Environment delivered the welcoming address that set the tone for the discussions:

•The original WPAC vision was that it would be self-selected and stakeholder driven, but we are now more proactive in getting WPACs started.

•We want your participation; we are building this together.

•In the summer, we will begin sharing expectations and building trust through sector focus groups, and work on pulling together an initiators committee.

•This workshop is the beginning of the dialogue. In the fall, we’ll begin the more substantive process of setting up a WPAC with a follow-up workshop and inaugural annual general meeting.

DAY 1 SUMMARY                               

“We’ve heard that Water for Life is fundamentally about relationships. The key to protecting our water is to seek out the partnerships necessary to bring people together in stewardship and solution identification. The Athabasca Watershed is diverse and complex; because of this, the Athabasca WPAC will need to be sophisticated and flexible. Key to an effective WPAC will be active listening and relationship building.

“We were given an important and comprehensive technical overview of the aquatic ecosystem for the Athabasca River. We were also reminded of the multiple scientific perspectives that make up riverine resource stewardship: water quality, biology, connectivity, and geomorphology; all brought together through hydrology. We know science has its limitations – it is a tool that can inform, but not make decisions.

“We heard a valuable aboriginal perspective from two of our presenters, Marc Levasseur and Ann Garibaldi. They reminded us that water, land, air and history are inextricably linked – none can be considered in isolation of the others. While we may be two worlds, we have one goal and an immense amount of important traditional knowledge to draw on. Real power may be achieved when science and traditional knowledge work together.

“Cumulative effects were a dominant theme of the breakout sessions – and the question, “when is enough development enough?” was raised.  Also the issue of the scale of our province – the vastness of the land and the challenge that this represents for WPAC was discussed.  Some expressed healthy skepticism about WPACs, and some participants were looking for some certainty that their WPAC advice will be taken seriously. On the other side, people expressed real interest in quick action and noted the importance of true, solution-oriented collaboration. We heard that it is important to get this planning process right, requiring us all to make some shifts in attitude and behavior.

“While there was recognition of shared responsibility – at the same time, there was a call for government leadership on this issue. We heard repeatedly that trust is central to this process, as is mutual respect, and that these can be compromised if people have to yell or fight just to be heard or acknowledged. The connection between environmental monitoring and communication of results needs to be clearer, we heard.

“We learned about how water moves across this province – and how human and industrial activity alters the flow of water. Alberta is a tremendously busy landscape – and the impact of agricultural growth is profound. The bulk of our land use is south, the bulk of our water is north and that water is becoming scarcer and more variable. We were urged to look at the inter-relatedness of the Land Use Framework and Water for Life Strategies. We have to move our perspective from one of abundance to one of scarcity, and be proactive - not reactive as we have been. This is a whole new, transformative way of doing business, which will require new levels of understanding. The challenge is to knit all the opportunities together in the Athabasca Watershed.

“We were reminded that some critical decisions have to be made about outcomes. The day was full, the presentations were very valuable, the conversations and comments were insightful and rich … I’m looking forward to what more can happen tomorrow.” 

DAY 2 SUMMARY                               

“We heard that the solution for this watershed lies in Alberta, for Albertans and by Albertans, and that there are intrinsic environmental, cultural, commercial and historical values attached to the watershed. There were some innovative ideas shared around how to get to a meaningful discussion of values. We heard people say that agreement on values isn’t as difficult as it might seem, there are universal values that we hold dear. The difficulty comes when the trade offs need to happen in order to protect those values.

“Some people expressed concerns around the government’s role in this process. The question is “how can the government facilitate a process in which it is a stakeholder?” Finding the appropriate ongoing role for government is key. Once again, it comes down to trust and relationship building and a commitment to working together.”

Next Steps/Conclusion

During the course of the workshop, many of the participants expressed an interest in the concept of the WPAC, and indicated that they would like to be involved with the Athabasca Watershed WPAC going forward. There is a consensus among the stakeholder groups that this has the potential to be an important and worthwhile initiative. There was some concern identified among the participants that the process must be open and inclusive in order to be legitimate. People feel that responsible development and water use within Athabasca Watershed is a value that we all share, and look forward to the opportunity to participate.