On Thursday, October 24th, at around 10:15 am (MST), I arrived at Calgary International Airport, exhausted, excited and eagerly awaiting a weekend at Waterlution’s Canadian Water Innovation Lab at Camp Chief Hector in Exshaw, AB — at the base of the Rockie Mountains.
Waterlution is a water learning organization that brings together young leaders – interested or working on water-related topics – for peer-to-peer and inter-generational learning programs. Its workshops and activities often take place over a weekend, or are customized to work with partners and groups at selected events. At the Canadian Water Innovation Lab (CWIL), Waterlution staged a national event to address the most compelling issues in water resource management:
- New and long-term pressures threaten our water resources.
- Current policy and management approaches are outdated and in need of revision.
- There is a need for a safe space — spanning generations, sectors, and cultures — in which solutions can be developed collaboratively.
- Young Canadians are seeking new and effective ways to participate in decision-making processes and develop their potential.
Before I go any further into my experience at CWIL, I would like to thank my good friend Sarah Hart for informing me about this event back in August and without her suggestion to attend, I might have wound up writing about such a magnificent experience. Thanks Sara.
Thankfully, Waterlution focuses its programs on geographical areas engaging local stakeholders. At CWIL they really sought out participants from across the country and nearly every province and territory had representation in one way or another. Once again, I would like to thank Waterlution for providing the resources needed to make my attendance at the event possible.
Nova Scotia, along with the rest of the Atlantic provinces, had a strong contingent at CWIL and it was rather encouraging to see other Maritimers passionate about the importance of water at the international, national, regional and local levels. Of the 250 participants, there were approximately fifteen people from the East Coast. Although water and environmental issues vary between the provinces, we all seemed to gel and converse with a sense of immediate camaraderie. We were a group of people from the east coast that all shared a collective passion for the environment and contributing to a process of innovation and change in our communities. While facebook will keep most of us “connected,” I look forward to running into everyone in the future because I am sure that like minds attract, and everyone knows just how small the east coast can be.
On a side note: There were FOUR people from my home town of Antigonish at the Canadian Water Innovation Lab, likely making it the most represented locality on a per capita basis. I was the only person who was located in Antigonish; but Louise Brennan, working for Alberta Environment on water policy; Grace Gillis, working in Newfoundland with the provincial government; and Mark Randall, who is finishing a MEng. in Water Resource Engineering at Guelph. I think the region of Antigonish should be proud of its home grown leaders that are working address important water issues in Canada.
Waterlution also has a keen interest in working with all stakeholders: industry, government, NGOs, community groups, and Aboriginal communities. There was a hefty mix of environmental activists, business persons, First Nations’ representatives, community leaders, policy makers, industry liaisons, project managers, and a myriad of representatives from the local, provincial, federal governments across Canada.
This is merely a snapshot of what was involved in from October 24-26 in Exshaw, AB, with the Canadian Water Innovation Lab. And I would love to dive into detail about all the activities and friends I made at this event, but that entry would look more like my South Africa blog.
While the event touched primarily on water, an environmental topic I am become more passionate about on a continuous basis, I am sure that it gave those of us who attended the confidence that while we continue to world diligently as activists, bureaucrats, public officials, volunteers and organizers, we are not alone.
Our much needed environmental paradigm shift awaits the connection of innovative minds, whose individual actions continue to thread the fabric of a new society where everyone involved can learn and grow together. This is what innovation is about.
“Activism begins with you, Democracy begins with you, get out there, get active! Tag, you’re it!”
Thomas Hartmann
