Engagement

Introduction

Photo by Karen and Ralf Meyer, Greenfire Productions

Canada, British Columbia and partner First Nations agree that consultation and engagement with the people who work, live and play in the Northern Shelf is critical to the success of the Northern Shelf Marine Protected Area (MPA) network. The governing partners are seeking to engage stakeholders through a transparent and credible process that promotes trust and respect between governments, stakeholders and communities.

The Northern Shelf MPA network planning aims to be an inclusive process that provides opportunities for interested parties to become involved. Opportunities for engagement will align with the multiple stages of the network planning process. Stakeholders and local governments will have an advisory role, providing information on their activities and interests as they relate to the network planning process. This information is provided through multiple mechanisms, including advisory committees and webinars.

Engagement Principles

Engagement within the Northern Shelf MPA network planning process strives to achieve broad involvement of other levels of government and stakeholders. The following engagement principles are intended to ensure that meaningful opportunities for participation, consultation and information exchange are provided throughout the planning process.

Responsive and Respectful

• Value and acknowledge others’ contributions to improving outcomes
• Actively listen to, document, understand and respond to needs of others
• Conduct engagement activities in a manner that fosters mutual respect and trust
• Provide timely responses to questions/requests for information, enabling a broad understanding of data sources, data quality, data analysis and decision-making tools
• Provide information in a timely manner to ensure meaningful participation
• Act with honour and integrity, respecting Indigenous rights and title

Relevant and Inclusive

• Seek to engage with individuals, organizations and communities that represent the full diversity of those who have an interest in the MPA network
• Use relevant, existing advisory committees to solicit feedback, where possible
• Use levels and methods of engagement that suit the audience being consulted and the scale and complexity of the issue

Open and Transparent

• Foster an environment that encourages the sharing of ideas
• Clearly communicate clearly the purpose, goals, accountabilities, expectations and constraints of the process
• Clearly define roles and responsibilities for all involved in MPA network planning and implementation
• Provide information to help ensure meaningful participation in the process

Accountable

• All participants share accountability for the success of the process
• The governments will respond to all advice and input received, explaining how feedback was considered

Relevant

• Use levels and methods of engagement that suit the group being consulted and the scale and complexity of the issue
• Set realistic timelines for the level of engagement appropriate to the situation

Clear and Accessible

• Ensure that the technical elements of the process are communicated in a way that is accessible to the audience being engaged
• Ensure that there are multiple means and opportunities for others to engage in the process across the bioregion
• Consider any restrictions to participation and work to overcome barriers, where possible
• Provide clarity on how knowledge will be incorporated into network planning in a way that respects confidentiality concerns

Adaptive and Efficient

• Consider the results of monitoring and evaluation, including feedback from stakeholders and local government, and make adjustments, where feasible
• Wherever possible, identify linkages with other marine planning processes

Engagement Approach

Photo by Jaka Visek

Stakeholder engagement will take place at both regional and sub-regional scales within the NSB. While the NSB MPA network is being developed at the bioregional scale, the incorporation of both regional and local perspectives and knowledge will be critical to the network design process.

Bioregional engagement will operate on a large scale, using various approaches, including a bioregional marine advisory committee (MAC), regional forums, and bilateral meetings with stakeholders  and local governments. It is expected that regional input will be especially valuable on “big picture”, strategic, bioregional issues relating to: replication, connectivity, conservation, and cumulative socio-economic impacts and/or impacts of coast-wide economic activities.

Local perspectives and knowledge from marine communities in the North Coast, Central Coast, Haida Gwaii, and North Vancouver Island sub-regions will be integrated into the planning process through various mechanisms including meetings of sub-regional MACs. Targeted engagement with relevant sectors or interests regarding specific issues and data at sub-regional scales may also be required. It is expected that sub-regional engagement will be valuable for its focus on issues of adjacency, providing opportunities to inform design guidelines, conservation priorities, ground-truthing and data gaps, and to refine proposed boundaries of design scenarios.

The scope of information brought before the bioregional and sub-regional MACs may be very similar; however, it is expected that different perspectives and types of knowledge will come from each committee.

Multiple marine initiatives will be taking place in the NSB over the next few years, including:

• MPA network planning
• PNCIMA plan implementation
• MaPP plan implementation
• Other sub-regional initiatives

Most of these initiatives are a collaboration of two or more of the NSB MPA governance partners and each process requires some level of ongoing engagement with stakeholders and other governments. The extent and nature of that engagement will be determined by decisions and commitments made by the partner agencies associated with each initiative.

In order to make the best use of everyone’s time and resources, and to build awareness of the interconnectedness of these initiatives, efforts will be made to co-ordinate engagement amongst these initiatives. To the extent possible, network governance partners will seek to co-ordinate timing of meetings across these initiatives to make things more convenient and efficient for stakeholders and staff.