Introduction
A Call to Action
By Ann Dale, Conference Chair
"We feel that our objective can best be met by focusing on events not just as events, but as harbingers of change that has happened or is about to happen. It is not the event itself that makes the story, but what shapes the event and the processes it sets in motion. In this approach are woven values, aspirations, power, priorities, and what happens when an element of change is introduced - when, in fact development takes place."
Anita Anand, The Power to Change
On behalf of the Steering Committee for the Women and Sustainable Development: Canadian Perspectives Conference, I am pleased to table this collection of policies for sustainable development to the conference participants and the wider Canadian public. This document, your policy agenda for action, is a comprehensive blueprint for a more sustainable society. Most importantly, it is grounded in an astonishing diversity of positions and views not traditionally part of the policy development process.
Indeed, its strength comes from this diversity, for it is only through the bringing together of as many experiences, areas of expertise, disciplines and sectors as possible, that effective solutions for implementing sustainable development will be found.
The recommendations contained in this agenda represent the ideas, experience, and wisdom from over 500 individuals from across Canada, and internationally, and from the indigenous, youth, peace, development, environment, and research sectors, artists, and activists. The diversity of these policies and their applicability to the broad range of social scales from the individual to the global, and everything in between, demonstrates the power of this approach.
Its strength also comes from the collective effort of the conference participants and their conviction that the urgency of the issues demands immediate actions at both the individual and collective levels. It is increasingly evident that we cannot look to any single source to create a sustainable future-it will have to come from every one of us, and from every one of our institutions, both public and private.
When faced with crisis and challenge, we tend to criticize the system and other people, to deny the realities, or to adopt a victim mentality and blame others for our dilemma.
What made this conference unique was the tremendous consensus that emerged on the nature of the problem, the need for equity and sustainable development, and the goodwill and enthusiasm for ignoring blame and getting on to the task at hand, which was to identify and recommend solutions.
Change occurs at many different levels, and it is through the combination of individual and collective actions that meaningful change can happen. We must never forget the power of the individual, for it is the culmination of many individual actions that can have profound effects on the nature of one's society.
There are five policy recommendations stemming from this conference that I would particularly like to highlight. These recommendations mean action at the individual level, and will need collective action to organize.
We have economic power, the power to decide to purchase or not, what kind of purchases, what level of consumption, what kind of investments and with what kinds of institutions we want to do business. We must never forget that, in our day-to-day purchases, we exercise consumer power. Wherever possible, we must purchase more sustainable products, and refuse to buy products made in unsustainable ways from non-renewable sources. We must communicate the reasons behind our actions to the business people with whom we deal.
We have the power to accentuate the positive through creative and responsible action, rather than focus on the negative through blame and criticism.
And, we have the power to influence politics, in the way we vote, the issues we bring forward on policy and political agendas in our meetings everywhere, and in the media and with our elected representatives. If we do not exercise our voices, we will remain invisible.
The five particular recommendations we urge women's groups locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to organize around, and which reflect the micro-, meso-, and macro-nature of our conference, are:
It is up to each and every one of the conference participants to bring this document alive, by promoting it in all our meetings, taking individual action wherever possible on those recommendations that pertain to individuals, and by collectively working for the implementation of those recommendations that require government leadership and infrastructure changes.
From the beginning of this conference, we have used the analogy of throwing a pebble into the pond, and watching the ripples spread out. This is our agenda. Let us use it as a guide for launching our own pebbles, to see how many actions and ripples we can initiate, individually and collectively, to make sustainable development our way of life.
I would like to conclude by reiterating the opening address from the conference.
We had a dream of a world where every child born was a wanted child, intrinsically valued for themselves - a world where every child has a future.
We dreamt of a world where there were no markets for armaments.
We had a dream of a world where cities were redesigned to meet the needs of people and a place to which wildlife returned.
We dreamt of a world where wealth was distributed equitably so that basic needs, such as food, shelter, and security were realized.
We dreamt of a peaceful world.
We had a dream of a world where economic and environmental policies were integrated at all levels of decision-making.
We dreamt of equality of opportunity with no barriers based on gender, race, class, or sexual orientation.
We had a dream that starvation no longer existed.
We dreamt of a world where human beings minimized their interventions in the environment.
We dreamt of a world where we respected other species as we need to respect each other.
We dreamed about a world where there was zero tolerance for violence of all kinds.
We dreamt of a world where child abuse did not exist.
And we dreamed about a world where our footsteps tread so lightly that future generations will inherit the same earth that we trod upon.
We dared to dream, for if you don't have a wild dream, you'll never try and you'll never get and you'll never achieve.
See also Biodiversity, Consumerism, Economic Alternatives, Recommendations Related to Beijing, Statement of the Women from the South, and A World Wide Day of Women's Actions.
Shake Yourselves So the Seeds Will Fall
By Caterina Geuer and Christopher Knight, Editors
How the Policies Became This Document
As editors, we began our work by sifting through the draft policy statement and other conference documents, sorting everything into baskets.
This classification itself evolved - we grouped baskets into bigger baskets, pondered anomalies, and resorted. Meanwhile, we combined recommendations - or pieces of recommendations - which said the same thing, while striving to retain the diversity of voices and views expressed at the conference.
Often, sets of ideas connected in complex ways with other sets. So we also wove a web, linking topics throughout the document. We invite you to continue weaving.
We organized the rationale, underlying assumptions, and problems into "Considering" blocks, and proposals, demands, and pleas into "We recommend" blocks. Having done this, we looked at the macro-structure again, shuffled the baskets, and pondered anomalies.
The result is a document which, we hope, captures the spirit as well as the content of the conference: strong and diverse, practical and visionary, rooted in a clear-eyed grasp of the problems and flowering in hope for the future.
Together, we are shaking ourselves so the seeds will fall, continuing to sprout and grow into our vision of a more sustainable society.
Where Credit is Due
Funders
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following people and organizations:
The 1994 Conference would not have happened without a unique collaboration of funding from three federal government departments. The early support of Minister Sheila Copps from Environment Canada, Hugette Labelle from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and Janet Smith from the Western Economic Diversification Office was invaluable and we thank them once again for their faith in the event happening.
In addition, we would like to once again acknowledge funding from:
- Human Resources Develoment Canada (BC Office)
- Indian Affairs and Northern Development
- Indian Affairs and Northern Development (BC Office)
- BC Ministry of Women's Equality
- BC Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture
- International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
- Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada
- Vancouver City Saving Credit Union
- BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks
- International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and
- United Church of Canada.
Conference Steering Committee
Ann Dale, Chair Professor, Science, Technology and Environment Division, Royal Roads University; Senior Associate, Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia; Senior Associate, Canadian Biodiversity Institute Aldyen Donnelly Executive Director, Canadian Environment Industry Association, BC Susan Elliot Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Caterina Geuer Cultural Survival and Sierra Club of Canada Josefina Gonzalez Woods Anatomy Scientist at Forintek Canada Corporation and Member; National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Heather Hamilton National Coordinator of Cultural Survival Canada Melody Hessing Sociology Instructor, Douglas College Mobina Jaffer Partner, Dohm and Jaffer, Vancouver, BC; Chair of the British Columbia Task Force on Family Violence; Member of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women Lorraine Lee Director of Communications, British Columbia Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Marilyn MacDonald Assistant Professor, Department of Women's Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC Kimberley Manning Organizer for the China-Canada Young Women's Project Elizabeth May Executive Director, Sierra Club of Canada Barbara McCann Gender and Development Specialist Helen Ryane Ryane Consulting: leadership, motivation, conflict management, and negotiation Gulzar Samji Chair, Gender and Development Group of British Columbia Muriel Smith Vice-President, United Nations Association of Canada Veronica Strong-Boag Director, Centre for Research in Women's Studies and Gender Relations, University of British Columbia Susan Tanner Executive Director, Friends of the Earth Canada Fely Velasin National Action Committee (represented by Ann Rowan)
Conference Staff
Conference coordinator: Shauna Sylvester Vancouver, BC Conference researcher: Arja Vainio-Matilla Environmental Policy Institute, Brock University, St. Catherines, Ontario Volunteer coordinator & French liaison: Odette Brassard Vancouver, BC
Facilitators and Rapporteurs
Mary-Wynne Ashford Physicians for Global Survival, Victoria, BC Dominica Babicki Natural Resource Management, SFU, Vancouver, BC Lorraine Cameron Senior Officer, Women's Programs, BC/Yukon Region, Human Resources Development Canada, Victoria, BC Shirley Carter Regional Manager, BC/Yukon Region, CESO - Aboriginal Services Cristina Castro Manager, Technology Transfer, Novacorp International Suzanne Chamberlain Policy Analyst, Corporate Affairs, Environment Canada, Vancouver, BC Fiona Crofton Director, ORCAD Group, Vancouver, BC Melanie Courchene Senior Policy Advisor, Cabinet Planning Secretariat, BC Government, Victoria, BC Wendy Daigle Zinn Community Organizer, Ottawa, Ontario Diane Day Linda Day Healing Our Spirit Marian Dodds Vancouver, BC Carla Doucet Policy Advisor, Education, National Round Table on the Environment and Economy, Ottawa, Ontario Rita Douglas JoAnne Drebett Program Officer, Canada World Youth, Vancouver, BC Helen Fast Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba Trudi Fehr Sandy Ferguson Analyst, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Western Economic Diversification, Vancouver, BC Linda Foubister Senior Policy Analyst, Ministry of Women's Equality, BC Government, Victoria, BC Julia Gardner Dovetail Consulting, Vancouver, BC Nora Grove Suzanne Hawkes Coordinator, Conference on Sustainable Urban Communities, VanCity, Vancouver, BC Valerie Hume Policy Coordinator, Sustainable Development, Natural Resources and Environment Branch, Department of Indian and Northern Development, Ottawa, Ontario Mobina Jaffer Partner, Dohm and Jaffer, Vancouver, BC; Chair of the British Columbia Task Force on Family Violence; Member of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women Rozina Janmohamed Shelina Kassam Director of Programming, International Development Education Resource Association Barbara Kavanagh Executive Assistant, Centre for Sustainable Regional Development, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Joanna Kerr Researcher, Progress for Women, The North-South Institute, Ottawa, Ontario Kyong-Ae Kim Vancouver, BC Mijin Kim Policy Analyst, BC Ministry of Women's Equality, Victoria, BC Susan Kurbis Yianna Lambrou Program Officer, International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Ontario Patricia Larkin Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario Ricio Launier Anne Levesque Chairperson, British Columbia Environmental Network, Vancouver, BC Patricia Le Roux Doris Maljevac Vera Manuel Carolyn May Barbara McCann Consultant, Gender and Development Group, Ottawa, Ontario Karen O'Brien Linda Pennells PR Consultant / Freelance Writer, Vancouver, BC Margaret Phelan Communication Officer, Environment Canada, Vancouver, BC Lori Pike University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Catherine Price Manager, International Briefing Associates Angela Rockall AIDS Committee of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario Sylvie Trudel Réseau canadien de l'environnement Miriam Ulrych Ryane Consulting, Vancouver, BC Vasso Vahlas Zonny Woods Youth Coordinator, NGO Forum, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Thank You to the Volunteers
And most importantly, this event would not have happened, or have been so successful, without the wonderful cadre of volunteers. This conference, its policy circles, its daily newsletter, and its attendant cultural events, would not have expressed the same vitality without the dedication and hard work of its many volunteers, who in their generosity and enthusiasm, succeeded in expressing our commonly held dream of a sustainable community.