News & Events

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On Friday, October 10, 2008 the Water Sustainability Project at POLIS will be hosting a workshop for regional districts and municipalities on "Towards a New Infrastructure: Integrated and Watercentric Planning at the University of Victoria and Beyond" in partnership with Convening for Action on Vancouver Island (CAVI) and UVic's Office of Campus Planning and Sustainability.  Email us to register or for more information.

POLIS recently co-organized Vote Environment. Victoria federal all-candidates meeting on environmental issues. Moderated by CBC Radio's On the Island host Gregor Craigie. Co-sponsored by Sierra Club BC, Dogwood Initiative, Conservation Voters of BC, Western Canada Wilderness Committee and BC Sustainable Energy Association.

On March 7, POLIS Associates Oliver Brandes, Rod Dobell and Kelly Bannister met with seven officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) during their cross Canada study tour to provide a briefing on POLIS’ work on ecological governance, sustainability, and key environmental priorities for Canada.

POLIS hosted a special presentation as part of the POLIS Discussion Series by Chief Roland Willson (West Moberly First Nations), Wayne Sawchuk (Activist & winner of the 2006 Canadian Environmentalist's Silver Medal Award), and Norine Wark (Peace Valley Environment Association and founding member of Keepers of the Water). The presentation took place on Tuesday, Mar 4 and was entitled "A Critical Balance: BC Hydro's Proposed Site C Hydroelectric Dam Project."

POLIS Associates Jamie Biggar and Kelly Bannister were invited to speak as panelists at the Joint Senate-Board of Governors Retreat on "Sustainability: Institutional and Individual Leadership" at Dunsmuir Lodge on March 1. Jamie Biggar's presentation was part of a panel presentation called "Sustainability at UVic: The Past and The Possibilities". Jamie addressed two questions: "How has Common Energy benefited from multi-stakeholder engagement?" and "What are some of the proposal ideas that have been generated through the network to move UVic beyond climate neutral?" Kelly's presentation was part of a panel on "Engagement with Community and Society on Sustainability Issues". Kelly addressed the question "How can the University build sustainable relationships with communities to facilitate collaboration on sustainability issues?".

The Maritime Awards Society of Canada is convening a Forum and Workshop entitled "Victoria's Wastewater: Land-Based Treatment...or Something Better? at the University of Victoria. Free public forum on Thursday evening, Feb 21. Registration is required for the day long workshop on Fri, Feb 22. For further details and links to the registration site, see www.maritimeawards.ca/forum2008

POLIS hosted a special lecture by Mr. Robert Morales, Chief Negotiator for the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group, on Monday, Dec 3. Mr. Morales' talk was entitled "Not at the Table as Beggars: Rethinking the B.C. Treaty Process."  View poster.

Congratulations to Naomi Devine of Common Energy who was appointed as the youth representative to British Columbia’s Climate Action Team announced by Premier Gordon Campbell. The team will offer advice to the government on its commitment to become carbon neutral by 2020, including reducing the province’s greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent. Note: POLIS has taken the liberty of posting a 'slightly modified' version of UVic's home page (Nov 20) with the announcement, in the spirit of celebrating Naomi's honour which was rather overlooked on the original. View modified home page.

The POLIS community bids a fond farewell to our wonderful communications director Ellen Reynolds who has been such an important and integral part of POLIS since 2004. Ellen has contributed extensively to both the Water Sustainability Project and to POLIS' recent organisational development  phase (including helping to create and maintain our great website!). We wish her all success and happiness in her new position as Communications Director at the Canadian Women’s Health Network.

Dr. Rod Dobell presented a talk entitled "Water governance: cross-jurisdictional complexities from global to personal" at the one-day conference: Water – Ours to Protect, organised by the Greater Victoria Water Watch Coalition on November 17.

Jamie Biggar was a guest speaker at the POLIS  Discussion Series on Ecological Governance, Nov 7, 2007. His talk was titled: "Common Energy: Developing Network Governance to Move UVic Beyond Climate-Neutral."

Kelly Bannister authors "The Ethics of Engagement: An Ethnobiologist's Perspective" in Academic Matters: The Journal of Higher Education, October 2007 p.16-17. View article. View October issue.

POLIS is very pleased to welcome biology student Bernette Laliberte as a LE,NONET research apprentice working with Dr. Kelly Bannister on the Chemainus Biodiversity Education Project from October 2007 through March 2008.

Jack Smith of Halalt First Nation was a guest speaker at the POLIS  Discussion Series on Ecological Governance, October 3, 2007 on the topic of "Aboriginal Water Issues". View article in the Chemainus Courier November 2007.

Oliver Brandes presented at a "webinar" on water sustainability hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on Sept 26, 2007. Listen to audio podcast and view PDFs of the webinar presentations.

POLIS supports the Halalt First Nation's  "Honor Our River Day" celebration on the Chemainus River Sept 14, 2007 to raise awareness of biological and cultural importance of water and threats to the local watershed.

An opinion piece by Oliver Brandes about the CRD purchase of part of the Leech River Watershed appeared in the Times Colonist on September 7. Read the op-ed.

POLIS's Water Sustainability Project is profiled in the August 2007 special edition of the Canadian journal Alternatives. The special issue focuses the "soft path" for water and features articles by POLIS research associates Oliver Brandes and Tony Maas describing POLIS's work in this area.

Kelly Bannister was appointed to the Canadian Commission on UNESCO's Sectoral Commission on Natural, Social and Human Sciences. The Sectoral Commission represents a group of approximately 30 core experts in the country from government, civil society and academia. Their role is to make recommendations on the preparation and implementation of UNESCO programmes and activities in Canada. Kelly was appointed based her expertise and commitment in all five UNESCO priority areas including: mobilizing science knowledge and policy for sustainable development; addressing emerging ethical challenges; quality and education for all; fostering cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue; and building inclusive knowledge societies through information and communication. 

Water Issue Urgent, an article by Oliver Brandes and Tim Morris in the Toronto Star, May 19, 2007 that discusses how water security is the most pressing issue of the 21st century.

Click here to view Discussion Series