The Solutions Agenda
A Call to Action for and by Canadians
The Conversations The Issues The Authors
We live in a time of wicked, messy problems that cannot be solved by any one sector, discipline, government, Indigenous Nations, or community acting alone: the challenges we face demand unprecedented collaboration and government coordination. This agenda was developed by several ways. The concept emerged from the results of a 10-year Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Community Development, looking at what makes a community vital, and the principal investigator’s climate change research in British Columbia. A series of e-Dialogues was then led over the next two years on key sustainable development issues bringing together the research team and three to five leading innovators from across the country, concluding with a peer-to-peer learning exchange in March 2015.
This agenda reflects our unanimous belief that the time is ripe for Canadian communities to become leaders in the implementation of sustainable technologies, infrastructure and building design, but this leadership is highly dependent on local, provincial and federal governments facilitating further innovation. How, by advancing bold legislation, congruent and coherent policies, and incentives to share and expedite the uptake of leading-edge practices. There was also unanimous agreement on the capacity of communities to embrace this agenda now given the urgency of the issue presently facing our country.
Concrete actions are organized under the six thematic imperatives below. There is one overarching critical imperative that must be addressed, which is to recognize the contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities to the political future of this country and to resolve outstanding governance issues, fairly and as soon as possible.
The Conversations
A series of virtual real-time conversations were held on each of the sustainable development challenges below with the research team and three to four leading innovators from across the country. These e-Dialogues generated recommendations that led into the peer-to-peer learning exchange at Royal Roads University in February 2015, that convened over 50 researchers, practitioners, innovators and civil society leaders.
Peer to Peer Learning Exchange
On February 27 2015, the diverse group of innovators, researchers and practitioners who participated in the Solutions Agenda e-Dialogues convened at Royal Roads University in the Centre for Dialogue to discuss strategies and approaches for guiding Canadian communities toward sustainable development. This peer-to-peer learning exchange of over 35 participants was the final step in developing The Solutions Agenda.
