Bringing Parties Together in Dialogue to Support a Strong and Respectful Regulatory System

SUMMARY:

Regulatory regimes in the Northwest Territories were established as a direct result of modern land claim negotiations and self-government agreements. In the Mackenzie Valley, these agreements set out the purpose of the resource management system and the key elements of its design. The Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act (MVRMA) was developed collaboratively between federal and territorial governments and Indigenous Government Organizations to enact the integrated resource management system that was negotiated through the land claim agreements.The Mackenzie Valley Operational Dialogue was created in the hopes of supporting a strong and respectful regulatory system through a dialogue-first approach. This initiative brought together a range of people from governments, industry, and Indigenous organizations to learn from one another by exploring the history around rules and processes, the reasoning, the science, the challenges, the perspectives – and together, find ways to improve operational elements of the regime.

OUR APPROACH:

Key elements of the planning and execution of this workshop included:

• Engaging a multi-party advisory committee in the planning: Stratos worked with a planning committee to help frame and implement the pilot workshop that revolved around improving the operational elements of the regulatory regime.
• Using a variety of tools and approaches to support facilitation: The workshop included presentations, panels, case studies, activities, and small- and full-group discussions as different ways to examine and discuss the workshop scope
• Creating a respectful and constructive space for dialogue: The workshop was designed and facilitated to allow participants to be able to have difficult conversations in the spirit of openness, respect, and collaboration to achieve their shared goals.