Parliamentary Research Branch

MR-118E

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PHASE I:  NOVEMBER 1992 TO JUNE 1993

PHASE II:  JUNE 1993 TO DECEMBER 1993

CONCLUSION

PROJET DE SOCIÉTÉ:
PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Projet de Société:  Planning for a Sustainable Future is an assembly of government, business, environmental, indigenous and voluntary organizations working together to promote Canada’s transition to sustainable development. Its origin was a multi-stakeholder meeting held in November 1992 to discuss Canada’s follow-up to the June 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the "Earth Summit"). It was agreed that a national process was needed to catalyze the progress of all Canadians, as well as their governments, industries and other organizations, towards sustainable development.

Prior to UNCED, a National Secretariat had coordinated the activities of the participating federal government departments and agencies, such as the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), External Affairs, and Environment Canada, and had facilitated non-governmental organization (NGO) input through the Canadian Participatory Committee. In anticipation of the disbanding of the Secretariat later in November 1992, the then Minister of the Environment, Jean Charest, invited representatives of a large number of sectors of Canadian society, including those active at Rio, to meet and develop the type of open, inclusive process that could be adopted to coordinate post-Rio activities at the national level. At that first meeting, referred to as the First National Stakeholders’ Assembly, participants agreed on a set of guiding principles and characteristics for the Projet.

These principles include transparency, inclusiveness and accountability of the process; each agency’s continuing responsibility for its own sector’s contribution to sustainability; cooperation among sectors; a recognition of the necessity for shared vision and links between strategy and action; and exemplary contributions by Canada to global sustainability.

The Projet has now gone through two six-month phases, punctuated by National Stakeholders’ Assemblies, and has embarked on its third. The work of the Projet is coordinated by its Director, with secretariat assistance provided by the National Round Table on Environment and Economy (NRTEE), and is performed by volunteers from a number of stakeholders. Funding for the first two phases was provided by five institutions: the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), Environment Canada, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), and the National Round Table. At the Third Assembly, held in December 1993, future funding for the Projet was uncertain.

The major goal of the Projet is the formulation of a National Sustainable Development Strategy, one of the commitments made at Rio when Canada signed Agenda 21, the global action plan on sustainable development. Agenda 21 is a voluminous, 40-chapter inventory of sustainable development issues, including programs for action and cost estimates. It addresses environmental problems, such as technology transfer, climate change and hazardous waste disposal, on a sectoral basis. Participants in the Projet are part of the network of organizations, communities and individuals already engaged in activities relevant to the implementation of the Agenda 21 commitments, and are able to inform each other about both progress and delays across the country. The Projet can link and build on these initiatives, as well as catalyze further action.

The final paragraph of the Overview of the Projet de Société prepared for the Third National Stakeholders Assembly, 16-17 December 1993, describes it as

a coalition of Canadian government and non-government organizations working together to promote the transition to sustainability. We are a network of networks, a web that connects equals, held together by the understanding that some goals can be achieved by working together that could never be achieved separately.(1)

The first phase of the Projet focused on developing methods of applying the "Rio Way" to the stakeholders’ sustainable development activities and on learning how to bring such a large and diverse group together in a productive way. A Working Group was struck and charged with the tasks of beginning the Projet’s work and reporting to the next Assembly. This group, not all of whom had met before, spent a significant amount of time learning to work together and build consensus, as well as coming to grips with the exact nature of the challenge before them.

The Working Group divided itself into three committees: the Ways and Means Committee, the Vision and Process Committee and the Document and Information Committee. The Ways and Means Committee was charged with responsibility for the Projet’s practical needs, such as funding, locations and agendas for meetings, and other coordination issues. The Vision and Process Committee was to prepare a concept paper on planning for sustainability, including a draft framework for a national sustainability plan. The Document and Information Committee was to report on Canada’s UNCED commitments and follow-up and develop a national information-sharing system.

At the Second National Stakeholders’ Assembly, the Committees reported to the group on the work of the first phase. The Vision and Process Committee produced its concept paper, which included a five-part draft framework for sustainability planning. The Document and Information Committee had completed several test chapters of its chapter-by-chapter review of Canadian follow-up to Agenda 21, and had set up a comprehensive long-term database on sustainability activities and initiatives across Canada, housed at the IISD in Winnipeg.

The stakeholders recommended that the Projet continue for a further six months on the work in progress, which would be reviewed at the Third Assembly. The report prepared by the Working Group for the Assembly after Phase I was provided to Canada’s Ambassador for Sustainable Development for distribution at the first meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, where it was favourably received. The group felt that additional sectors should be encouraged to join the process, in order to make it more national and more representative, and that funding sources should be diversified as much as possible. A number of participants stated that several more concrete actions should be taken in Phase II.

In Phase II, the Working Group, with some changes in membership, continued with the work authorized by the National Stakeholders at the Second Assembly. At the Third Assembly, which brought together most of the original stakeholders and representatives of a number of previously unrepresented sectors, a great deal of completed work was delivered.

The Document and Information Committee distributed its full assessment of Canada’s Rio follow-up, based on the chapters of Agenda 21, both in hard copy and on computer disk, and included additional survey information on the sustainable development activities of governments, communities, businesses and non-governmental organizations across Canada. These products represent tremendous efforts by volunteers and consultants during the first two phases of the Projet.

The Vision and Process Committee, renamed the Process Elaboration Committee, had continued its work on the framework and process for national sustainability planning. Its report was based on the stakeholders’ agreement that the Projet represents an important opportunity to work toward a coordinated approach to sustainability planning within a severely limited time. Participants were divided on whether the focus should be on concrete actions or on dialogue and planning. The Committee proposed that the Projet prepare a first draft of a National Sustainable Development Strategy.

Three new committees also reported. The Task Force on Environmental Jurisdiction had begun to study government overlap and duplication in the oil and gas industry as an example of the consequences of inter- and intra-governmental conflict for cost and competitiveness. The Task Force, with industry support, had commissioned a background paper by Stephen Kennett of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law and had held a workshop in October. They expected to be able to report to the stakeholders at the Fourth National Stakeholders’ Assembly in June 1994.

The Task Force on Green Industry, established to assist the green industries sector expand to meet national and international demand, met with representatives of the industry sector to determine how the Projet could help in promoting the export to other countries of technologies on ozone-depleting substances. Two workshops were held during Phase II, and the Task Force had undertaken to develop a workplan to help this sector meet the Montreal Protocol requirements. Costs of this Task Force will be met by industry and other sources.

A third committee, the Task Force on Communications Strategy, emphasized the importance of convincing Canadians that sustainable development should be made a priority. It proposed a nine-point communications strategy, for which funding had not yet been secured and will be sought in Phase III.

A Youth Service for a Sustainable Future program was also proposed by a group of stakeholders. Specific program criteria and objectives had been developed for this initiative, which the group intended to link to the related proposal in the Liberal government’s plan, Creating Opportunity. Again, the necessary budget had not yet been secured.

Another target of Phase II was to increase the outreach effort to national and international native groups. Concern had been expressed after Phase I about the lack of indigenous participation in the Projet, and an interim report on the outreach effort was presented at the Third Assembly. All aboriginal organizations that had participated in UNCED preparation were contacted as part of this effort, and expressed significant interest. Indigenous peoples indicated, however, that they did not want to participate in the Projet as "minorities," "disadvantaged groups," or even as mere stakeholders. They asked for recognition of their inherent right to self-determination and their unique history in environmental protection. A resource centre and a working group to develop an aboriginal plan for sustainable development were proposed.

Environment Minister Sheila Copps addressed the Third Assembly, making three recommendations: (1) that a list of prioritized concrete actions be prepared; (2) that the support of the grass roots be maintained; and (3) that the Projet find ways to support its activities within constrained financial circumstances. She stressed the importance of making sustainable development a way of life for every Canadian, and stated that the work of the Projet is vital to that effort. Her Parliamentary Secretary, Clifford Lincoln, who was present throughout the meeting, also expressed support for the continuation of the Projet.

In its first year of existence, the Projet de Société has contributed significantly to the practical and participatory implementation of Canada’s Rio commitments. Its participants see it as an important facilitator of members’ initiatives and those of others across the country. The process may be improved: for example, an even broader representation of stakeholders is desirable. The National Round Table will continue to provide some assistance, primarily in terms of facilitating and of supplying secretariat support, but the Projet’s needs for a secure financial footing and a longer-term commitment have not yet been satisfied. Internationally, this exercise is seen as putting Canada at the "forefront of the consensus-building model,"(2) but whether it can make a truly effective and continuing contribution to the national transition to sustainability remains to be seen.

(1) Projet de Société, Volume 1: Overview of the Projet de Société, Prepared for the Third National Stakeholders Assembly, 16-17 December 1993, Ottawa, p. 13.

(2) Centre for Our Common Future, The Bulletin, Issue 19, March 1993.