An article on the Collaborative Leadership Initiative (CLI) has been published recently in Ecology & Society.
The article focuses on the original CLI site – CLI Manitoba – where our team worked with elected leaders from 11 Indigenous governments and 16 municipalities in Treaty One territory for the first time in over 150 years. This led to a historic Memorandum of Understanding, the first agreement of its kind since Treaty One was signed in 1871.
The Collaborative Leadership Initiative is a facilitated process that provides resources and expertise to support Indigenous and municipal elected leaders as they find solutions to shared water challenges.
Guided by the CIER facilitation team, the CLI process helps Indigenous and non-Indigenous elected leaders within a shared watershed reconcile water governance in Canada by bridging colonial divides and enabling joint decision-making at a watershed level.
The CLI process can be adapted to suit any region/territory that has water governance or management challenges and leadership willing to come to the table.
The article features contributions from the dedicated CLI team: Merrell-Ann Phare, Emily Hoppe, Colleen Sklar, Michael Miltenberger, Jim Bear, Laren Bill, Oliver Brandes, Peigi Wilson, Richard Farthing-Nichol and Dariel Helmesi, and our collaborator Benjamin Kapron.
The CLI model has the potential to transform how we think about water governance. Help us spread the word about the CLI and share within your network to those interested in water governance, collaborative leadership, treaty obligations and reconciliation, pluralism, or multi-jurisdictional governance. Thank you to Ecology & Society and to our team of facilitators, partners, collaborators, and leaders. We’re honoured to continue building and strengthening this work nationally.
