Consultations

The following document is out of date.

WD recognizes that consulting internally with employees and externally with partners, clients and other stakeholders is an important part of the SDS planning process. The first purpose of consultations is to raise awareness on sustainable development issues with respect to WD and to provide an avenue for participants to voice their comments and perspectives on the WD Issues Scan and the development and implementation of the WD SDS. In the document Moving Up the Learning Curve the Commissioner specified the following three key weaknesses that all departments should address in their next SDS:

• limited coordination among departments;
• limited involvement of senior management; and
• limited feedback to participants.

To address these weaknesses WD developed a consultation process to inform and obtain input from both internal and external groups and individuals. A procedure was developed and it consisted of three phases.

Phase I: National Round Table
WD participated in a National Round Table on April 4, 2000 in which 28 departments and agencies and industry leaders met in Ottawa to discuss sustainable development. WD collaborated in the development of this roundtable and contributed through active participation and funding, as an equal partner. Subsequently, WD has participated in the consultation process for the development of other departments’ sustainable development strategies.

Phase II: Internal and External Consultations
The primary purpose of this second phase of the consultation process is to increase awareness of sustainable development within WD and to facilitate the finalization of SDS Issues Scan for the current WD SDS.

Internal Consultations
The first segment of the internal consultation process consisted of wide distribution of the WD SDS 2000: Discussion Paper, which was prepared following an internal evaluation of the 1997 SDS (as discussed in Section 4) and was designed to raise awareness of sustainable development in WD offices. The document was distributed internally among employees via e-mail. This e-mail was followed by a learning event held for executives and the SD Team in Edmonton on July 4th, 2000. Guest speakers at the event included Dr. Brian Natrass, a leading thinker, author and consultant in the area of sustainable development and Ron Bergin from the Office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Following distribution of the WD Discussion Paper and completion of the learning event, representatives from all business lines were requested to complete a questionnaire to aid in the identification of sustainable development issues. The SD Team then reviewed the questionnaire results and determined appropriate SDS objectives and targets.

External Consultations
External consultations consisted of distribution of the WD SDS 2000 Discussion Paper in addition to a set of survey questions to industry stakeholders (including Western Industry Portfolio members), Western Canada Business Services Network (WCBSN) members, the Western Science and Innovation Group, the Western Assistant Deputy Minister Policy Group and the other twenty-seven departments and agencies preparing their own SDSs for tabling in December, 2000. These documents were distributed primarily via e-mail, and were posted on the sustainable development section of our internal website.

A database was created to collect, measure, analyze and report survey results. A summary of both internal and external consultation feedback is included as Appendix B.

Phase III: SDS Draft Consultations
Participants from the first round of consultation were asked if they would like to participate in a second consultative phase. Approximately 75% (30 individuals) of the first round participants volunteered for the next phase of consultation. The second phase of the consultation process involved the distribution of a draft version of the current WD SDS 2000 in order to obtain constructive and detailed comments regarding the commitment and initiatives proposed. This draft was also used as the basis for discussions regarding collaboration between WD and other government departments. The final set of comments was collected, analyzed and incorporated into the current SDS.