After visiting seven communities throughout the Columbia River Basin, the Province’s Columbia River Treaty 2014 Review team wrapped up the first round of community sessions on June 20, 2012. More than 360 Columbia Basin residents from Jaffray, Creston, Nakusp, Castlegar, Valemount, Golden and Revelstoke attended the evening sessions. These sessions are the first step of the Province’s public consultation process.

Interest from Basin residents was high at the community sessions that began with a presentation on the Province’s Treaty Review process and then moved into small group discussions on how residents wanted to be consulted in the future. These discussion were followed by a presentation on interests and issues already identified by Basin residents in other planning processes such as the BC Hydro Water Use Plans. This led to small group discussions to identify interests and issues not already captured in other engagement processes.

The evening ended with the Province’s presentation on the key future scenarios under analysis, technical studies and reports planned and underway and preliminary US and BC perspectives.

The way Basin residents wanted to be consulted in the fall varied by community. However, public meetings, similar to the spring sessions, were the overall most popular choice followed by a conference and an advisory group. The team is exploring the recommendation to use an already existing group as an advisory group.

During the community sessions the Columbia River Treaty 2014 Review team committed to posting various material to the website and following up on various topics such as local infrastructure issues CRT benefits and impacts and environmental considerations. Work is underway on all these fronts.

Presentations and handouts provided during the community sessions as well as summaries of the feedback received from attendees on future consultations and interests and issues are available at gov.bc.ca/columbiarivertreaty/community-sessions/

For more information email Ingrid.Strauss@gov.bc.ca