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leadership entities, including the ability and widely accepted mandate to provide strategic direction, convene interests, coordinate planning, make decisions, obtain or provide necessary
resources, etc. Although there is no one obvious regional lead for the northern NCRB, the region does have active planning initiatives that can act as building blocks, including the recently
announced task force to lead the Northern Economic Development Strategy Government of Manitoba, 2016, resource management boards, the Boreal Songbird Initiative, the Boreal
Woodland Caribou Recovery Strategy, etc. Recent developments such as the closure of the Port of Churchill, reductions in rail service, uncertainty in the forest industry and impacts on regional
economies could be considered systematically in a large-area planning efort.
3. Multi-party or multi-scale approaches: Incorporating diferent perspectives from a range
of levels helps ensure broad support while maintaining on-the-ground knowledge informing basin initiatives. The examples of existing multi-party initiatives in the region, such as the former
Thompson Economic Development Working Group, incorporate some of these options. Some of these approaches could contribute to initial discussions andor evolve into watershed-focused
engagement.
4. Shared decision making with Indigenous communities: Due to its presence in northern
Canada, it is particularly important that decision making in this basin involves Indigenous communities that have perspectives and legal rights of their own. The land in the NCRB falls
under Treaty 5 Manitoba and Treaty 10 Saskatchewan. An estimated 65 per cent of people in northern Manitoba are Indigenous Government of Manitoba, n.d.a and many participate in
traditional activities such as hunting, ishing and gathering. Traditional knowledge can strengthen planning, and Indigenous involvement in creating a sustainable path forwards is essential.
Northern Manitoba’s resource management boards present one approach to co-management with Indigenous Peoples, as do approaches of and lessons learned from Manitoba Hydro collaborations
with Indigenous communities e.g., Keeyask.
5. Monitoring and reporting: Robust monitoring and transparent reporting are key components
of adaptive management where lessons on what is working are fed back into decision making and resource allocation. Monitoring and reporting is carried out in the northern NCRB by a variety of
entities e.g., Manitoba Hydro, the Government of Manitoba, the Government of Canada, North South Consultants, mining companies [Vale and Hudbay], forestry [Tolko; any buyer of Tolko’s
assets would also be expected to monitor and report] and, on smaller scales, various communities. Key eforts under an ecosystem management approach would include increasing coordination
between monitoring eforts, coordinating data sharing, enabling reporting and ensuring feedback for decision making.
6. A role for legislation: As appropriate, using legislation for establishing institutions, deining
mandates, protecting organizations or establishing environmental or performance standards will be critical for strategic management of this complex, multi-jurisdictional basin in the long term.
As part of a long-term planning process, speciic roles of existing and potentially new legislation would be discussed.
7. Consistent and long-term funding: Funding is needed not only to plan but also to implement
