Institutions

• Golden Horseshoe Educational Alliance (including Brock University, Niagara College...)

• CERTI (research institute)

• Faith-based institutions

• Canadian Urban Institute

• Foundations (e.g. Lila Wallace, Readers Digest)

Bi-National/International Groups

• IJC

• Great Lakes United

• Ducks Unlimited

• United Nations

After compiling the above list, Bob Shibley asked participants for their suggestions as to who should be involved in the Parks Symposium and next steps.

Participants suggested that it may be useful to identify who will be directly impacted by the project and future planning in the area, what the benefits are to the region that no one single project would provide, and who would directly benefit. Benefits need to be defined and organizational and administrative models need to be considered.

They also suggested to encourage people to think collaboratively and to integrate economic, ecological and community elements. Tom DeSantis and Lucy Cook suggested looking at precedents such as Germany’s Emscher Landscape Park which uses the park concept and the environment to elevate the status of the area and provide a framework for economic development.

Clint Brown suggested that as a first step, people need to understand what "already is" – what is currently underway in the area – and then pull all the pieces together.

Some participants thought that the word "park" may be misleading – people may think we are talking about Prospect Park or Fort George. We need to have people understand that the term "park" is being reinvented to imply cities in parks. Clint Brown suggested using a different working title for the project, perhaps "21st Century Niagara Park." Kerry Grant suggested using the title "Rethinking the Niagara Frontier" and to focus on the scenic river, the corridor and the border. Another suggestion for a title was "21st Century Niagara." Clint thought that the Parks Symposium should be an opportunity to re-frame the activities we’re currently undertaking.

Jeff Belt thought that a useful start may be an interactive web-site that would serve as a communication tool for a variety of topics, and that is operated and maintained by a site manager. This would enable people to get information and at the same time meet in small groups to have discussions. This approach could enable stakeholders to emerge through time.

There was some discussion of community involvement. How would people living in the region be able to identify what their wishes are and explain why they are living in Niagara? Bob Shibley and Lucy Cook indicated that over the years there have been plenty of visioning exercises for the public; now is the time for implementation and accounting to the public for their visioning work. Bob also suggested that we would, of course, need to provide mechanisms for the on-going role of the public in the program.

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