Understanding Regional Governance in Newfoundland and Labrador A Survey of Regional Development Organizations Kelly Vodden and Heather Hall with David Freshwater and the Research Team Draft September 2012 Final May 2013 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research team wishes to acknowledge the contributions made by many individuals and groups over the past several years in completing this extensive assessment of regional governance in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). We would first like to thank the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF) for their vision in recognizing the value in exploring regional governance processes, particularly in relation to labour market development, and for their sponsorship of the Rural-Urban Interaction: Understanding and Managing Functional Regions project. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Development Agreement funded this project when it began as a three-year research study on local labour markets and functional labour market regions. We would like to acknowledge the financial contributions and ongoing engagement of staff provided by Service Canada and the provincial Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment (now Advanced Education and Skills). A research team and an Advisory Committee representing a cross-section of government and regional organizations involved in labour market and regional economic development guided this initiative. We would like to thank, in particular, the Labrador Straits Development Corporation, Twillingate-New World Island Development Association, and the Irish Loop Development Board for their insights on the three pilot regions and the overall study. We would also like to thank David Bruce of the Rural and Small Town Programme at Mount Allison University, who shared his survey results and key findings on regional development organizations, which enhanced this research. Our thanks also go out to Craig Pollett and Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador (MNL) for guiding knowledge mobilization efforts for this project and administering project resources. The project has engaged many graduate and undergraduate students in various aspects of the research. This has contributed to several graduate research papers and theses. The project has enhanced the awareness and understanding of regional governance among future researchers. In particular the following students took lead roles in the research and writing for the following report sections: Economic and Labour Market Development – Patrick Curran and Ekaterina Lysenko Social Development – Janelle Skeard, Lynn Guppy, and Brian Woodford Environment and Natural Resources – Jennifer Daniels, Victoria Belbin, Ahmed Khan and Nicole Renaud Community Development and Multi-Objective – Ekaterina Lysenko Bailey Kunz, Jody Beth Lee, and Kristina Turner also provided research assistance. Finally, we would like to sincerely thank the interview and survey respondents who took the time to participate in this study. We hope the findings from this research will support your efforts by contributing to enhanced regional governance, labour market and community and regional development in the province. ii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PROJECT OVERVIEW In May 2007, the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF), Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador (MNL), and researchers at Memorial University and the University of Kentucky started an extensive research project with assistance from the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Labour Market Development Agreement to assist stakeholders to better understand the interdependencies between urban and rural communities and labour markets. The project objectives included: • The development of an innovative and dynamic regional economic capacity index (RECI) that stakeholders can use at the community and regional level to help address their labour supply and demand imbalances; • An assessment of existing information and data from current initiatives and programs to examine the impacts of, and the strength of relationships among traditional and non-traditional indicators that impact local labour market outcomes, including local labour supply skills, commuting workflows, relative proximities among rural and urban communities, economic dependencies, development initiatives and local governance structures; and • Engagement of local partners and other stakeholders through the identification of three pilot regions in which the researchers would focus their efforts and the establishment of an overall project advisory committee and a knowledge mobilization component to facilitate input from stakeholders and share key findings. The research presented in this report represents one of the most extensive assessments and inventories of regional governance activities and regional organizations (e.g. committees, organized interests, and divisions of various government departments) undertaken in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. CHAPTER OVERVIEW This report is organized into eleven chapters. In the first chapter we discuss the project background. We then turn to a discussion of regional governance in Chapter Two and the research methodology in Chapter Three. In Chapters Four through Ten we detail the broad range of regional organizations engaged in planning and delivering services on a regional basis in Newfoundland and Labrador along with their corresponding regional governance structures and processes. All efforts were made to provide information on the following themes for each regional organization discussed in this report: • Historical development (year started, year formalized if different/applicable, actors responsible for initiation and design, reasons for formation); iii • Mandate and activities (both formal and informal roles and program activities); • Definition of the region (number of regions per province, region size by population and geography, rural/urban mix, reasons for choice of region scale/boundary definition – communities of interest, place); • Finance and administration (number of staff, budget, sources of funds); • Organizational structure (formal/informal, authority – legislative/regulatory, actors involved in planning and decision-making e.g. if governed by a board who is represented on it and how many members, decision-making model, number and formality of rules, procedures and exchanges/relationships among those involved, accountability – to who and how, planning, evaluation and reporting mechanisms); • Communication and collaboration (volunteers, members, public – diversity, methods of information sharing/communication and involvement/representation, sense of equality/shared power, trust, mutual respect among those involved); • Involvement in regional sustainability and labour market development; and • Achievements, challenges and lessons learned from working as a region The following is a detailed breakdown of the broad chapter categories and the regional organizations discussed in each: Chapter Four – Economic and Labour Market Development: REDBs, CBDCs, Chambers of Commerce, Regional Tourism Organizations, EAS Offices, Other NGOs, IBRD, ACOA, Service Canada and HRSDC, AES, TCR Chapter Five – Health and Social Services Development: Regional Health Authorities, Primary Health Care Initiative, Wellness Coalitions, Family Resource Centres, School District Boards, School Councils, RNC and RCMP, Crime Prevention Committees, SAR Teams, Youth Organizations, Seniors Groups, Women’s Groups and Centres, Service Clubs, Recreation Organizations, Volunteer Resource Centres, and Faith-based Organizations Chapter Six – Environment and Natural Resources: Model Forest NL, Newfoundland Forestry Services Branch and District Planning Teams, Regional Agricultural Organizations, Land Use Planning (NEAR Plan, CB-HV Regional Land Use Plan, LISA Regional Land Use Plan), DFO, DFA, Other Fisheries Management Related Organizations, Watershed Management, Coastal Zone Planning and Management, Department of Environment and Conservation Chapter Seven – Community Development and Multi-objective: Rural/Regional Development Associations, Regional Heritage, Arts and Culture Organizations, Rural Secretariat Regions iv Chapter Eight – Local Government and Regional Services: MNL, Joint Councils, Service Sharing Agreements, Regional Waste Management Operations, Harbour Authorities, Department of Municipal Affairs, Department of Transportation and Works, Department of Government Services Chapter Nine – Aboriginal Governance: Nunatsiavut Government, Innu Nation, NunatuKavut, Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band Chapter Ten – Federal and Provincial Political Districts: Federal and Provincial Electoral Districts SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS In the final chapter we provide a comparative summary of the major findings from each of the key themes. We then turn to a discussion of the lessons and challenges for regional governance in Newfoundland and Labrador. This is followed by a brief post-script of several significant changes to the regional governance landscape that occurred during the final writing stages of this report. Overall, the findings of this research suggest that organizing at the regional scale has been an important strategy for rural communities in coastal Newfoundland and Labrador in times of social, economic and ecological change. While settlements have long been organized at a sub-provincial scale, this report suggests an increasing intensity in regional efforts in the latter half of the twentieth century and particularly since the 1980s and 90s. This increasing attention to the region