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Self Regulation aka Professional Reliance
Over the years, corporate spin-doctors have found devious new ways to shed rules
and government oversight, but professional reliance was a stroke of pure genius.
Many were lulled into thinking that handing the management and oversight of our public lands and interest to a coterie of smiling, reliable professionals, with their reputations and professional associations hovering above to keep them in line, was a grand solution.
FOCUS magazine, Sept 2017: New Government will Review "Professional Reliance"
Still photo from Sonora Island 'Professional Reliance' video. https://vimeo.com/252243072/d76f33baf0
The BC government wanted to hear from the public (Jan2018) on the management model of Professional Reliance. There was a short survey to complete and the public could also make a more detailed submission. The submissions have been posted online for the public to read, and there are approximately 106 submissions posted so far.
Click here to read the submissions: engage.gov.bc.ca/professionalreliance/read-stakeholder-submissions/
There are many well researched articles, please have a scroll through them.
There are many well researched articles, please have a scroll through them.
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This is the submission from the Glade Watershed Protection Society:
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This is an excellent video from the folks from the Sonora Island community. They say: "This video submission is based on the experience of the Sonora Island community’s interactions with TimberWest Forest Corporation in the southern Great Bear Rainforest over the last 5 years." (Three photos below are still shots from their video).
https://vimeo.com/252243072/d76f33baf0
https://vimeo.com/252243072/d76f33baf0
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'Self-Regulation' becomes 'Professional Reliance'
At one time the industry answered to the Ministry, who provided checks and balances of a sort. In 2004, the industry became self regulated. Which means the logging company is regulating itself, keeping an eye on themselves and making sure they do everything by the book. 'Self regulation' has been renamed 'Professional Reliance'. Now they must rely on professionals. These professionals are contracted by the logging companies and have stated that they are unbiased.
In the end, who decides to do the logging can easily consist of only one professional hired by the lumber company, and the licensee's Foresters (RPF).
A. Nikiforuk in "Another Wild West Show? BC’s Regulatory Experiment with Professional Reliance" (The Tyee Dec2017) states:
First introduced nearly a decade ago, the practice now dominates 27 different regulatory regimes in the province.
The B.C. government defines the term as “the practice of accepting and relying upon the decisions and advice of professionals who accept responsibility and can be held accountable for the decisions they make and the advice they give.”
To support PR, as it sometimes called, the B.C. government streamlined regulations, reduced the size of the public service, and gave industry proponents a greater role in monitoring their compliance with environmental rules.
The government said the scheme would save money and result in better governance.
But a growing body of critics, including B.C.’s Auditor General, the B.C. Ombudsperson, and the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre say that’s not what is happening in practice.
They say professional reliance has given industry too much control over public lands without addressing conflicts of interest. They also say it amounts to deregulation and less government oversight.
In particular they are concerned about conflicts of interest. Given that most engineers or foresters are employed or retained by an industrial proponent, an inherent potential for conflict arises between duties to the client and the public interest in environmental protection. (https://thetyee.ca/News/2017/02/21/BC-Professional-Rethetyee.ca/News/2017/02/21/BC-Professional-Reliance-Experiment/)
Losing Public Confidence:
From an article "Agencies blow whistle on forestry self-policing" Business Vancouver, Sept 2014
From an article "Agencies blow whistle on forestry self-policing" Business Vancouver, Sept 2014
Problems in B.C’s forest regulatory system are raising flags....prompting some to say the province is at risk of losing public confidence in resource development.... the B.C. auditor general, the B.C. ombudsperson and the Forest Practices Board have all written reports within the last two years on the failures associated with the practice of relying on professionals employed by resource companies to manage the province’s forests...the government has abandoned its role as a knowledgeable owner and steward of the land base when it introduced regulatory changes in 2004.
(Auditor General report, Ombudsperson Report, FPB Report)
Professional Assessments:
Are the recommendations followed?
It was an 'unknown' as to how the professional consultants (employed by the company) and the logging companies relate to one another.
In the Feb 2016 Glade public meeting, the Kalesnikoff representative stated that he saw the hydrogeomorphic recommendations as 'binding'. He added if he "went outside the hydrogeomorphic report and I was brought before my peers, I would be in trouble." (Castlegar News article Feb 25, 2016).
However, in a previous community meeting (Sept 2015) with ATCO and Kalesnikoff, the Terrain Specialist stated that sometimes the logging companies "don't even follow their own professionals' recommendations".
This is echoed by a Forest Practices Board statement that "license holders are under no obligation to accept the advice of these resource professionals".
(FPB Report: Are They Meeting Expectations?)
Are the recommendations followed?
It was an 'unknown' as to how the professional consultants (employed by the company) and the logging companies relate to one another.
In the Feb 2016 Glade public meeting, the Kalesnikoff representative stated that he saw the hydrogeomorphic recommendations as 'binding'. He added if he "went outside the hydrogeomorphic report and I was brought before my peers, I would be in trouble." (Castlegar News article Feb 25, 2016).
However, in a previous community meeting (Sept 2015) with ATCO and Kalesnikoff, the Terrain Specialist stated that sometimes the logging companies "don't even follow their own professionals' recommendations".
This is echoed by a Forest Practices Board statement that "license holders are under no obligation to accept the advice of these resource professionals".
(FPB Report: Are They Meeting Expectations?)
