The Praxis Group™ | Involving People.

The Great Lakes Program is a federal-provincial initiative dedicated to restoring areas in the Great Lake Basin harmed by pollution.  The initiative also seeks to prevent further pollution and to tackle emerging challenges to ecosystem health and stability. Environment Canada contracted Praxis to develop a comprehensive consultation process.  This included providing strategic advice for the first, and subsequent phases, of public consultations exploring the renewal of the federal component of the Great Lakes Program.

Specifically, Praxis led an orientation session for departmental staff on public consultation. Next Praxis conducted a strategic planning session for the Great Lakes Program. Praxis also developed a comprehensive “backgrounder” workbook and response form for Phase One. These were available in hardcopy and posted on Environment Canada’s website to allow respondents to complete response forms online.

In addition, Praxis conducted a random sample telephone survey to understand what the “average Basin resident” felt about the Great Lakes, and what he or she could do to improve the environment of the Basin. Approximately 1100 households participated. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted on the data gathered from both the “self-selected” participants and those in the random telephone survey. Based on the findings, Praxis prepared a final report.