West Coast Aquatic was founded to serve as the secretariat to the Regional Aquatic Management Board, later called West Coast Aquatic Governance Board — an interim measure to Nuu-chah-nulth treaty that brought together governments (Indigenous, federal, provincial, and municipal) and stakeholders to make decisions together about the West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI).  

After a decade, support for collaborative decision-making the WCVI scale fell apart, and the Governance Board ceased to meet. To figure out what that meant for us, we talked partners and asked them if we should continue to exist – and if so, what we should do. They all felt that third-party facilitation and mediation was valuable and we needed to continue to provide this role for whatever processes needed our support – starting with sub-regional salmon harvest planning roundtables and discerning where else we could serve from there. 

Over the following twelve years, that focus led us to work across British Columbia, the Yukon, and in Atlantic Canada. As our reach grew, we sharpened our process approach and values.