Dimensiones de la sustentabilidad

Data collection methods are summarized here and reviewed in Chapters Two, Three and Four. Data sources used to undertake this research include semi-structured interviews, documents and personal observations. Data collection took place between August 2012 and November 2015. I made a total of eight visits to communities in the process of data collection. In October 2013, I visited Yellowknife and Fort Smith, NWT to interview key informants about transboundary water governance in general, as well as in support of data collection for cases of collaboration. In December 2013, I visited Fort St. John, British Columbia in support of my assessment of the EA and decision-making process for the Site C Dam in British Columbia. I visited Peace River, Alberta in January 2014 to attend EA hearings on the Site C dam, interact with interveners, and conduct interviews. I also made trips to Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta in January 2014 to conduct interviews in support of the case of the development of the Surface Water Quantity Management Framework for the Lower Athabasca River. Finally, in January 2015, I attended the Slave River and Delta Partnership Research and Open Houses in Fort Smith and Fort Resolution, NWT, where I spoke with participants of the SRDP and presented a poster of preliminary

findings on my research. Field visits provided important contextual information as well as opportunities to interact informally with key actors in transboundary water governance in the MRB. They provided a valuable source of insight.

In total, 55 individuals were contacted for participation in this study. Thirty agreed to be interviewed. Interviewees were sought using purposeful and snowball sampling techniques. Individuals were contacted because their roles and involvement in the cases considered or transboundary water governance in general. They provided valuable, in-depth insights regarding

various aspects of transboundary water governance in the MRB. Interviewees provided

information regarding experiences in and perceptions of various aspects of transboundary water governance such as power dynamics, contextual information and verified or clarified findings from document analysis.

Interviewees came from a variety of backgrounds including current and former federal, provincial and territorial government officials, representatives of Indigenous governments and employees of industry and ENGOs. Several key informants were senior government officials. Most were directly involved in ongoing governance initiatives. Many interviews had experience in several of the cases included in this study and so were asked questions about several different cases. Table 1.8 details interviewee backgrounds and interviews that support the analysis of each case. Interviews ranged from 30 minutes to approximately two hours. All interviews were semi- structured to allow for flexibility in questioning based on interview responses (Hay 2003). The interview guide used in the course of this research is available in Appendix 1. The interview guide was developed based on frameworks for each chapter and was implemented according to the experience and expertise of each interviewee. Following an interview guide facilitated comparisons between interviews and cases. However, the interview guide was revised iteratively in response to insights gained during data collection and the background of and nature of the interviewee’s involvement in the cases considered.

Individuals who declined to be interviewed or did not respond to interview requests include provincial, territorial and federal government officials as well as representatives of Indigenous governments, ENGOs and industry. A number of factors likely limited the extent to which participants were willing to be interviewed. First, several of the groups contacted for involvement in this study are heavily involved in a number of other ongoing research projects. Research fatigue and capacity constraints may have played a role. Second, several major initiatives occurred simultaneously with data collection, including the negotiation of bilateral water management agreements between provinces and territories, the EA of the Site C dam and the development of the Surface Water Quantity Management Framework. The need for

confidentiality may have limited the willingness of some individuals to be interviewed despite confirmation that interviews, if desired, would remain confidential. Extensive document analysis, participant observation (discussed below) and interviews conducted with key individuals directly involved in various aspects of transboundary water governance were used to address gaps resulting from denied interview requests.

Sixteen interviews were conducted in-person and 14 were conducted over the telephone. All but two interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed immediately following the interview. When interviewees requested that interviews not be recorded, detailed notes were taken. At times, some interviewees requested that certain statements be considered “off the record”, in which case those particular sections of the interview were not transcribed. Interview transcripts were returned to interviewees to verify the transcript before data analysis began.

Table 1.8: Interviews by background and case

Interviewee background Total Interview Requests Total Unique Interviews Interviews by Case * MRBB PADEMP SRDP Site C EA Lower Athabasca Framework Territorial government 11 9 7 4 4 2 0 Provincial government 16 9 7 3 0 2 3 Federal government 10 5 5 3 2 1 1 Indigenous government 10 3 0 3 3 3 1 Industry 4 2 0 0 0 0 2 ENGO 4 2 0 1 0 2 2 Total 55 30 19 14 9 10 9

* Some interviewees provided data pertinent to more than one case. Therefore, the total number across cases does not sum to the total of unique interviews.

The University of Waterloo Office of Research Ethics approved all interviews (ORE # 19074), which were conducted in accordance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans and the University of Waterloo Statement on Human Research. To conduct interviews in the Northwest Territories, a Scientific Research Permit from the Aurora Research Institute was required (License #15343). Therefore, all interviews conducted in the NWT received approval of and clearance from the Aurora Research Institute as well as the University of Waterloo Office of Research Ethics. All interviewees were provided with an information letter that detailed the study goals and a consent form to indicate they participated freely in the study, to provide consent for audio-recording and to indicate how they wished the interview to be reported in published material in the study. All interviewees participated freely. Many interviewees requested that interviews remain anonymous. Therefore, interviews will be

reported in this dissertation using codes to preserve the anonymity of each interviewee. Codes are specific to individual chapters and are reported as numbered confidential interviews (e.g., CI 1), as in Chapters Three and Four or numbered key informants (e.g., KI 1), as in Chapter Two.

A total of 296 documents were reviewed to support this research (see Appendix 2 for a list). One hundred and eighteen of these documents support analysis in Chapter Two, 160 supported Chapter Three and 251 supported Chapter Four. Many documents were relevant to more than one chapter (see Appendix 2). Documents included historical government documents, current

government documents, news articles, the policy prescriptions of ENGOs, letters, policy documents of Indigenous governments, EA hearing transcripts and submissions made to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Documents were identified via internet searches, bibliographies and the recommendations of research participants. The documents included provided essential contextual information, insight regarding institutional design, or information on how power dynamics operated in various cases. For example, document analysis was critical to assessing power’s third dimension in Chapters Three and Four. Document review verified, clarified and/or supplemented statements made by interview participations. Documents analysis provided an essential non-intrusive data collection method that was especially helpful in the context of this research. Publically available documents helped to address interview gaps. For example, there is an extensive publically available record of industry and ENGO interests and participation in the Site C EA and policy development regarding oil sands mining that supported analysis in Chapter Four.

Personal observations made during field visits and interviews provided additional sources of insight. Observations were uncontrolled in the sense that I did not restrict myself to observing a set of prescribed phenomena (Hay 2003). Rather, I took notes of observations during EA hearings and meetings that were used to verify relevant findings revealed through interviews and/or document analysis. For instance, they were used to confirm or add nuance to findings revealed through document and interview analysis.