The Conversation Lab

What's an OCP?

Understanding an Official Community Plan (OCP) If you've ever wondered whether your children or grandchildren will be able to afford to live in your community, worried about housing, transportation, water, wildfire risk, climate change, traffic congestion, environmental protection, or simply what future generations will inherit, then you already have a stake in this conversation. While this episode focuses on Bowen Island where I live, the questions being discussed are the same ones facing communities across British Columbia and Canada. How do we grow? What should we protect? What infrastructure will we need? And how do we balance housing, environment, economy, and quality of life? In this episode, we talk with Mayor Andrew Leonard, Daniel Martin (Manager of Planning and Development), and James Crandles (OCP Steering Committee Co-Chair) to unpack Bowen Island's proposed Official Community Plan and the current phase of public engagement. Together they explore: • What an Official Community Plan (OCP) is — and what it isn't • Why Bowen's OCP is being updated now • The guiding frameworks shaping the draft • Housing diversity and infrastructure planning • Biodiversity, stewardship, and climate resilience • Transportation, community vitality, and circular economy principles • Land use maps, conservation areas, and development permit areas • How residents can participate meaningfully during this phase of engagement Whether you live on Bowen Island or in a growing community elsewhere, this conversation is about understanding the choices, trade-offs, and opportunities that shape the places we call home.You can learn more at bowenislandmunicipality.ca.

Farhan Samir - A Reflection on Complexity and Meaning-Making

AI systems carry embedded worldviews. This isn’t a metaphor—it’s architecture. They inherit Western epistemologies, English-language biases, individualistic assumptions, capitalist logics, hetero-normative defaults, racialized categories, settler-colonial knowledge priorities, Silicon Valley’s belief in optimization and speed, and a particular moral grammar about what counts as “rational,” “true,” or “good.” This is a converstion with Farhan Samir that began in November as we graduated from UBC. Talking with him I felt something familiar—something that sits at the centre of my own work on conversation, polarization, and the power of language. Our conversaion reminds me how much complexity lies beneath even the simplest act of interpretation, and how rarely we pay attention to it.

Jonathan Eaton - Disaster Preparedness

Dr Jonathan Eaton is the lead author of a new study that takes a deep dive into how Vancouver residents think about disaster preparedness. He talks about how disaster preparedness is about more than seismic retrofits, sandbags, or evacuation routes - It's about people, about how we understand risk and what we value, and how our sense of place, memory, and community shape the choices we make before the ground starts shaking.

Jean Watson Final

Two years ago, I underwent open-heart surgery at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver. What stayed with me, beyond the procedure itself, was the extraordinary level of care I received—from the cardiac team, nurses, and support staff. It felt deeply human, attentive, and intentional. When I later circled back to thank them, many of those I spoke with credited their approach to the teachings of Jean Watson. I was curious who was this person shaping how care is felt in a clinical setting? Jean Watson is a nurse, scholar, and founder of the Watson Caring Science Institute. Her work has transformed how we think about healing—not just as a physical process, but as something deeply relational and grounded in compassion. So, I reached out to her. I wanted to understand more about what it means to truly care, and what lessons her work might offer not just to those in healthcare, but to all of us—especially in these divided and uncertain times.

Liz Stewart - Neighbours United & Deep Canvassing

In this episode of Sticks & Stones, Roots & Bones, we sit down with Liz Stewart, a Defend Our Homes organizer with Neighbours United in British Columbia. Liz shares how deep canvassing, a powerful tool rooted in empathy and storytelling, is helping bridge divides in forestry towns where proposed biodiversity legislation is sparking debate. With curiosity and care, Liz opens up about what it means to meet people where they’re, the emotional weight of conversations across difference, and the quiet power of asking why. From growing up in resource-rich Manitoba to confronting her own assumptions, Liz’s journey reveals how vulnerability and respect can shift hearts and minds, one door and one conversation at a time. This isn’t just a conversation about forests. It’s a conversation about how we talk to each other and what’s possible when we truly listen.