Summary

Overview of the Organization

The West Coast Climate Action Network (WE-CAN) was founded in 2021 with the mission to unite and foster collaboration between the multitude of groups working for climate action in British Columbia (BC). We work to serve, support, amplify and promote our member groups’ work so that together the BC climate movement can have a stronger voice to push the climate agenda forward in BC.

WE-CAN currently has 293 Climate Action Member Groups spread across British Columbia, all of whose people are working to tackle the climate emergency and accelerate a just transition to a post-carbon world. They are working locally and provincially in actions, campaigns, lobbying, and education focused on 100% renewable energy, climate justice, public education, transportation, among many others.

Overview of the Study

In order to understand what actions WE-CAN can take to best support its member groups, the organization decided to conduct a study on the BC Climate Movement and the role of WE-CAN.

Through a generous grant from the Pacific Institute of Climate Solutions (PICS), I was hired as WE-CAN’s summer intern to conduct a study with the following objectives:

• Gather general information on the member groups’ activities and characteristics
• Produce an archive with detailed online documents about each of the member groups
• Identify:
• The BC Climate Movement’s most pressing needs
• Specific groups’ expertise and strengths
• Strategize:
• Actions for WE-CAN to: 

1. 1. help address the groups’ needs; 
   2. promote capacity-building and help the groups learn from each others’ skills and successes;
   3. foster inter-group collaborations.

• Useful tools for WE-CAN to provide to its member groups

• Gather feedback for WE-CAN to improve its service and impact

Overview of the Report

During my study, I reached out to 204 of WE-CAN’s 293 groups, and conducted a study with 82 of them. I surveyed 79 of the groups and completed a face-to-face interview via Zoom with 71 of those. The purpose of this report is to present the results of the study. First, this report provides the key findings from the survey, regarding the member groups’ basic information, actions and political involvement, and needs. Next, I describe what I found about the involvement with the member groups with WE-CAN, as well as the feedback I collected for the organization, the newsletter, and the Climate Action Provincial Assemblies (CAPAs). Later, I provide an overview of the member groups’ involvement with the 2024 BC Provincial Elections. Finally, I conclude by making recommendations for WE-CAN and suggesting deliverables that WE-CAN can provide to support its member groups.