AUM Alumna Makes Her Mark
Posted on Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Over the past 25 years, Sylvia McMechan’s devotion to conflict resolution has placed her in the middle of some fascinating disputes.
Sometimes the stakes are huge with lives at risk, as when she tried to diffuse political violence in the West African country of Guinea-Bissau. Other times, the impact is far more localized, like when she helped two siblings in a family of eight adult children resolve their longstanding differences.
McMechan graduated from Antioch University Midwest (AUM) with a master’s degree in conflict resolution in 1997. A pioneer in the Canadian conflict-resolution field, she continues to mediate often complex disputes while also teaching at AUM and other universities. (In addition, she is completing a doctoral degree in social and ecological sustainability.)
“I work as an educator, a mediator, a facilitator,” she says. “Whatever role I assume, I’m encouraging all parties involved to consider, ‘How can we do this together?’ We’re all together in the same metaphorical canoe. Blaming one another for the mess we’re in doesn’t help. Better to paddle together toward constructive options.”
Quaker Upbringing Shapes Career
McMechan’s parents came from conflict-torn countries–her mother from Germany, her father from Ireland–and early in their marriage decided to raise their children as Quakers.
“That’s the heritage I unwittingly adopted, and the values I grew up with sparked my interest in this career,” she says. “Growing up as a Quaker, the emphasis on peacemaking and consensus building was always there.”
After graduating from the University of Waterloo in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies, McMechan planned to pursue a master’s in environmental mediation. But while waiting to start the program, she accepted a position with the Fund for Dispute Resolution, which was housed at The Network, Canada’s leading conflict-resolution organization.
“I figured there were many people in the environmental field already,” she remembers. “But the conflict-resolution field was brand new. It needed people, and I felt I could have more of a lasting, positive influence in conflict.”
Moving on to AUM
McMechan eventually became executive director of The Network and even managed to carve out time to study conflict resolution at AUM.
“Getting the master’s degree was the key to my credibility. It’s about trust–clients like to see you have a master’s,” she says. “The experience at AUM also helped me confirm the value of what I was doing. I wrote my thesis on the values and principles for collaborative conflict resolution, so I was thinking about these things very deeply.”
In 2000 McMechan co-founded Diamond Management Consulting with husband Richard McGuigan, PhD, who also studied conflict resolution at AUM and now chairs its Conflict Analysis and Engagement program. She has since served as a mediator and facilitator with a focus on natural-resource disputes involving government agencies, indigenous communities, and corporate interests.
Finding Common Ground Over Salmon
McMechan’s career has taken her around the world. In Liberia she evaluated a mediation program that supports re-integration of prison detainees into society. In Fiji she trained mediators on how to bring consensus-style decision making to their cities and villages. In Uganda she evaluated The Carter Center’s conflict-resolution initiative, which aimed to end violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
One of McMechan’s greatest triumphs came back home in British Columbia, where the Fraser River flows rich with salmon. In 1999 conflict threatened to erupt among various parties with salmon interests, including indigenous people, conservation organizations, recreational fishers, and commercial fishers.
McMechan spent time during the ensuing decade helping these disparate stakeholders find common ground. The result of their efforts–the Fraser River Salmon Table Society–strives to reach mutually beneficial resolutions that address each group’s concerns.
“It all comes down to identifying everyone’s enlightened self-interest, which, in this case, is having more salmon in the river,” says McMechan. “It took a lot of ‘difficult conversations.’ But once all the stakeholders realized they shared this overarching goal, the dynamic shifted and they were able to work together.”
Moving forward, McMechan plans to continue making a difference through her work in the field and in the classroom.
“I do this work because I believe we won’t survive as a species unless we figure out how to resolve our differences together,” she says. “I’m willing to do everything I can to encourage my fellow humans to work together to resolve issues of common concern.”
