Following the Brookings Institute’s extensive work on the future of the Great Lakes economy, in 2011, over 250 leaders – government, business, labor, non-profit, and academic – came together in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region Summit jointly convened by Brookings and the University of Toronto.

To fill this void and to implement the Vital Commons Agenda, also referred to as the “Detroit-Windsor Consensus”, the Council of the Great Lakes Region was launched in 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio, with the support of then United States Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, and Canada’s Ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer.

Gaps in regional leadership, knowledge sharing, and advocacy needed to be filled, but that no one organization existed to bring these interrelated binational interests together and speak to the region’s priorities.

Many policy areas were identified where stronger collaboration and voice were needed when it comes to building the region’s future economy, preserving a healthy ecosystem, and deepening cross-border and cross-sector collaboration and partnerships.

Working with many of the region’s organizations and diverse interests, the Council seeks to inform state, provincial and federal decision-makers in both countries about the region’s long-term economic, social, and environmental goals. It also connects private, public, and nonprofit actors across the region, cultivating a strong regional voice to promote shared interests and solutions to the region’s common challenges.