For years, the Council of Canadians has been calling for a modernization of federal water policies, including the establishment of the Ministry of Water to coordinate water protection, management and stewardship.

In the 2019 federal election, the Liberals committed to establishing the Canada Water Agency with a promise it would “keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.” Since the election, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada have been tasked with creating the agency and MP Terry Duguid of Winnipeg South is overseeing it.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has released an online consultation platform to invite input into the mandate of the Canada Water Agency. Submission to this consultation process can be made via the online platform PlaceSpeak, or by emailing ec.water-eau.ec@canada.ca. Communities and individuals have until May 31, 2021, to provide input.

The former Harper Conservative government slashed legislative protections of 99 per cent of lakes and rivers. In their last term, the Liberal government partially restored protections for waterways through the new Canada Navigable Waters Act and Impact Assessment Act, but did not remove exemptions for major fossil fuel projects like pipelines and power lines. The new legislation also fails to require free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities as required by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Meanwhile, Schedule 2 of the Fisheries Act still allows industries to turn freshwater bodies into tailings impoundment areas (tailings ponds).

Upholding and implementing the human rights to water and sanitation means protecting water at its source. The federal government must close the loopholes in the Canada Navigable Waters Act, Impact Assessment Act and Fisheries Act to fully protect every waterway, while committing to respecting Indigenous water rights, titles, governance structure and law.  

Source: The Council of Canadians submission to the Canada Water Agency Consultation | The Council of Canadians

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Is This The New Normal?

EcoWatch writer Krystyn Tully wrote in 2012, ‘Canada’s New Normal — Ignore Environmental Protection’. She says:

“The exercise is over. The “new normal” is here.

“For the last thirty years, Canada was a rule-of-law kind of country. Our environmental laws spelled out what you can’t do (for example, pollute or block a river). They spelled out how decisions had to be made (for example, major projects were reviewed by independent panels, with input from qualified experts). Those who wanted to develop or dump on the water had to prove to a decision-maker that their actions would not harm other people’s abilities to safely swim, drink or fish those same waters. With a few notable exceptions, the federal rules were generally the same across Canada.

“This is no longer true. When yet another omnibus budget bill passed through Parliament this week, it ushered in a new era in Canadian history. The Navigable Waters Protection Act no longer protects water. The Fisheries Act no longer protects fish. The Environmental Assessment Act no longer requires environmental assessments be done before important decisions are made. If you are looking to federal environmental law and policy to protect Canada’s environment, you’re a dinosaur. A throwback. A relic of the 20th century.

“No need to worry,” the federal government says, “the provinces will protect you now.”

The omnibus budget bill was rushed through parliament by Stephen Harper, the prime minister. We are still dealing with the aftermath today. In 2015 Justin Trudeau of the Liberal party was elected in 2015 and one of his campaign promises was to “review these changes, restore lost protections, and incorporate more modern safeguards.”

Although there have been some minor changes, the majority still exist, with Prime Minister Trudeau heading into his second term. Granted, it’s hard to remember exactly what those changes were and why we should want them rolled back, considering it happened over five years ago.

Maude Barlow documented the changes Mr. Harper’s Conservatives enacted in a sixteen-page report called Blue Betrayal.

In her report she says, “The Harper government has put Canada’s freshwater heritage at great risk and increased the likelihood of water pollution by Canadian mining companies in the Global South. The values of greed driving the Harper government’s policies are not shared by the majority of Canadians who want our waterways protected by strong laws and who view water as an essential public service. It will take political will, given the straight-jacket that NAFTA, CETA and other similar trade deals have imposed on future governments, to undo the damage done in the last decade. But in a world running out of accessible water, we have no choice but to fight for the laws and policies that will protect our water for people and the planet forever.”

As true today as when she wrote it five years ago — maybe worse.

Across Canada, Nova Scotia has a small community called Alton. Residents there have been fighting ATCO, a natural gas distribution and transmission company known as the Alton Natural Gas Storage Project. They want to build caverns to store gas. They will be flushed out with a saline brine and the runoff will be discharged into the Shubenacadie river. It will dump the equivalent of 3,000 tons of hard salt into the river everyday. In addition to supporting First nation communities with food and a livelihood, the brine is six times stronger than most aquatic species can safely consume, and the river is the main breeding ground in the province for Striped Bass. Fishing for these large fish is one of the most popular sports in the province.

The provincial government intended to permit Alton Gas to proceed. Residents started a campaign for a federal assessment. It never came. But there are sine regulations to get approved when the price for Natural Gas improves. Once approved, this change to the regulations gives Alton Gas permission to dump the toxic brine into the river.

The Navigable Waters Protection Act has become a farce. We will have water issues with coal mines if the federal government passes their environmental assessment. Not only will the coal mines use a lot of it, it will be polluted with heavy metals and selenium. This puts all the water Lethbridge uses at risk.

Krystyn Tully’s conclusion reads:

Some day, years from now, when you’re remembering how Canada used to be the “environmental” country and wondering what happened to those days, check your notes. Find today’s date on your calendar, and you’ll know. This is the time when everything changed.

And if, on that day in the future, you can still safely swim, drink and fish in your community, know that it will be because of the actions of dedicated individuals, not government regulators.