Tragically, as with so many issues relating to our environment, this is a day to remind ourselves of the threats to and recent attacks on this very critical natural resource.

“Canada has no national strategy to address very urgent water issues facing our society,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands. “Our Federal Water Policy is more than 20 years old and has never been implemented. We need to make use of its excellent guidelines immediately in order to deal with the impact of climate change, contamination, shortages, pressures to bulk export, and more.”

In May, 2012, a report by the Forum for Leadership on Water, a group of academic, NGO, and retired public-sector experts on water policy, stated that decades of policy and funding neglect had left Canada “crippled,” as it confronts growing threats to its water.

Since then, the situation has grown worse with the Conservatives’ aggressive promotion of the extraction industries, leading to the end of credible environmental assessments, the gutting of the Fisheries Act, and the virtual elimination of the Navigable Waters Protection Act – which leaves the great majority of our lakes and rivers vulnerable to development.

Even the Great Lakes are at risk. “The Great Lakes, which hold more than 95 percent of North America’s surface freshwater – 20 percent of the world’s – are continuously threatened by climate change pollution, over-extraction, invasive species, and wetland loss,” said Cathy MacLellan, Green Party Energy and Natural Resource Critic. “As the south and mid-western US continues to experience severe water shortages, the shared Great Lakes and Canada’s other fresh water resources are vulnerable to weak legislation concerning bulk water exports.”

Recent reports that Lake Erie is in trouble again, after having nearly died and then being revived in the 1970s, are disturbing. Earlier this year, Lake Winnipeg was given the title of Threatened Lake of 2013 – the most threatened lake in the world – by the Global Nature Fund (GNF). It is being poisoned by blue-green algae feeding off sewage and agricultural chemicals.

At the same time, small freshwater lakes are being used as toxic dumps. The Fisheries Minister has allowed certain lakes to be reclassified as ‘tailings impoundment areas. This absolves mining companies from having to build man-made containment ponds designed to protect natural water systems, and fish.

Our wetlands, too, are in danger. “Canada has about 25 percent of the world’s wetlands – lakes, rivers, swamps, wet grasslands, peatlands,” said Janice Harvey, Green Party Fisheries Critic. “Historically, we have played a key role internationally in protecting them. With the gutting of the Fisheries Act and the aggressive expansion of the Alberta tar sands this is no longer the case.”

“Our freshwater is in a fragile state for a variety of reasons, which might have been adequately dealt with before climate change,” said May. “Now, the fight to stop the rise in temperatures globally is crucial to saving this resource for future generations.”

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In the February 28th meeting it was decided that the committee report titled Closed Containment Salmon Aquaculture would be presented to the House by the committee chair.

The same motion determined that the committee would dedicate the March 5th and March 7th meetings to consideration of the Supplementary Estimates, and that the committee would invite departmental officials and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to the meetings to discuss fisheries management issues and the coast guard.

The motion also set out a schedule for committee business, including plans to continue its study on invasive species in the Great Lakes, meeting with provincial officials and beginning a report on northern and arctic fisheries.

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On Thursday, October 18, the committee met in camera to discuss “Closed Containment Salmon Aquaculture.” The Minutes can be found here.

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“While it is good news to have the updated agreement signed after eight years of negotiations, its success is entirely dependent on effective implementation. The Great Lakes have been so consistently underfunded by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that the majority of recommendations from previous joint agreements and action plans have been impossible to implement,” said Elizabeth May, Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands and Leader of the Green Party of Canada. “Political strategy rather than jurisdictional responsibility seems to direct the Harper Conservatives’ investments in freshwater lakes. Evidence shows that funding is often directed to areas where Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants votes, including the Lake Simcoe and Lake Winnipeg regions. While it is important to protect all ecosystems, the Great Lakes are critical to supplying water to over 40 million people, and contain 18 percent of the world’s surface freshwater supply.”

Under the 1908 Boundary Waters Treaty, Canada has an obligation to follow through on commitments for protecting the Great Lakes in partnership with the United States. “Neglect for this critical resource has gone on long enough,” said Elizabeth May. “We need to see significant financial commitments behind this new agreement if it is to be successful.”

As Senior Policy Advisor to former federal Environment Minister Tom McMillan, May worked on the previous iteration of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1987. In her years as the Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada, May was also very engaged in all Great Lakes issues.

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The IJC nuclear task force undertook an inventory of nuclear pollutants in the Great Lakes in 1997 indicating that there was a need for greater follow up on many concerns identified.   (http://www.ijc.org/php/publications/html/invrep/index.html)

“Given the history of concerns about nuclear contaminants including Port Hope on Lake Ontario, and decades of nuclear waste storage on the shores of the Great Lakes at various nuclear facilities, the Green Party demands a scientific and citizen partnership to provide oversight of these impacts on water quality,” said Elizabeth May, MP Saanich-Gulf Islands, and Leader of the Green Party of Canada.

The IJC in its Report of Bioaccumulation of Elements to Accompany the Inventory of Radionuclides in the Great Lakes Basin identified the need for further work.  http://www.ijc.org/rel/boards/nuclear/bio/index.html

“The Green Party is joining the call from a number of concerned citizens and environmental groups to urge this government to take a serious look at radioactive impacts on Great Lakes water quality,’ said May.

The IJC has responded to requests from various groups stating that it will not re-instate the nuclear task force until it is directed by governments to do so.

“Protection of the Great Lakes must be a top priority.  The government has a legal duty to ensure that it protects water quality for Canadian citizens.”

“The IJC has in the past studied nuclear energy and waste issues in the Great Lakes basin and has made recommendations to governments. The Commission reviewed nuclear issues in the Great Lakes in the context of its biennial reports.  In the 1997 publication The IJC in the 21^st  Century, the Commission identified a number of nuclear issues for which the Canadian and U.S. governments might consider issuing a reference to the Commission, under the Boundary Waters Treaty, “ said Lorraine Rekmans, Aboriginal Affairs Critic for the Green Party of Canada.

A reference requires the Commission to examine and report on questions and concerns shared by the governments or matters of difference arising between them. Governments have not issued such a reference to the Commission.

The IJC was briefed on April 24, 2012, by both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on nuclear energy and waste issues in the Great Lakes region. In addition, they heard from a representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

However, in the absence of a specific reference from governments, the Commission will not be taking action on the matter of nuclear facilities and nuclear waste storage in the Great Lakes Basin.

“We need informed oversight,” said Rekmans.  The IJC must create a new IJC Nuclear Task Force and report on nuclear issues impacting the Great Lakes.  This has to be addressed as part of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, and we need a new IJC Nuclear Task Force to produce such a report.”

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“A lot of invasive species are arriving because of increases in imports with free trade agreements. The Harper Conservatives keep pushing free trade but are allowing our protections to fall by the wayside,” said May. “Invasive species have a huge economic cost and we need these front-line programs in place more than ever with climate change leading to changes in species distribution,” said May.

According to the Ontario Invasive Plant Council, the impacts of just sixteen invasive species have cost the Canadian economy between $13.3 and $34.5 billion annually. A well-known example is the devastation that the zebra mussel has caused to fisheries in the Great Lakes, estimated to be in the millions annually.

Funding for the Invasive Alien Species Partnership Program (IASPP) was terminated as of March 31, 2012, leaving in the lurch any organizations that were counting on funding for this year’s projects.

In the last six years, the IASPP distributed nearly $5.6 million to 170 projects across Canada. Projects encouraged prevention, detection and management of invasive species, often engaging community members.

“The IASPP’s funding is critical to support many worthwhile local projects to reduce the damage caused by invasive species. This is just another example of the callous disregard the Harper Conservatives have to the links between the environment and the economy,” said May.

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It was agreed that the Committee start hearing witnesses from Federal Departments on the study on invasive species that pose a threat to the Great Lakes system, starting on Monday, April 2, 2012, and that Members should send in their list of potential witnesses to the Clerk

The in camera minutes of the meeting may be viewed here.

On March 26th, the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans (FOPO) met in camera to commence consideration of a draft report.

They then resumed in public to vote on two motions. Both votes were negatived 6 to 5.

The decisions made in public and in camera can be viewed in the Minutes.

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On Tuesday, December 6^th, the committee held a videoconference with from representatives of Overwaitea Food Group and Albion Fisheries Ltd.

On Thursday, December 8^th, the committee held a videoconference with Professor Colin Brauner of the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia and Catherine Stewart of the Living Oceans Society. Before the committee adjourned, Patricia Davidson  (Sarnia-Lambdon, Ont., CPC) gave notice of a motion to have the committee conduct a study of invasive species that pose a threat to the Great Lakes system. More details on the motion can be found here.

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