Key Messages on CWA activities

Question 1. How are the Canada Water Agency’s 2026-2027 reference levels expected to be invested? How do these allocations differ from 2024-25 and 2025-26?

• With the Canada Water Agency’s $81 million in total funding ($76.9 million in voted appropriations and $4.1 million in statutory), the Agency will:
  • Continue to implement the strengthened Freshwater Action Plan to restore, steward, and protect fresh water in Canada through effective partnerships and community-led actions;
  • Continue to develop integrated policy solutions and strategies with other federal departments and agencies to address current and future freshwater challenges and opportunities; and,
  • Continue to build a high-performing and regionally responsive organization.
• Spending in 2024-25 was lower at $43 million as it covered only a partial year, from the Agency’s inception on October 15, 2024 to March 31, 2025.

Supplemental Points

• Of the Canada Water Agency’s $81 million 2026–27 reference levels, $35 million is for salaries and operating, $42 million is for contribution funding and $4 million is for statutory authorities for employee benefit plans.
• As outlined in Budget 2025, the Agency will deliver annual savings under the Comprehensive Expenditure Review exercise of $0.7 million in fiscal year 2026-27, $0.7 million in fiscal year 2027-28, $1.2 million in fiscal year 2028-29, $1.2 million in fiscal year 2029-30, and $1.2 million ongoing.
• These savings will be achieved through staffing reductions, by modernizing operations at the Agency and focusing resources on core priorities.
• The Agency’s spending reductions will result in a decrease of approximately 13 fulltime equivalents by 2028-29.
• The Agency is not entering a workforce adjustment situation in relation to this savings exercise at this time.

Question 2. How does the Canada Water Agency work with provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples, and stakeholders?

• Freshwater management in a country as vast as Canada is complex.
• Challenges vary by region and addressing them often involves multiple jurisdictions, Indigenous partners and stakeholders.
• The Canada Water Agency engages with provinces and territories on water issues in several ways including, through intergovernmental agreements that support some of the Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives, interjurisdictional and binational water boards, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, and bilateral and multilateral discussions.
• The Agency works with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis partners to advance Indigenous leadership in freshwater management through the Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives, the EcoAction program, and by engaging Indigenous partners on national freshwater policy initiatives. 

Supplemental Points

• In several Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives, the Canada Water Agency’s cooperation with provinces and territories is formalized through agreements or Memoranda of Understanding with provincial and territorial governments.
• In the Great Lakes, the Agency is building on over 50 years of Canada-U.S. and Canada-Ontario collaboration to protect and restore Great Lakes water quality and ecosystem health.
  • Actions include reducing harmful and nuisance algae, restoring Areas of Concern, and enhancing the resilience of coastal areas; and,
  • The Agency is collaborating with First Nations and Metis by providing directed funding to empower Indigenous partners to participate in governance, science, and collaborating activities.
• Since 2017, the Lake Winnipeg program has supported over 30 Indigenous-led projects, including community-based monitoring and the gathering and use of traditional knowledge.
  • The Lake Winnipeg Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative is piloting a new approach to advance Indigenous-led projects with the goal of reducing barriers to participation in application-based programing.
• For more than 55 years, the Master Agreement on Apportionment has served as a successful instrument among the three Prairie provinces and the federal government in fostering cooperation, enabling dispute resolution and sharing knowledge and information.
• The Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement has created a forum for cooperative water management for nearly 30 years, bringing together government and Indigenous representatives from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon, as well as the federal government.
• The Agency is engaging with provinces and territories and Indigenous partners on national freshwater policy initiatives such as the Canada Water Act review and the development of a National Water Security Strategy.
• The Agency is also working to strengthen collaboration on freshwater with key partners and stakeholders through initiatives like freshwater roundtables, which convene partners to discuss topics in different regions.

Question 3. How does the Canada Water Agency respond to freshwater challenges and opportunities across Canada?

• The Canada Water Agency leads delivery of the Freshwater Action Plan, which is a signature federal program and a major funding initiative to manage, restore and protect fresh water in Canada.
• The Freshwater Action Plan supports regionally specific actions that protect and restore transboundary and nationally significant freshwater ecosystems through Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives in the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, St. Lawrence River, Fraser River, Wolastoq/Saint John River, Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe.

Supplemental Points

• Most of the Freshwater Action Plan’s funding is delivered by the Canada Water Agency, with a portion delivered by Environment and Climate Change Canada related to freshwater science and research.
• The Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives cover approximately 40% of Canada's surface area where 90% of Canada's population lives.
• The Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives deliver coordinated programming and expertise to restore and protect freshwater ecosystems through strong partnerships, sound science and knowledge systems, collaborative governance and effective stewardship action.
• Additionally, EcoAction, a national initiative, supports projects that improve freshwater quality, ecosystem health, and sustainability and innovation across Canada by supporting community-led actions and freshwater sustainability initiatives.

Question 4. How does the Canada Water Agency’s work help us understand the state of some of our largest lakes and rivers?

• As part of the Freshwater Ecosystem Initiatives, collaborative efforts are underway to report on the ecosystem health of waterbodies using various ecosystem health indicators.
• Reporting supports a comprehensive assessment of freshwater challenges, including impacts of climate change, land use change and population growth. Reporting builds awareness, helps identify stressors and informs decision-making and actions to restore and protect water quality and ecosystem health.

Supplemental Points

• Recent reports include:
  • Great Lakes (2025): Overall, the Great Lakes are assessed by the State of the Great Lakes indicators as Fair and the trend is Unchanging, based on a suite of 9 binational indicators of ecosystem health, pursuant to the Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement;
  • St. Lawrence River (2024): the overall assessment of the status of the St. Lawrence is moderate, based on the results of monitoring indicators for the 2018-2022 period;
  • Lake Winnipeg (2020): The State of Lake Winnipeg report examined conditions relating to climate and hydrology, water quality and biological indicators;
  • Lake of the Woods (2022): Algal blooms and phosphorus remain issues in some parts of the basin. Phosphorus levels remain largely unchanged since 2014; and,
  • Mackenzie River Basin (2021): the 2021 State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report included four indicators: water quality, water quantity, habitat and species, and health and well-being. The next report will be released in 2027.
• Work is underway in the Fraser River and Wolastoq/Saint John River FEIs to develop State of Ecosystem reports.
• For Lake Simcoe, the province of Ontario conducts waterbody assessments.

Question 5. How does the Canada Water Agency coordinate with other departments and agencies within the federal government that have water-related work?

• The Canada Water Agency chairs the Federal Freshwater Committee, which convenes senior management from 26 other federal departments and agencies with freshwater-related work.
• The Agency also hosts the Federal Freshwater Hub, an innovative approach that embeds employees with freshwater expertise from other federal departments within the Agency, to support whole-of-federal-government solutions to freshwater challenges.
• Both the Federal Freshwater Committee and the Federal Freshwater Hub strengthen whole-of-government coordination on freshwater issues.
• The Agency stewards several Federal-Provincial-Territorial agreements which involve the collaborative participation of other federal departments.

Supplemental Points

• Employees in the Federal Freshwater Hub act as direct links with their home organization, provide expertise, and work horizontally and collaboratively on freshwater issues.
• Intergovernmental agreements are also platforms of federal collaboration on fresh water; examples include:
  • The Canada-Québec Agreement on the St. Lawrence: The agreement, also referred to as the St. Lawrence Action Plan, is a collaborative initiative between the governments of Canada and Québec, initially established in 1988 to protect, conserve, and enhance the St. Lawrence River and its ecosystem.
    • Implementation of the 2011-2026 agreement is supported by eight federal departments and agencies. The renewal of the Canada-Québec Agreement on the St. Lawrence (2026-2036), is currently underway.
  • Since 2010, Canada and Manitoba have been coordinating efforts on Lake Winnipeg Water Quality through two iterations of the Canada-Manitoba Memorandum of Understanding Respecting Lake Winnipeg and the Lake Winnipeg Basin.
    • The current MOU is set to expire in August 2026 and efforts to extend the agreement are underway.
    • The MOU provides an effective forum to facilitate a whole of government approach in protecting the water quality and ecological health of Lake Winnipeg which includes Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada and Indigenous Services Canada.
  • The Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health, first established in 1971, outlines how the governments of Canada and Ontario will cooperate and coordinate their efforts to restore, protect and conserve the Great Lakes.
    • The Agreement supports delivery of the Canada-United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Federal departments implementing COA include Environment and Climate Change; Parks; Agriculture and Agri-Food; Fisheries and Oceans; Health; Natural Resources, and Transport.
    • The 2021 Canada-Ontario Agreement is set to expire on May 31, 2026. Formal negotiations are set to begin in Spring 2026.
  • Federal participation in the Prairie Provinces Water Board, which is responsible for implementing the Master Agreement on Apportionment includes the Canada Water Agency and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada with other federal departments including Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources Canada conducting monitoring and/or participating in committees.
  • Federal participation in the Mackenzie River Basin Board, who oversees the Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement, includes the Canada Water Agency, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Parks Canada.