Freshwater: Appearance before the Standing Committee – March 27, 2023
Canada Water Agency
Q1. What will be the mandate of the Canada Water Agency? Where will the Canada Water Agency be located?
A clean and safe freshwater supply is essential to the well-being of Canadians, the health and sustainability of the environment, and to the economy. Fresh water sustains life on earth – it supplies drinking water, grows food, and supports ecosystems.
In 2019, the Government of Canada committed to establish a federal Canada Water Agency to work with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, and other stakeholders in order to find the best ways to keep Canada’s water safe, clean, and well-managed.
As part of the Government of Canada’s commitment to protecting freshwater, Budget 2022 provided $88.1 million over 5 years in new funding for Environment and Climate Change Canada. This included $43.5 million over five years, starting in 2022-23, to create a new Canada Water Agency.
The Government of Canada remains committed to establishing a federal Canada Water Agency. At the present time, some decisions still need to be made and details finalized in order to launch the Agency, which will help further strengthen federal leadership on fresh water and ensure that Canada’s water is safe, protected, and well-managed.
No decision has been made yet regarding the structure and precise mandate of the Canada Water Agency. Once established, the headquarters of the new Agency will be located outside of the National Capital Region.
Q2. What is the Freshwater Action Plan and will the Canada Water Agency be responsible for delivering it?
The 2021 Speech from the Throne, Ministerial mandate letters, and Budget 2022 outline the Government of Canada’s commitment to creating a new Canada Water Agency, as well as strengthening the Freshwater Action Plan, to enhance freshwater protection across Canada.
The Freshwater Action Plan is the flagship program of Environment and Climate Change Canada to advance restoration and protection of freshwater resources.
Budget 2022 provided $19.6 million in 2022-23 to Environment and Climate Change Canada to sustain the Freshwater Action Plan. The future of this initiative will be communicated at a later date. This funding is supporting clean-up efforts in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, Lake Winnipeg, Lake of the Woods, the Fraser River, the Saint John River, the Mackenzie River, and Lake Simcoe.
No decision has been made yet regarding the structure and precise mandate of the Canada Water Agency.
Q3. How will the Canada Water Agency work with provinces and territories, Indigenous peoples and stakeholders?
Freshwater management in a country as vast as Canada is complex. Challenges vary by region and addressing them can involve multiple jurisdictions.
The Canada Water Agency is a unique opportunity for the Government of Canada to work with provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists and other stakeholders to strengthen collaboration and find the best ways to keep Canada’s water safe, clean, and well-managed.
The Canada Water Agency will respect the jurisdictions of other governments and not duplicate existing efforts.
Recognizing the significance of fresh water to Indigenous peoples and the Government of Canada’s commitment to reconciliation, the federal government is engaging First Nations, Métis, and Inuit directly on the development of the Canada Water Agency. The Canada Water Agency is an opportunity for constructive dialogue between the federal government and Indigenous peoples on freshwater issues.
The Government of Canada will continue to engage with partners as the Agency becomes fully operational.
Q4. How will the Canada Water Agency work to modernize the Canada Water Act?
Following the establishment of a Canada Water Agency, the Government of Canada has committed to advance the modernization of the Canada Water Act to reflect Canada’s freshwater reality, including climate change and Indigenous rights.
Q5. Will the Canada Water Agency be responsible for addressing drinking water on Reserve?
The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that First Nations have access to safe, clean drinking water.
The creation of the Canada Water Agency is distinct from initiatives related to safe drinking water led by Indigenous Services Canada. Environment and Climate Change Canada is working closely with Indigenous Services Canada to identify where the Agency could support their important work on clean drinking water.
Lake Winnipeg
Q1. What is the Government of Canada doing to protect and restore Lake Winnipeg?
Protecting and conserving Canada’s freshwater resources is a key priority for the Government of Canada.
Canadians value fresh water and want to be actively engaged in protecting and managing this vital resource. Canadians are also concerned about the increasing frequency and magnitude of freshwater challenges due to the climate crisis.
Our government is committed to implementing a strengthened Freshwater Action Plan, including investments that further protect and restore large lakes and river systems.
In 2017, we invested $25.7M over five years in the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program, and Budget 2022 provided $19.6 million in 2022-23 to sustain the Freshwater Action Plan, including freshwater efforts in the Lake Winnipeg Basin, and other large lakes and river systems.
Investments in Lake Winnipeg advance science, implement nutrient reducing actions, and strengthen collaboration and engaging Indigenous partners on freshwater issues.
As well, the Canada-Manitoba Memorandum of Understanding Respecting Lake Winnipeg and the Lake Winnipeg Basin (2021-26) signed in August 2021, continues to facilitate a collaborative and coordinated approach.
Our focus on Indigenous engagement has supported Indigenous-led initiatives such as water quality monitoring and knowledge gathering, and fostered new partnerships in support of collaborative actions to improve the health of Lake Winnipeg.
Great Lakes
Q1. What is the Government of Canada doing to protect and restore the Great Lakes?
Protecting and conserving Canada’s freshwater resources is a key priority for the Government of Canada.
Our government is committed to implementing a strengthened Freshwater Action Plan, including investments that further protect and restore large lakes and river systems.
Canadians value freshwater and want to be actively engaged in protecting and managing this vital resource. Canadians are also concerned about the increasing frequency and magnitude of freshwater challenges due to the climate crisis.
In 2017, we invested $45 million over five years in the Great Lakes Protection Initiative and, Budget 2022 provided $19.6 million for 2022-23 to sustain efforts under the Freshwater Action Plan, including clean-up efforts in the Great Lakes and other large lakes and river systems.
With respect to the Great Lakes — they are ecologically rich, an important economic driver for the nation, and the source of drinking water for tens of millions.
As such, we are committed to continuing to work with others to restore and protect them through both the Canada–U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the Canada–Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health.
Details on how we are protecting the Great Lakes include:
investing in science and action to address priority challenges including reducing phosphorus pollution to Lake Erie, restoring contaminated and degraded Great Lakes Areas of Concern, improving the health of coastal areas such as wetlands and nearshore waters, and reducing harmful chemicals in the environment;
tackling degraded areas, cleaning up and officially delisting three Canadian Great Lakes Areas of Concern, and completing remedial actions in a further two. We have also finished cleaning up contaminated sediment in Randle Reef in Hamilton Harbor, which is the largest and most severely contaminated sediment site in Canada;
through national chemicals management programs, we have achieved dramatic reductions in many toxic chemicals that are harmful to fish and wildlife. Some have been reduced by more than 90%. Bald Eagles, lake trout and other threatened native species have returned to the Lakes thanks to reductions in pollution and focused species and habitat rehabilitation.
Looking forward, working collaboratively with Ontario, we have committed to, completing all actions required to restore water quality and aquatic ecosystem health in six additional Canadian Areas of Concern by 2026 and significantly reducing in nutrient pollution to Lake Erie.
Wastewater
Q1. What is the federal government doing to control the amount of industrial wastewater in Canadian waters?
The pollution prevention provisions in the Fisheries Act are some of the federal government’s strongest tools for reducing pollution to water.
The Fisheries Act prohibits the deposit of deleterious substances to water frequented by fish unless there are regulations that put in place controls on those releases.
The federal government manages these responsibilities both by developing regulations that set mandatory national effluent quality standards for any releases to water and by applying this prohibition where there are no regulations.
The federal government has put in place regulations for several sectors including metal and diamond mining as well as the pulp and paper sectors. Effluent regulations are also being developed for both the coal mining and oil sands mining sectors.
Q2. What is the federal government doing to address the amount of untreated or undertreated wastewater effluent released in the environment?
Approximately eighty-two per cent (82%) of the volume of wastewater released in Canada is treated to a minimum level of secondary treatment.
Twenty-three per cent (23%) of wastewater systems are releasing undertreated or untreated effluent. In terms of volume, untreated wastewater (raw sewage) represents approximately four per cent (4%) of effluent released in Canada.
To address this issue the Government of Canada:
Has put in place the Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations, with effluent quality standards which came into effect in 2015. The standards are achievable through secondary treatment. This level of treatment allows the removal of up to 95% of conventional pollutants and up to 90% of other contaminants.
Has made significant investments in infrastructure. Since 2015, the Government of Canada has contributed $2.8 billion to more than 2,000 wastewater projects. This includes $2.3 billion from new investment programs (Investing in Canada Plan, Clean Water and Wastewater Fund).
Some communities needed to conduct major construction or upgrades to their existing infrastructure to meet these limits. These major infrastructure projects take significant time to plan, finance, and build. Given this the Regulations allowed for extensions beyond 2015 (transitional authorization) to comply with the limits.
Communities had until June 2014 to apply for this extension, which could be issued for the end of 2020, 2030, or 2040. These timelines considered effluent quality and quantity and the receiving environment. Higher risk systems were given a shorter period of time to comply.
More than one hundred mostly smaller, lower risk communities did not apply for transitional authorizations even though they would likely have been eligible.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations so that these communities have another opportunity to apply. The proposed changes to the Regulations will not lower requirements; they simply provide another opportunity for wastewater system owners to receive a transitional authorization for the same extended timeline as originally intended in the Regulations.
Communities also need to maintain, repair and upgrade their sewer systems, which can also sometimes result in unavoidable releases of undertreated wastewater from overflow points. The regulations currently do not address this issue.
Environment and Climate Change Canada is proposing to amend the Regulations to establish a risk-based approach for all planned releases, taking into account environmental protection goals to reduce volume, frequency, and duration in order to minimize any potential impacts of releases.
A 90 day public consultation period on the above noted amendments was completed on March 5, 2022. Comments and feedback received were considered in development of the regulatory proposal. We are working towards a Canada Gazette I publication in spring 2023.
