Mackenzie River basin board

The Mackenzie River Basin covers approximately one-sixth the area of Canada (1.8 million km²). The Mackenzie River Basin Board was created as a forum for cooperative water management within the Mackenzie River Basin. The Board was formed under the "Mackenzie River Basin Transboundary Waters Master Agreement", signed in July 1997 by the Governments of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

The Board became fully operational in December 1998 and has thirteen members. Three members represent the federal departments of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, and Parks Canada Agency. Each of the provinces and territories has two members, one government representative and one Indigenous member.

The Agreement contains four main elements:

• principles for cooperative management of the aquatic ecosystem
• an administration component to facilitate the Board's business and identify its duties
• provision for neighboring jurisdictions to negotiate bilateral water management agreements, and
• a dispute resolution mechanism

The Parties to the agreement have committed to five principles:

• maintaining the ecological integrity of the aquatic ecosystem
• managing the use of the water resources in a sustainable manner
• the right of each Party to manage the use of water resources provided such use does not unreasonably harm the ecological integrity in another jurisdiction
• providing for early and effective consultation, notification and information, and
• resolving issues cooperatively

The work of the Board is guided by a Strategic Plan and supported by technical committees. The Board published an online State of the Aquatic Ecosystem Report in 2021.  The size of the basin, interjurisdictional partnerships, participation of Indigenous members and focus on maintaining the ecological integrity of the whole basin make the Mackenzie River Basin Board unique.

For more information, please contact:

Mackenzie River Basin Board
9250 49 St. NW
Edmonton, AB
T6B 1K5
ec.cbm-mrbb.ec@ec.gc.ca