Toward the Creation of a Canada Water Agency

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Executive summary

Bighorn Country, Alberta Eastern Slopes 
Photo by Aerin Jacob

The Prime Minister has directed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, with the support of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Minister of Natural Resources and the Special Representative for the Prairies to create a new Canada Water Agency (CWA) to work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.

The Prime Minister also directed the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada to “develop further protections and take active steps to clean up the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Simcoe and other large lakes.”

These two commitments are being addressed in an integrated manner. To support this effort, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) released a public discussion paper in December 2020: “Toward the Creation of a Canada Water Agency”.

The paper acknowledges that freshwater management is a shared responsibility between Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments. In creating the CWA, the Government of Canada has committed to ensuring that each jurisdiction is respected, and that overlap, and duplication is avoided.

ECCC invited Canadians to provide their thoughts and ideas via participation in national and regional forums, an online survey or written submissions.

Input was received from individuals, municipal government representatives, non-government organizations, industry representatives, academia and Indigenous peoples.

Read the full report here.

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