NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Sixty percent of Canada's fresh water flows north to the Arctic Ocean, so Canadians might be forgiven for thinking that the North has no urgent freshwater issues.

James Stauch is Vice President of Programs at the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation and has spent his career working toward stronger citizen voice in public dialogue

The reality, however, is that Canada's largest river - the Mackenzie - is now facing several threats to its natural state which could have long-term effects in the North if swift action is not taken.

The Mackenzie River Basin is to Canada what the Amazon is to Brazil, a global treasure as one of the world's most ecologically significant watersheds. The basin's importance is well understood among Northerners, many of whom refer to the Mackenzie by its Dene name Deh Cho, or "Big River." But it is not well understood among Canadians at large, despite extending into three provinces and three territories, fully one fifth of our great country.

The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation, which has invested over $17 million in community initiatives the North over the past 25 years, has just published a report entitled Canada's Great Basin: Presumed Abundance and Revealed Neglect. The report aims to deepen Canadians' awareness of the challenges facing the Mackenzie River Basin, spur discussion on the way forward, and incite collective action toward securing its future.

The report identifies many ways in which the Mackenzie has become increasingly vulnerable to man-made influences. The most significant of these include the effects of the Alberta oil sands on downstream water quality and quantity, and the "Site C" dam proposed in northeast British Columbia. Recent studies from world-renowned scientist David Schindler reveal increasing water contamination downstream from the oil sands through airborne and water pathways. There is mineral exploration throughout the Basin, such as in the Peel Watershed, and gas development in the Delta. Despite major advances in policy and jurisdictional cooperation‹resulting largely from land claim agreements‹the report insists there is still a lot of work to be done.

The NWT has a rather unique challenge in respect to the Mackenzie: Most of the water that flows through the Yukon, BC and Alberta originates from within in their own jurisdictions. They have primary responsibility for how water quality is maintained. But in the NWT, most of the water comes from elsewhere, including the Liard watershed in BC and the Yukon, the Peel in the Yukon, and the Slave in Alberta. The territory is left only to hope that the actions of those beyond its borders will not ultimately impact negatively on the land and the people within them.

To be sure, the NWT is doing its part: Water policy experts in the rest of Canada look with envy on the NWT's Water Stewardship Strategy, Northern Voices, Northern Waters, released in 2010 with a follow-up Plan for Action 2011-2015 released this year. This strategy seeks to protect aquatic ecosystems, ensure safe and reliable sources of water for the residents of the NWT, and sustain traditional ways of life in the North.

Benefiting from three years of broad consultation in many communities and with a full spectrum of stakeholders, the Strategy establishes specific action items and clear timetables. The respected Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), recently noted that the NWT's strategy raises the bar on water policy in Canada: "Northern Voices, Northern Waters demonstrates that it is possible to undertake fundamental water policy reform at the provincial or territorial level that incorporates ambitious principles of good water managementŠ Governments do not have to be limited to playing around at the edges of reform; they are capable of making real change happen."

Included in the Canada's Great Basin report's recommendations is a call for the federal government to support the implementation of the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy. It also urges that all parties should work to strengthen Aboriginal rights and institutions in order for implementation to work well. Devolution negotiations must breach the current impasse, and a world-class water monitoring program must be put in place throughout the basin.

Paramount among these recommendations is the plea for all jurisdictions in the basin to commit to fair, equitable and binding trans-boundary agreements on water use in the region. This includes Alberta, which itself must reform and strengthen water monitoring and stewardship, and BC, which must make a painful decision on a proposed mega-dam that faces fierce opposition from local First Nations.

The NWT has set the standard with Northern Voices, Northern Waters, yet northerners have so little say in what gets put into their water system. It is time that northern voices are heard on the national stage in decisions that affect their vital basin. Canada's great basin.

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