Plans to create a water institute in B.C. were presented to the Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in 2014 according to a briefing note obtained through a Freedom of Information Request, but the proposal was later abandoned because the province felt that a new piece of legislation would produce similar results.
According to the briefing note, discussions surrounding the creation of a provincial water institute came forward after a dam breach occurred near Williams Lake, B.C. on Aug. 4, 2014, allowing 4.5 million cubic metres of slurry and other waste products into Polley Lake.
The spill created significant environmental damage to the area and polluted the drinking water used by the Williams Lake and Soda Creek First Nations. As a result of the Mount Polley dam breach, the briefing note revealed that many First Nations communities in the area had lost faith in the government’s ability to maintain sufficient water quality levels.
According to the briefing note, the proposed water institute would directly involve First Nations groups in research and water monitoring processes, and would allow indigenous groups to have a say in how their water supplies are controlled.
According to Lisa Leslie – the communication director for the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation in B.C., the Ministry was involved in discussions surrounding the proposed water institute. However, the government decided to not follow through with the institute because they were in the process of finalizing the Water Sustainability Act – legislation which Leslie said promotes very similar goals.
Initially implemented in 2014 and then revised in 2016, the Water Sustainability Act is an overarching piece of legislation that deals with a variety of water-based issues such as licensing, groundwater protection and sustainability.
For some groups such as the Council of Canadians, the Water Sustainability Act does bring improvements to water management in B.C. such as new legislation which would regulate groundwater, but it fails to fully recognize indigenous title rights according to a report released by the group on Feb. 10, 2016.
Section 5 of the Water Sustainability Act for example, states that the Crown has ownership over B.C. water but makes no reference to bodies of water owned by First Nations groups. According to the report, without proper recognition of indigenous title land claims, the province is unable to fulfill its duties to First Nations communities.
To remedy this, the Council of Canadians wants the B.C. government to have a proper consultation with First Nations representatives in order to include sections in the Water Sustainability Act which specifically include and refer to indigenous water claims.
According to Leslie, the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation has had “extensive consultation” with First Nations groups in order to finalize the Water Sustainability Act. Leslie said the B.C. government made an open call for feedback on water management from a variety of academic and indigenous groups, and has tried to make the process transparent by posting the recommendation letters on their website.
Leslie notes that the government was very responsive to the Mount Polley disaster, and has worked to reduce the environmental implications of the slurry spillage as much as possible.
As mentioned in the briefing note, changes to B.C.’s current water management system can be difficult and time consuming because the jurisdiciton of water falls under a variety of ministries. Although the creation of a water institute could bring forward positive change for First Nations communities, the government would need approval from all ministries involved with water before they could implement this new initiative.
In the concluding section of the briefing note, the Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation notes that a water institute is a :potential approach to address First Nations’ and the general population’s concerns” in terms of water quality and management, but believes that other ministries involved in water ” may take the approach that timely implementation and resourcing of the [Water Sustainability Act] will demonstrate the government ongoing commitment to water management.”
Full Briefing Note:
Access to Information Requests:
Federal Government ATIP Request
– Still waiting for Health Canada to respond to my request.
– Spoke to an ATIPP representative on the phone on two occasions: the first time to clarify what my request was, and the second time to widen the scope of my request in order to access information that was highly relevant to the information I was trying to obtain.
– Still waiting on the City of Ottawa to respond to my request.
Newfoundland Previous ATIP Request
– Received a copy of the previously-released ATIP on March 2, 2016.