Canada gets serious about water woes. Will Indigenous voices be heard?

Monday, August 16, 2021

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Even resource-rich Canada faces threats to its water. The dawn of a new water agency has put a new focus on the role that Indigenous people can play in solutions.

The aim of a new Canada Water Agency, which is expected to be running by 2022, is to modernize water policy amid pressures from climate change. But proponents say it is also an opportunity to put Indigenous communities at the heart of governance – restoring agency and fairness in water policy while also making smarter policy. 

“For Canada, our multigenerational challenge is understanding the new relationship that we’re trying to create with our Indigenous people,” says Water Institute member Rob de Loë, an expert on water and global environmental governance at the University of Waterloo. “There’s no discussion of the future of water in Canada without really clarifying that relationship.”

Read the full article from The Christian Science Monitor here.