Review of the CanadaUS Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

1
Review of the Canada-US Great Lakes Water Quality
Agreement
2
What is the GLWQA?

• The GLWQA commits Canada and the United States to
  restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and
  biological integrity of the waters of the Great
  Lakes Basin Ecosystem.
• Or, simply defined as the interacting components
  of air, land, water and living organisms,
  including humans within the drainage basin of the
  St. Lawrence River
• The Agreement provides a shared set of objectives
  for Canada and the US on Great Lakes issues and
  has been beneficial to Canada by providing the
  basis for continuing, systematic and cooperative
  action to address Great Lakes environmental
  issues.
• Environment Canada (EC) leads the delivery of the
  GLWQA for the Government of Canada. The US
  Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) leads
  for the United States.

3
The GLWQA is currently subject to a mandatory
comprehensive review

• The Agreement was first signed in 1972. A new
  GLWQA was signed in 1978 and was last revised in
  1987 by Protocol.
• Article X of the GLWQA requires that Canada and
  the US conduct a comprehensive review of the
  operation and the effectiveness of the Agreement
  every six years.
• The current mandatory review was triggered on
  September 13, 2004, by the release of the
  International Joint Commissions (IJC) 12th
  Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality.
• In the 1992 and 1998 reviews, Canada and the US
  conducted only limited reviews, choosing instead
  to focus their efforts on implementing the
  Agreement.
• Stakeholders including the IJC, Great Lakes
  United, and the Canadian Environmental Law
  Association are publicly supporting a
  comprehensive review of the GLWQA.
• Formal launch of the review will be announced in
  Spring this year.

4
Progress on the review to date

• The binational Agreement Review Scoping
  Committee developed a final proposed GLWQA review
  process, which has received approval from the
  Binational Executive Committee (BEC), EC and the
  US EPA.
• The Governments undertook a 60-day Public
  Consultation on the proposed process in 2005.
• The Governments provided a reference to the IJC
  to hold public education meetings in 14 Great
  Lakes and St. Lawrence cities and to provide a
  report back to Governments by the end of January
  2006.
• BEC will be creating an Agreement Review
  Committee to lead and coordinate the review
  process, and to establish various Review Working
  Groups to conduct the review.

5
Scope of the review

• In keeping with Article X of the GLWQA to conduct
  a comprehensive review of the operation and
  effectiveness of the Agreement, the Governments
  review will examine
• All aspects of the prescribed processes and
  activities (operations) and achievement of
  prescribed goals or objectives (effectiveness)
  contained in the Agreement (Articles, Annexes and
  Terms of Reference)
• An impartial review of the role of the IJC, its
  institutional arrangements, the Great Lakes
  Regional Office and the Binational Executive
  Committee, as defined under the Agreement and
• Demonstrated linkages with other agreements and
  institutions relating to the Great Lakes, to the
  extent that they may affect the operation and
  effectiveness of the GLWQA.

6
Summary of the GLWQA Agreement Review Process
U.S. State Department Foreign Affairs
Canada Will consider the findings and
recommendations of the Parties and BEC and
determine next steps.
Environment Canada Approves Final Agreement
Review Report on behalf of its respective Party
and forwards it with recommendations to Foreign
Affairs Canada for determination of next steps.
Environmental Protection Agency Approves Final
Agreement Review Report on behalf of its
respective Party and forwards with
recommendations to the U.S. State Department for
determination of next steps.
Binational Executive Committee (BEC) BEC reviews
and approves Final Agreement Review Report and
will make a formal recommendation to the Parties
(represented by EC and EPA) on what, if any,
actions should occur as a result of the review.
Agreement Review Committee (ARC) Responsible for
leading coordinating the review process,
reporting quarterly to BEC, and preparing the
Final Agreement Review Report for BECs
consideration.
REVIEW WORKING GROUPS
Article Review Charged with reviewing the
articles of the Agreement. Including an
impartial review of IJC and BEC provisions in the
Agreement.
Special Issues For any special issues which are
considered broad and which may not be adequately
addressed by other groups.
Annex Issues For individual Annexes or for
annexes that ARC determines should be grouped.
7
Who is involved in the review?

• Agreement Review Committee
• Co-chaired by EC and the US EPA
• Membership selected from Federal, State and
  Provincial agencies/departments.
• Review Working Groups
• Canadian and U.S. co-chair selected from the BEC
  membership
• Representatives from the Canadian and US federal
  governments
• Representatives from the Canadian and US
  provincial/state governments
• Representatives from Aboriginal groups and
  Tribes
• Representatives from Canadian and US municipal
  agencies, NGOs, industry and/or academia.

8
Review consultation strategy

• Public Engagement
• The IJC completed public education meetings to
  educate and solicit public input on the upcoming
  review and will release a final report in the
  winter of 2006
• The Governments will additionally encourage
  non-governmental participation in Review Working
  Groups, and solicit public input through a
  Web-based approach
• Aboriginal and Tribal Engagement
• The Governments will consult directly with
  Aboriginal peoples and Tribes about the review of
  the GLWQA and
• Provide Aboriginal groups/Tribes the opportunity
  to participate in each of the Review Working
  Groups.

9
The Reviews Overarching Questions

• Overarching questions to be addressed in
  conducting the review are
• Is the Agreements purpose still valid, relevant
  and appropriate for an international agreement
  for the Great Lakes?
• Does the Agreement, and its implementation,
  achieve the desired effect of restoring and
  maintaining the chemical, physical, and
  biological integrity of the waters of the Great
  Lakes basin ecosystem?
• Is the Agreement, and its implementation,
  sufficient to protect and restore the lakes, or
  does it fail to address critical issues? If so
  what are they?
• In what situations does the Agreement
  successfully fulfil its current goals and where
  does it fall short? Are there common features
  that characterize successes or best practices,
  and are there areas needing improvement?
• What new approaches, if any, should be instituted
  to improve the operation and effectiveness of the
  Agreement?

10
Additional review questions

• In addition to the overarching questions, Metis
  citizens and communities may also wish to
  consider
• What are the issues in your part of the basin and
  in the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River ecosystem
  that you want to see addressed?
• Is the Agreement meeting the needs of aboriginal
  peoples within the Great Lakes basin?
• Is information relating to the Agreement and its
  review easily accessible and of good quality?
• How should Aboriginal peoples be involved in the
  review and implementation?

11
Path Forward

• Stage One Design and Scope
• Governments receive IJC report on public
  meetings End January 2006
• Review preparation November 2005 to February
  2006
• Stage Two Review and Analysis
• Review Working Groups commence review of GLWQA
  March to December 2006
• EC implements Aboriginal Engagement Strategy
  April 2006
• Analysis of review January to May 2007
• Public consultation on draft Review Findings May
  to June 2007
• Final Report and transmittal July to October
  2007
• Stage Three Implementation
• Acting on recommendations Fall 2007

12
MNO Engagement in 2007

• Two Part Plan
• Part I
• Through these initial roundtables 2006 we
  received some initial feedback from our citizens
  on how to move forward
• Part II
• Based on this feedback, the MNO will be
  developing a more thorough Dialogue Process in
  Winter 2007 in key areas within the Great Lakes
  Basin

13

• For more information, please see the following
  web-sites
• Metis Nation of Ontario www.metisnation.org
  (coming soon)
• contact Paul Heighington paulh_at_metisnation.org
  
• Environment Canada Great Lakes
• www.on.ec.gc.ca/greatlakes/
• International Joint Commission
• www.ijc.org
• Joint Programs between Canada and the United
  States 
• www.binational.net
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great
  Lakes National Program Office
• www.epa.gov/glnpo/