Environment Committee on June 11th, 2024

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Have you considered all that, or measures you could recommend to the federal government to address these issues?

[Daniel Wolfish]

We have a role to play in terms of contributing to the dialogue on the consequences of climate change. The Department of Environment and Climate Change has a general section mandated to conduct research, coordinate activities and carry out the government’s climate change process.

We want to be—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Ms. Collins, you have the floor.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

I met with members of the Mikisew Cree First Nation a couple of weeks ago, and they are deeply concerned about the quality of water in their communities and the effects of the tailing pond runoff. They've requested, for almost two decades now, a health study. They have abnormal rates of bile cancer—rare forms of cancer that shouldn't be occurring in these numbers. I'm curious about how your department is working to ensure that first nations and other indigenous communities have access to clean drinking water and whether there's an update on the funding for the health study they're asking for.

[Daniel Wolfish]

I don't have an update on the funding for their health study, in part because that's not an area where the Canada water agency will take leadership. What I can say is that we are working very closely with Indigenous Services Canada on the bill, which is currently before Parliament, for clean water for first nations. We were a junior partner with them, working with the AFN, in the co-development of that bill. We support them in the dialogues they have with Treaties 6, 7 and 8 in Alberta, where, I believe, the Mikisew Cree First Nation participates in those processes. We support Minister Hajdu in the work she's doing, recognizing the important leadership role that she plays. We continue to have a relationship and work with Health Canada in the work they do on water quality and health.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thanks.

What steps is your department taking to address the concerns we've heard at this committee around PFAS, especially on our drinking water, but also on contamination in lakes and rivers across Canada?

[Daniel Wolfish]

Caroline, do you want to take that one?

[Caroline Blais, Director, Forest Products and Fisheries Act, Department of the Environment]

Sure. Thank you for the question.

Environment Canada has various tools to control pollution, including regulatory controls. Right now, we continue to work with Health Canada to assess the chemicals. What I can say today is that there should be additional reports released in the coming months.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Mr. Kram.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for joining us today.

Last week, the committee heard from witnesses from the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. They talked in considerable detail about a major irrigation project in Saskatchewan, with water coming from Lake Diefenbaker.

Mr. Wolfish, you've talked in this meeting about funding initiatives from the Canada water agency and joint funding for projects with the provinces. You said that a call for proposals went out for projects in the Great Lakes, the Lake of the Woods, Lake Simcoe and Lake Winnipeg.

Is the Lake Diefenbaker project also one of the projects that you're looking at?

[Daniel Wolfish]

Lake Diefenbaker is not part of these particular freshwater ecosystem initiatives, although we are concerned about the basin for Lake Winnipeg.

We recently had conversations with our Saskatchewan colleagues. They've raised some of these issues. I'm aware that they're also interested in investments in water management infrastructure for farmers and other agricultural needs.

Some of these questions are important for us to coordinate and learn more about, and then for us to be able to work with them in connecting with housing, infrastructure and communities on the roles they could be playing in supporting some of these initiatives, if possible.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

What are the criteria for some of the joint funding for projects?

The Lake Diefenbaker project was very clearly the number one ask from the Government of Saskatchewan. How can we work that ask into the criteria for these joint funds?

[Daniel Wolfish]

I'm happy to share the criteria with this committee. We can come back and show you the criteria we are using in the various ecosystem initiatives.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Can you share them with us now, or do you have to...?

[Daniel Wolfish]

There are a few pieces. Some of them around eligibility are technical in nature. We have criteria around the priorities we set for each of the freshwater ecosystems in the Lake Winnipeg area. The concerns are often around nutrient loading, indigenous partnerships, value for money and these sorts of pieces.

Those types of criteria are used to evaluate project proposals that come in from our partners. Those that meet those criteria may or may not get funding.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Okay.

On the calls for proposals that have already gone out, have there been any calls to the Government of Saskatchewan or any other stakeholders in Saskatchewan?

[Daniel Wolfish]

They tend to go out to our partners. We work in collaboration with the provinces. That's in the Lake Winnipeg area and, largely, with Manitoba. Our calls will go out with information to the provinces. We fund the partners directly, not the province, in most cases.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Okay.

When you say “our partners”, to whom are you referring?

[Daniel Wolfish]

They could be a variety of different organizations. They could be not-for-profit organizations working the landscape. They could be organizations like ALUS, which does work with farmers. They could be first nations or Métis communities. They could be municipalities. They could be conservation authorities.

A variety of partners may be working in those freshwater ecosystems.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

If somebody wanted to apply for one of these projects tomorrow, is there an application form on the website? How does one go about going through the application process?

[Daniel Wolfish]

It depends on when we launch the call and when the closing dates are. We have information that goes on the website. We send our information to our network of partners through the FEIs. They often call with questions. We work through those questions with them.

There's an end date for proposals. We then go through a period of eligibility review, technical review and a challenge function, and then we make our recommendations.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

If I understood correctly, the applicants have to wait for the Canada water agency to contact them.

[Daniel Wolfish]

They are welcome to contact us for more information. We're happy to give people information on the opportunities that are available.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Okay.

Another concern the witnesses expressed was on the duplication of services that the provinces are already doing. How will the Canada water agency be conscientious in not overlapping or duplicating work that provinces are already doing?

[Daniel Wolfish]

I guess it depends on the issue and the province.

Our goal is to work with the provinces in identifying the priorities that we should be having to work on. If it's a policy area or a coordination effort, there may be a variation across the country. We'll want to hear from the provinces around their issues and their priorities. We've had a number of bilateral conversations across the country to date. We're continuing to do so. We also leverage a multilateral forum to exchange information.

In the programming work we do, we use mechanisms under the Canada Water Act, such as the MOU with Manitoba, the agreement with Quebec and the Canada-Ontario agreement, to identify shared priorities and then divide up the work.