Our fourth theme that's provided in the brief is transboundary water management. Yukon shares borders with Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alaska. There are a variety of arrangements in the Yukon and neighbouring jurisdictions that support transboundary stewardship at the watershed scale. However, our largest watershed, which is the Yukon River watershed, has no formal transboundary water management arrangement.
Recommendations five and six in our brief are for the Government of Canada to support multi-stakeholder and rights holder watershed discussions for the Yukon River and to consider the establishment of an international joint commission board or similar arrangement to support coordinated stewardship of the Yukon River.
We are actively involved in water management agreements in the Mackenzie River basin, which is a priority watershed in the federal freshwater action plan. Recommendation 12 in our brief is that federal funding should be made available as soon as possible for freshwater projects in the Mackenzie River basin.
Theme number five in our brief is understanding and aligning Government of Yukon and indigenous treaty rights. First nations are a key partner in governance in the Yukon and are taking leadership in water stewardship and monitoring in the territory. Indigenous knowledge systems are valid and powerful ways of knowing the world and knowing water, yet most agencies were founded in a time when this knowledge was not recognized as it is now. Recommendation seven in our brief is that the review of the Canada Water Act needs to be aligned with modern treaties in the Yukon. Federal legislation needs to make space for the recognition of indigenous-led water strategies and the role of indigenous land guardians in contributing to water data monitoring networks.
The sixth theme is climate change adaptation and flood risk information. I began our remarks by emphasizing the impacts of recent flooding in the Yukon. To ensure resilience to flood risk in our changing climate, we need to ensure that our forecasts are supported by sufficient monitoring data and that resources are available to ensure that flood hazard maps are generated reliably and used to support resilient communities.
Recommendation nine in our brief is to ensure that work towards a national strategy on flood and drought is informed by the realities of a northern and small jurisdiction and understands the importance of supporting network expansion to meet data requirements for forecasting.
Finally, recommendation 10 in our brief is to continue to advance the delivery of the flood hazard and identification mapping program and consider additional work to develop resources to support jurisdictions in the flood resilience work necessary upon completion of flood hazard maps.
Thank you.