Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, I think we really have to be considerate of the impacts that waters, waterways and watersheds have, even though communities may be quite far away from projects, dams or anything of that nature that holds back water or reduces water.
I live in a community called Fort Providence. It's an indigenous community. It's the first community on the Mackenzie River. Two days ago, the Mackenzie River dropped so low that we can no longer pump water into our water plant. It's the first time in our history that we've had water levels drop so low. Our water levels have been dropping since they started holding back water at Site C. Whether that's the actual cause, I can't say for sure, but the timing is certainly coincidental.
When Site C was being built, we did not have one word of input on that project—not one. We were considered not connected. We're too far away. It didn't matter if it was indigenous voices trying to provide impact or the Government of Northwest Territories: We had no say.
Now our barges can't come up and down the river and water intakes are being affected, so I think we need to be able to make sure that projects that are on one side of the country don't affect something that's further downstream. We have to look at whole watersheds. We have to look at the whole flow of river systems when we talk about impacts and when we start talking about projects and their effects on others.
Thank you.