Thank you.
My first thing could be controversial. The collective conscious knowledge that my community has and my nation has is getting out of date. We're not adapting to these changing extreme weather events. What's important, though, is that you bring to the table 8,000 years of knowing, as a reference, and you complement it with the weather stations, but we've also started gauging. We have water-gauging stations on all seven of the creeks here, because water is necessary for ecosystem health, drinking, irrigation, fire protection, energy production and, most importantly, sharing.
From a water perspective, the issue that's facing my region—and potentially Canada—isn't water quantity. It's water storage with timed release for those six purposes, so I think it's integral that we understand where water is going to be running out. During June 2021, groundwater wells were also depleted. It wasn't just surface streams. It was groundwater as well. It's very important that water, as one of the foundations of life, be truly invested in.