Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to speak today to Motion No. 519 on the issue of water quality management in Lake of the Woods.
As a member of the Boreal West round table in the 1990s myself, I spearheaded land use planning protection for Lake of the Woods and its wilderness values. It is a very special and spectacular lake.
It is Canada's sixth largest lake on the border between Canada and the U.S. About two-thirds of the lake is in Ontario, one-third is in Minnesota and just a bit of it is in Manitoba.
Lake of the Woods plays a vital role for sport fishing, tourism, culture and the economy of northwestern Ontario, just like Lake Nipigon in Thunder Bay—Superior North. They are very similar lakes. It is also an important headwater for Lake Winnipeg.
While water quantity in the Lake of the Woods is largely governed by a Canadian board, which is the Lake of the Woods Water Control Board, and sometimes the International Lake of the Woods Water Control Board if levels are too high or too low, this motion is about the lake's water quality for which there has been relatively little governance compared to other transboundary waters between Canada and the U.S.
Currently, Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources samples the lake annually and Ontario's Ministry of the Environment has also been involved in water quality monitoring and enforcement, but there has been a growing concern over contaminants over the years with nutrient loading and erosion introducing phosphorous into the lake, especially on the southern shore, creating eutrophication. The state of Minnesota recently designated the lake as “impaired water”.
A June 2009 report released by the IJC examined links between human health and water-related issues in the Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River basins. The report noted that Environment Canada had identified 15 ongoing threats related to source water and aquatic ecosystem health, including the following: nutrient loadings; industrial wastewater discharges; municipal wastewater effluents; algal toxins and taste and odour problems; pesticides; agricultural and forestry land use impacts; natural sources of trace element contaminants; impacts of dams, diversions and climate change; and acidification.
With many of these water quality issues to deal with, there have been some moves toward tackling the issues in Lake of the Woods. A multi-agency working arrangement was established in 2009 to co-ordinate and collaborate on water quality issues in the Lake of the Woods watershed. The focus is on factors influencing algal blooms, nutrient loadings, shoreline erosion and the science behind the Lake of the Woods water sustainability plan.
Members of the working group include: Manitoba Water Stewardship, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment Canada, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.
In any discussion of Lake of the Woods, the work of an IJC board formed in 1966 called the International Rainy River Water Pollution Board must be mentioned. This board reports to the IJC on progress to address pollution in the Rainy River, which is the main source of water flowing into the lake. The Rainy River is very important to this whole equation because an estimated 560 tonnes of phosphates flow into the Lake of the Woods every year via the Rainy River, stimulating eutrophication and algal blooms.
There has been some groundwork and activity around this issue in recent years leading up to where we are now. The Ontario government as well as the governments of Manitoba and Minnesota all agree that a binational body should oversee actions to protect the watershed through the IJC. This consensus did not happen overnight. Residents and cottagers around Lake of the Woods have been suspecting increasing levels of contaminants for many years. They started to see much more eutrophication, including, for example, more blue-green algal blooms caused by phosphates.
The Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association started looking into this early in this decade. Soon a non-profit organization was formed, the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation, to explore the issue of water quality. It started looking into the science of the lakes, deteriorating water quality, doing more regular water sampling, and working on nutrient budgets for the lake. It consulted local stakeholders like the Lake of the Woods communities, first nations, businesses and others. They began to see that there is a significant issue with water quality on Lake of the Woods. The science was showing it and so the question soon turned to matters of governance. What should be done? Who should oversee this?
The consensus that the foundation and others helped to achieve was the following: that the International Joint Commission, which is very well respected for the work it does with the Great Lakes and other transboundary waters, should look into options, including whether it should play a role in Lake of the Woods water quality governance. All the city councils and towns around Lake of the Woods passed resolutions in support of referring the matter to the IJC.
We have residents and local stakeholders calling for a reference to the IJC for many, many years, with municipal, provincial and state governments echoing that call. It is an incredible consensus that has taken many years of hard work to get to this stage. It is rare that so many groups and interests are all pulling in the same direction on an international issue. The parties involved all deserve to be congratulated for this, especially residents and Lake of the Woods Sustainability Foundation. Without their work for the better part of a decade we would not be in this good position now. This is a real example of how to do it right.
Over the last year or two, because of the groundwork that was done by volunteers over the past many years, our Department of Foreign Affairs and the U.S. State Department have been working on a written IJC reference for Lake of the Woods water quality. These things are taking time to get agreement on the wording, but they are at this moment at the very final stages of crossing the t's and dotting the i's on the reference. It is likely to be presented within days or weeks.
I know that some people might say that this imminent referral makes this motion we are discussing today a bit of a moot point and perhaps last minute window dressing, but I tend to look at it as a welcome show of support. As I have mentioned, the provinces are on board. Ontario has shown a willingness to expand the mandate of the existing IJC board that deals with water quality in the Rainy River and the International Rainy River Water Pollution Board as one possible solution.
I do not want to presuppose what the IJC may decide on that reference, whether it will recommend that it agrees to take over governance of water quality in the lake and if yes, whether that might be under an existing board or by striking a new one. But either way, or with a different outcome, it is entirely possible that referring the issue of the lake's water quality to the IJC could improve the long-term environmental health and sustainability of Lake of the Woods.
This is especially true under the new Canadian IJC chair Joe Comuzzi, who held my seat for the 20 years before me. I know that Mr. Comuzzi will work hard to protect all of our border waters. Given the transboundary nature of the lake and the rapid migration of pollutants in Lake of the Woods, the federal government does have a role to play in ensuring the long-term health and sustainability of these waters.
Although there could be minor implications changing from a situation where Canada largely has de facto control already over Lake of the Woods waters now, to one of more of a sharing responsibility through the IJC if it assumes more of a governance role, it is certainly something worth looking at carefully. But if the governance of the lake is ultimately taken on by the IJC, we must ensure that it is given the appropriate support and resources to do the job.
Lake of the Woods is a very special lake. It deserves our best management, our best attention, and our best efforts.