Environment committee  Great. Thank you so much for that question. I think it's an important one. We don't really have time for the luxury of silos anymore. I think we need to meet communities and groups on the work that's being done, where it's being done, and then augment and work off it. We've already been doing that with some of the data hubs that you hear being spoken about, like DataStream and the Columbia Basin Water Hub.

Environment committee  Okay. That's too bad. I would like to speak to that, just because in the Columbia basin we are moving to semi-arid conditions. We've been working for the last seven years to collect and fill water data gaps to allow for a water budget to be built so that our community decision-makers can have the opportunity for climate adaptation options.

Environment committee  Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Kat Hartwig. I'm the executive director and co-founder of Living Lakes Canada. I've worked in the NGO environmental sector for 33 years, with the last 20 focused on freshwater stewardship. I live in Brisco, B.C., which is the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa and Secwepemc nations.

Science and Research committee  Who is the question directed to?

Science and Research committee  I'll start if you don't mind. I will say that, yes, we need support from the government. I think that Canada is a laggard in that department. We fund projects for specific species at risk and things like that, but what we don't do is make normal community-based water monitoring or citizen science.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Cannings, and thank you for helping to organize this session. I think it's very important. Collaborations are everything. We are in an era of a climate crisis. We can't be working in our silos. We must reach across and do multisector collaborations.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for the question. I'm not sure I completely understood. I'm going to reiterate it, and you can tell me if I'm correct or not. It sounded to me as though you're asking how we can dispel myths and provide more truth around citizen science, or around science in general.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for reiterating the question. I'm going to give the question over to my colleague Raegan Mallinson, but first I want to say that citizen science has access to sectors that the government may not normally have access to. Through social media, we are able to access young people, make science interesting and sexy, and make people want to participate.

Science and Research committee  Thanks for the question. It's pretty loaded. Our area of expertise is to empower citizens to do water monitoring and to do community-based water monitoring, driven by and for the community, when they have questions and concerns about water, water security and in particular water that supplies water for food security.

Science and Research committee  Good morning. My name is Kat Hartwig. I'm the executive director and co-founder of Living Lakes Canada. I've worked in the NGO environmental sector for 33 years, focusing the last two decades on citizen-science water stewardship and community-based water monitoring. I am honoured to be speaking to you today from Brisco, B.C., the traditional territory of the Ktunaxa and Secwepemc nations.