As British Columbian families evacuate their homes amidst out of control wildfires, news of toxic algae blooms in Canadian lakes and oceans spread. Both coming shortly on the heels of spring rains which caused floods in communities across the country. There’s no doubt that climate change is starting to bite, and it’s using water as its […]
Are Canadian cities ready for a changing climate? Read More »
On June 13th we hosted WWF-Canada as they launched the first comprehensive report on the health of Canada’s freshwater ecosystems. 5-years in the making, this assessment reviews Canada’s 25 major watersheds and 167 sub-watersheds for detailed data that together paints an important picture on the health of waters. The full webinar can now be viewed
How healthy are Canada’s waters? Read More »
It may seem cliché but no saying is more true than “Water is Life”. Water unites us. It connects our communities. It fuels our economies. Unfortunately, we continue to take water for granted. Its connecting force, its fuel, its life force exists in each of our subconscious. We know its value but we don’t always
Building communities connected to water Read More »
We seem to collectively know that ‘water is life.’ But most of us do not take action to protect or defend it. That is likely because we do not feel as though our waters are at risk and where they are at risk, we generally have a poor understanding of the threats to health. Lake
The binary of economy and environment Read More »
People inherently believe that communities impacted by unhealthy waters (or threats to healthy waters) should have a say in decisions that impact those waters. In parallel, they respond strongly when it is felt that companies have greater impact on decisions then local residents – the support generated when it was proposed that Nestlé had greater
What does a good relationship with water look like? Read More »
This whole conversation on the current dominant narrative around freshwater health in Canada points to both challenges and opportunities that as non-profit freshwater champions we need to embrace, to both alter the dominant narrative (that freshwater values exist in our subconscious, that acting to protect water results in negative economic decisions and that we don’t
A changing water narrative – how will we know? Read More »
Living Lakes Canada, Acadia University and Simon Fraser University released a Snapshot of Community Based Monitoring in Canada. The report provides a valuable landscape scan on: reasons for CBM; monitoring locations; funding for CBM; monitoring parameters; integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge; managing CBM data; informing policy; and working collaboratively in CBM efforts.
Snapshot of Community-Based Water Monitoring in Canada Read More »
The results are in. Here are the top freshwater news stories of 2016, according to you. Stories of water protectors, stories of success and stories of need struck particular cords with you last year. Stories of water protectors: whether it was in response to proposed projects like Site C and pipelines, or First Nations in BC declaring the first
According to you: the top stories of 2016 and hopes for 2017 Read More »
Over the summer of 2016, the Government of Canada has called for public input on the laws and processes that govern freshwater protection. Leaders across Canada’s freshwater community believe we can do much more to protect the health of Canada’s waters. West Coast Environmental Law Staff Lawyer Linda Nowlan says restoring the section of the Fisheries Act known
Expert voices on revitalizing Canada’s water rules Read More »
A new paper has been released demonstrating the important role community-based monitoring (CBM) can play in filling the significant water data gaps we have in Canada. The paper, co-written by a collaboration of four nonprofit organizations, one foundation, and one government agency and supported by the Our Living Waters Network, focuses on the potential of CBM to fill in these
Realizing the Potential of Community Based Monitoring Read More »
