In July 2026, Our Living Waters hosted a Watershed Governance workshop at the University of Waterloo that brought together watershed leaders, First Nations, Métis and Inuit knowledge holders, researchers, policy makers, technologists, and community practitioners from across Canada. 30 freshwater champions joined online or travelled to the University of Waterloo from as far west as British Columbia, as far east as Nova Scotia and as far north as Treaty 8 lands in Alberta. The goal was to collaboratively inform the modernization of the Our Living Waters (OLW) Shared Measurement System (SMS).
The SMS is Canada’s only national benchmarking framework designed to track collective progress on watershed governance and freshwater stewardship. For two days, the group explored how a renewed SMS can better integrate Indigenous worldviews, uphold Indigenous data sovereignty, and bridge diverse knowledge systems in the design of a platform for more coordinated and accountable freshwater governance. Through presentations, storytelling, collaborative design activities, and facilitated dialogue, participants shared approaches to bridge, braid, and weave watershed science and showcased examples of collective action.
Re-Framing Our Collective Agenda
As part of revising the SMS, participants reviewed the categories of watershed governance captured by SDG 6.5.1 on Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Through discussion, agreement arose around removing the word “resources” to better reflect the reciprocal relationship to water held across diverse worldviews. The term “integrated watershed co-management” was suggested instead. We also heard a need to highlight watersheds within the collective agenda and the need for clear language around co-management (see Justice Canada’s guidance on consultation and cooperation pertaining to the UN Declaration Act).
An overarching message was that there is a need to better reflect a reciprocal relationship with water. With this in mind, the OLW workshop developed new framing language for the SDG 6.5.1 watershed governance indicator categories (the original UN framing is in brackets):
- Water Policy & Governance (Enabling Environment)
- People & Partnerships (Institutions and Participation)
- Information, Infrastructure & Implementation (Management Instruments)
- Investments (Financing)
High-Level Summary
As we reflected on how to attain watershed security across jurisdictions and sectors, we reframed OLW’s overarching goal from “all waters in good health by 2030” toward inclusive watershed governance and integrated watershed co-management. Across two days, participants shared best practices for bridging watershed science and diverse knowledge systems, explored how Indigenous worldviews and enduring relationships with land and water should shape governance, and identified criteria for meaningful impact measures—including the need to better capture tacit knowledge and “warm data.”
On the second day, we began to explore the foundations for a next-generation, conservation-oriented measurement and decision-support system. We heard the need for an SMS that strengthens collective action for watershed security, source water protection, and addresses cumulative impacts. The group expressed a desire for watershed-level analysis and a way of visualizing the impacts of local watershed actions.
Day 1 (July 8, 2026):
- Prof. Dawn Martin-Hill presented virtually on Ohneganos Ohnegahdę:gyo the Co-Creation of Indigenous Water Quality Tools (CCIWQT). These community-driven monitoring and mapping initiatives blend Indigenous knowledge with Western science to improve water security and respect for local water governance.
- From Heléna Mauti, the Engagement Coordinator of the Indigenous Great Lakes Network (IGLN), we learned about how IGLN is supporting First Nations and organizations in the Great Lakes with their environmental research and monitoring priorities.
- Prior to a discussion on the status of management instruments and tools to guide watershed management, we watched a video on Source Water Protection (SWP) and The Healthy River Ecosystem AssessmenT System (THREATS) tool for identifying drinking water sources and risks from upstream activities.
- Sara Curley-Smith shared a systems-level perspective on addressing health vulnerabilities arising from regulatory gaps across Federal, Provincial, and Municipal jurisdictions, emphasizing the need to reframe environmental health through worldviews, cumulative impacts, Indigenous rights, and the right to a healthy environment. Grounded in the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, Six Nations’ Environmental Department integrates traditional ecological knowledge into community-led monitoring, stewardship, and land-use decisions, understanding human health as a relational state of balance with a living and evolving environment.
- Justin Duncan, Senior Policy Specialist at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), followed by sharing about the Natural Infrastructure for Water Solutions (NIWS) initiative – bringing economic externalities into consideration and working at the basin scale.
- During lunch, we received a virtual presentation from Anita Collins & Elder Priscilla Simard of Gaagiigidoo Ikwewag (Treaty #3 Women’s Council) who spoke of the effort to record the sacred relationship with Nibi (water) and to outline traditional water laws (Anishinaabe Nibi Inaakonigewin) within the Nibi Declaration.
- In the afternoon, Natalija Vojno, Our Living Waters’ Network Engagement Lead presented an overview of the Shared Measurement System (SMS). She detailed systems-level governance gaps to protecting freshwater health e.g. source water protection (SWP) and outlined a proposal to align with global frameworks for reporting on watershed governance while respecting diverse knowledge systems and First Nations, Metis, and Inuit worldviews.
In the evening, participants gathered at Proof Kitchen & Lounge for a networking reception and to celebrate the winners of the Ontario Headwaters Institute (OHI) awards. See press coverage here.
Day 2 (July 9, 2026)
- Opening the second day, Prof. Nathalie Gravel, Director of Graduate Programs in Geographical Sciences at Laval University, discussed the decades of research into the power of environmental alliances in Latin America and Ontario and now documented in her 2024 book “Tending Nature: Fostering Eco-Citizenship in the Americas.”
- The next two presentations featured examples of – and effective tools for – collective action.
- Gabrielle Parent-Doliner, Director of the Water Rangers, spoke to the development and 2025 publication of The Watershed Reports, which builds upon the World Wildlife Fund’s freshwater health assessments to steward the collaboration of 700 data providers in building a visually captivating and scientifically grounded snapshot of watershed health in Canada.
- Rodrigue Souop, Chargé de projets Collectif Eau Québec – Québec Water Collective Project manager, G3E then presented virtually on their effort to advance participatory water science in Québec and the activities they use to foster collaboration between non-profit organizations, community groups, schools, universities, research groups, scientists, government entities, businesses, communities, Indigenous and non-indigenous communities on various issues.
- Next, participants heard from a panel of experts on the role of technology in building inclusive watershed governance. The panel featured Mark Palmer, P. Eng., President and CEO, GREENLAND; Alex Tveit, Co-Founder & CEO, Sustainable Impact Foundation; and Chris Colombo, Program Manager for the Niibi Collective Project and Keewatinook Fishers of Lake Winnipeg.
- Janice Flynn, Project Coordinator at the Aquatic Resources and Fisheries Management, The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq (CMM), presented a two-eyed seeing approach (Etuaptmumk) applied in the the Ecologically Significant Area designation process for the St. Mary’s River (Napu’saqnuk) candidacy in Nova Scotia.
- Doren Otung, Climate Change & Sustainability Coordinator, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) presented on the ACFN Water Policy 2023, which was developed based on Dene Laws, UNDRIP-FPIC, Treaty 8 Rights and s.35 Protections, the 7 Generation Water Security Principles, and informed by Community-Based Monitoring (CBM) 10-year monitoring report of the Peace-Athabasca Delta, and ACFN Water Quality Criteria for Indigenous Use (WQCIU).
- The team at Living Lakes Canada (LLC) – Georgia Peck, Lakes Program Manager (who joined virtually) & Benedict Schriefer, Government Relations & Communications Specialist – highlighted several programs, including Foreshore Integrated Management Planning (FIMP) and a Local Indigenous Knowledge and Values Framework (co-created with Upper Nicola Band) to support collaborative planning and ethical lake management.
- During lunch, we heard from Denise McKenzie and Veronica Favel, who are members of the N90 Trappers of the Saskatchewan Trappers Association, the Saskatchewan River Delta Restoration Project, the Iskwewak Water Movement, and the Iskwewak Indigenous Saskatchewan Women’s Environmental Water Advocacy Keepers.
- The afternoon of Day 2 was dedicated to discussing and designing the ideal platform for tracking watershed governance in Canada.
Next Steps
Are you interested in learning more about the workshop’s presentations and discussions? A more extended summary of the workshop’s proceedings and presentations will be posted shortly on our publications page. The summary report also includes a more detailed description of the proposed UX features and design considerations being proposed for the SMS. At the conclusion, the report lays out OLW’s next steps and Phase II engagement process.
Working with you, we hope to re-design the SMS to help users braid diverse knowledge systems, identify policy gaps, coordinate action, and track whether collective interventions are strengthening watershed security – healthy and resilient watersheds that protect ecological integrity, social wellbeing, and economic vitality.
Words of Thanks
We want to thank each participant and presenter who brought their own diversity of experiences that reflected the diversity of Canada’s freshwater places while sharing a collective desire to protect lakes, rivers, groundwaters, wetlands, and estuaries. This convening has strengthened connections between water champions from coast to coast and led to emerging collaborations. Coming together in this way to share ideas for watershed co-governance supports the resilience of communities and ecosystems under a changing climate, and it would not have been possible without the generous support of the RBC Foundation and GREENLAND Consulting Engineers.
