Sectors

February 15, 2006
Chiefs of Ontario Bulletin

To: All Chiefs of Ontario
Dt: February 15, 2006
Fr: Sue Chiblow, Environment Coordinator
Re: Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) Review

The GLWQA was first signed in 1972 reflecting Canada and the United States’ commitment to resolve a wide range of water quality issues facing the Great Lakes and the international section of the St. Lawrence River. A revised GLWQA was signed in 1978 and amended by Protocol in 1987.

The GLWQA, as revised and amended, seeks to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem. The GLWQA adopts an ecosystem approach (one which considers the interaction of air, land, water and living things, including humans) and calls for a broad range of pollution-reduction programs. It calls for the elimination of persistent toxic substances and programs to restore the quality of open waters.

The GLWQA provides for consultation between the two governments and periodic reviews of the operation and effectiveness of the GLWQA as a whole. The review of the GLWQA was triggered by the release of the International Joint Commission (IJC) 12 th Biennial Report on September 2004, will be formally launched by the governments of Canada and the United States in March 2006.

Environment Canada will be working with the Chiefs of Ontario to co-develop a consultation process for the GLWQA review to begin March 2006. The following pages provide the following information:

I. An Introduction
II. The Canada – U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
III. The Review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
IV. A List of Documents Available from Environment Canada

I. INTRODUCTION

Aboriginal peoples have a critical role in making sustainable development a reality in Canada, given their increasing responsibilities for managing their lands, the importance of the environment to their traditional way of life and the fact that some aboriginal communities are often the first to experience the impacts of environmental change. In particular, aboriginal peoples have expressed an interest in being involved in discussions relating to Great Lakes governance.

What it is

The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a bilateral agreement between the Governments of Canada and the United States that seeks to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem”, defined as “the interacting components of air, land, water and living organisms, including humans, within the drainage basin of the St. Lawrence River at or upstream from the point at which this river becomes the international boundary between Canada and the United States”. The Agreement commits the two Governments to making a maximum effort to develop programs, practices and technologies necessary for a better understanding of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem, and to eliminate or reduce to the maximum extent practicable, the discharge of pollutants into the Great Lakes System. The Agreement also adopts shared goals and objectives and creates joint activities and institutions to help the U.S. and Canada to achieve their goals.

First signed in 1972, the GLWQA was designed to control ‘point-source’ water pollution from sewage and industry. In 1978, a new Agreement was signed, seeking the restoration and maintenance of the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem, and becoming more focused on an ecosystem approach to considering the interaction of air, water, land and living things, including humans. The 1978 Agreement shifted the focus from conventional pollutants (e.g. phosphorus and bacteria) to toxic and hazardous polluting substances, and adopting a virtual elimination policy for persistent toxic substances.

The “Great Lakes System” is defined in the Agreement as “the streams, river, lakes and other bodies of water that are within the drainage basin on the St. Lawrence River at or upstream from the point at which this river becomes the international boundary between Canada and the United States”.

Agreement Objectives

The general water quality objectives of the Agreement state that the waters of the Great Lakes system should be free from, as a result of human activity:

• Substances that settle to form objectionable sludge deposits or that adversely affect aquatic life or waterfowl;
• Floating materials such as debris, oil, or scum in deleterious or unsightly amounts;
• Heat materials that produce color, odour, or taste that interferes with beneficial uses;
• Materials and heat that produce harmful or toxic conditions to human, animal, or aquatic life; and
• Nutrients in amounts that create growths of aquatic life (e.g. phosphorous) which interfere with beneficial uses.

More specific objectives are contained in the Annexes to the Agreement, and relate to:

• Persistent and non-persistent toxic substances (e.g. PCBs, pesticides- such as DDT, metals, pathogens, radionuclides and others) (Annexes 1 and 12);
• Beneficial uses in Areas of Concern through Remedial Action Plans and Lakewide Management Plans as described above (Annex 2);
• Phosphorus inputs (Annex 3);
• Discharges of oil, hazardous polluting substances, garbage, sewage and wastewater from vessels (Annexes 4 and 5);
• Marine sources of pollution and dredging activities (e.g. wetlands threatened by disposal of dredged materials) (Annexes 6 and 7);
• Discharges from onshore and offshore facilities, particularly those engaged in oil exploration, exploitation and transportation (Annex 8);
• Joint contingency plans to provide for coordinated and integrated responses to pollution incidents in the Great Lakes (Annex 9);
• Hazardous polluting substances (Annex 10);
• ‘Non-point’ sources of pollution from urban and rural land use (Annex 13);
• Contaminated sediment (Annex 14);
• Monitoring and developing pollution control measures related to atmospheric deposition of persistent toxic substances(Annex 15);
• Controlling sources of groundwater contamination (Annex 16);
• Surveillance and monitoring to assess compliance with the Agreement (Annex 11); and

Background to the Review

Article X of the Agreement provides that a comprehensive review of the operation and effectiveness of the Agreement be conducted following every third biennial report of the International Joint Commission. The review and consultation provisions within the Agreement provide the basis upon which to address emerging challenges over time.

Since the last amendment of the Agreement by Protocol in 1987, a general view has persisted that the priority be the implementation of the Agreement and not its review. As a result, reviews of the Agreement conducted in 1992 and 1999 were limited in scope. Currently, however, there is widespread support within the Great Lakes community for a comprehensive review of the Agreement, an obligation which was triggered by the release of the International Joint Commission’s 12 th Biennial Report on September 13, 2004.

The Agreement Review Process

The Scope of the Review

Key Questions to be Addressed by the Review

Overarching questions to be addressed in conducting the review are as follows:

• Is the Agreement’s purpose still valid and relevant, and is the purpose appropriate for an international agreement for the Great Lakes?
• Does the Agreement, and its implementation, achieve its aim of “restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem”?
• Is the Agreement, and its implementation, sufficient to protect and restore the Great Lakes, or does it fail to address critical issues? If so, what are they?
• In what situations does the Agreement successfully fulfill its intended purpose and objectives, and where does it fall short? Are there common features that characterize successes or best practices, and are there areas needing improvement?
• What new approaches, if any, should be instituted to improve the operation and effectiveness of the Agreement?
  

Further Questions for Aboriginal Peoples in the Review of the Agreement

In addition to the above overarching review questions, aboriginal peoples may also wish to consider:

• What are the issues in your part of the basin and in the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River ecosystem that you want to see addressed?
• Is the Agreement meeting the needs of aboriginal peoples within the Great Lakes basin?
• Is information relating to the Agreement and its review easily accessible and of good quality?

How should aboriginal peoples be involved in the review and implementation?

IV. LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AGREEMENT

Documents Available from Environment Canada

• Government of Canada: Acting to Protrect the Great Lakes
• Our Great Lakes, 2002
• The Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy, 2004, 2005, Five-year Perspective
• The ABC’s of Indicators
• State of the Great Lakes, 2003
• Canada’s Response to the Recommendations in the Eleventh Biennial Report of the International Joint Commission, 2003

Websites

Environment Canada Great Lakes:
www.on.ec.gc.ca/greatlakes/

International Joint Commission:
www.ijc.org

Joint Programs between Canada and the United States:
www.binational.net

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Great Lakes National Program Office:
www.epa.gov/glnpo/