Our Year Three report card reviews progress since 2020, and highlights urgent next steps the federal government must take to protect and restore Lake Winnipeg’s water quality and ecosystem health, and to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Together with the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective, we urge the federal government to renew the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program for a 10-year period in Budget 2023 to enable robust and continuous knowledge generation for evidence-based decision making.

Together with the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective, we express our disappointment in the unexpected divestment from regional freshwater-protection initiatives – including the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program – in Budget 2022.

Our Year One report card reviews progress made by the federal government over the last year on recommendations originally presented by LWF and the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective in December 2020.

Together with the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective, we are asking the government to demonstrate leadership by investing in four key funding priorities originally outlined in our December 2020 joint position paper, Five Things the Federal Government Must Do for Lake Winnipeg.

Our federal policy brief highlights how phosphorus data generated by the Lake Winnipeg Community-Based Monitoring Network can support regional decision-making and funding allocation, and urges any renewed federal program to explicitly recognize the value of LWCBMN data in order to effectively complete the data-to-impact cycle.

Our submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development highlights the importance of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s existing regional water programs, and how community-based monitoring data can improve decision-making and resource allocation.

Our submission on the establishment of a Canada Water Agency emphasizes the need to strengthen existing federal programs, laws and regulations for freshwater protection. We also propose that the new agency be Indigenous-led, creating opportunities to strengthen water governance by recognizing Indigenous jurisdiction and supporting Indigenous knowledge systems.

Jointly created by LWF and the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective, this position paper offers five recommendations for the federal government to achieve real impact for Lake Winnipeg by strengthening established programs, acting on robust evidence, enforcing existing laws and regulations, and following through on long-standing commitments.