The new Canada Water Agency is establishing itself in Winnipeg with the mission of bringing together different levels of government, academics and indigenous peoples to protect fresh water in the country.
Manitoba’s capital, built at the intersection of the Red River and the Assiniboine River, is now the epicenter of freshwater protection.
At the Forks, at the confluence of the two rivers, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, explained that the new Agency will make it possible to group work around fresh water in the same institution. .
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The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, was at The Forks to announce the establishment of the Canada Water Agency.
Photo: - / Juliette Straet
Previously under the banner of Environment and Climate Change Canada, this Agency is now completely autonomous and independent. This autonomy allows him to have more visibility and influence, according to Steven Guilbeault.
Previously, responsibility for water was distributed among 40 ministries, federal agencies, Crown corporations. You know, when something is everyone’s priority, at the end of the day, it’s no one’s priority
says the minister.
In a press release, Manitoba Environment Minister Tracy Schmidt says the agency will also help ensure the health of waterways for generations to come.
We will also examine the Canada Freshwater Resources Act, which has been in existence for 50 years. She is quite old. The time has come to modernize it. We created a process to give more resources to indigenous communities
adds Daniel Wolfish, the interim president of the Agency.
The agency’s priority will be to establish a strategy, an action plan for fresh water in Canada which will be presented next spring.
An agency located in the city center
The location of the new Agency was not left to chance. In the galleries of the Cityplace center, in the city center, the hope is that the agency will contribute to the dynamism of the neighborhood.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham welcomes the choice of location and expects an increase in economic activity.
The agency plans to hire 215 people partly in Winnipeg, while some will be in the five regional offices across Canada.
The interim president of the Agency, Daniel Wolfish, assures that people from indigenous peoples will be the first recruited.
We have a priority to hire Indigenous people, Métis, Inuit
he lists.
With information from Juliette Straet and Anne-Louise Michel
