New Agreement Will Weaken Canadian Control and Protection of Great Lakes

A final agreement on stewardship of the Great Lakes scheduled to be signed by Ontario, Quebec and eight U.S. states next month will severely weaken Canadian sovereignty over the Great Lakes, says the Council of Canadians. While some environmental groups have endorsed the deal known as the Great Lakes Annex, the Council believes it sets a dangerous precedent that will restrict Canada’s ability to protect the world’s largest body of fresh water from diversions and commercialization in the future.

“Protection of the Great Lakes is and should remain a bi-national responsibility regulated by the International Joint Commission (IJC), in which Canada and the U.S. are equally represented,” says Susan Howatt, national water campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “This deal bypasses that arrangement entirely.”

“Worse,” adds Howatt, “the current deal claims to protect the Great Lakes from the threats and impacts of diversions while openly allowing large withdrawals to continue and increase through the much-criticized Chicago diversion and by extending water access to U.S. communities that straddle the Great Lakes basin.” Illinois has already expressed its desire to increase the Chicago diversion within the next few years.

Moreover, says the Council, the current deal would increase, not lessen, the threat of an eventual trade challenge under NAFTA as water becomes available to corporate investors within straddling counties.

The Annex and its implementing agreements caused controversy last year as the details became known to residents in Ontario communities that surround the Great Lakes. Regional chapters of the Council of Canadians in many of these communities took part in the public hearings at that time.

Founded in 1985, the Council of Canadians is Canada’s largest citizens’ organization, with members and chapters across the country. The organization works to protect Canadian independence by promoting progressive policies on fair trade, clean water, safe food, public health care, and other issues of social and economic concern to Canadians.

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