The National Citizens Alliance (NCA) believes that Canadians have a right (legal entitlement) to quality, sufficient, physically accessible, and affordable drinking water as a public resource, and reasonable sanitation. Water is a vital and fundamental requirement of human survival. Without water, human life is not possible. To deny water is to deny human life.
In addition, the NCA believes that the federal government has a constitutional duty and responsibility (under Section 91 of the 1867 Constitution Act) and as part of “peace, order, and good governance,” to protect Canadian water from undue harm, including harm associated with fisheries habitats, bulk exports, and navigable waters.
Further, Canada’s economy is dependent on water whether navigable waters for shipping and fishing, water for irrigation of agricultural lands, and water for oil sands extraction processes.
The NCA believes that Canadian water is critical to the well-being of current and future generations, and the environment. The NCA will reject outright any short-term, narrow legislation and policies that sacrifice the quality, accessibility, sufficiency, and affordability of Canadian drinking water as a public resource, and quality and quantity of other Canadian water.
In writing this policy, the NCA accessed relevant Canadian federal Acts, Canadian water related reports, and international declarations and reports on water.
Context
Canada has approximately 6.5 percent of world’s renewable fresh water supply, with significant portions of Canadian fresh water inaccessible due to flows to the Arctic Ocean. Most of Canada’s fresh water supplies are non-renewable. For example, the Great Lakes renew approximately 1 percent each year.
In the world, approximately 2 billion people face water shortages in over 40 countries, 1.1 billion people do not have sufficient drinking water, and 2.4 billion people have no provision for sanitation. By 2050 at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.
The NCA supports the following
● Take a serious look at chemtrails and their impact on all bodies of water and the health of the Canadian people
● Take a serious look at glyphosate, roundup and other herbicides and pesticides and their impact on all bodies of water and the health of the Canadian people
Bulk Water Exports:
● Expand ban on bulk water exports to include non-boundary and non-transboundary waters to ensure comprehensive protection over Canadian waters
● Include marine tankers as a prohibited means of water diversion in the Transboundary Waters Protection Act
● Seek to amend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to establish clearly that water in its natural state is not a commodity, and bulk water is not a traded good
● Provide non-commercial bulk water exports in the form of humanitarian aid to countries facing emergency water issues, whilst no environmental harm from doing so or depravation of Canadian water needs
Conservation of Water
Individuals:
● Provide tax incentives to Canadians who conserve water such as rain harvesting
● Provide block grants to municipalities for water conservation initiatives
● Establish federal guidelines on household water conservation
Corporations:
● Provide tax incentives for corporations that recycle water and take concrete measures to conserve water
● Penalize corporations through fines for wasting water
● Establish federal guidelines on corporate water conservation
Drinking Water Guidelines and Monitoring:
● Legislate that water is exclusively a public resource
● Increase federal scientific monitoring of bodies of water from 32 to 50 and that at least one body of water with monitoring is from each province
● Eliminate federal directed funding that supports the privatization of municipal water supplies
● Establish national drinking water guidelines that including microbiological, chemical, physical, and radiological parameters
● Monitor drinking water in each province randomly and publish the findings
● Create an online portal for public input on Canadian water and sanitation issues
● Monitor the effects of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water and legislate based on the scientific results
Aboriginal Drinking Water and Sanitation:
● Establish public transparency of the quality and accessibility of Aboriginal drinking water from First Nation reserves including mapping of all the reserves across Canada below the 60 degree in terms of water quality and accessibility and level of sanitation
● Establish public transparency of all tax dollars spent on Aboriginal drinking water and sanitation
● Prioritize raising Aboriginal drinking water and sanitation standards to that of the settler population ASAP
● Ensure that Aboriginal peoples have the expertise and training to succeed in raising their water and sanitation standards on First Nation reserves through self-help initiatives
● Support a priority based approach rather than a regional approach to Aboriginal drinking water and sanitation issues, whereby the reserves with the worse drinking water and sanitation are focused on first
● Conduct round tables with Aboriginal peoples on how to raise their water and sanitation standards
Conclusion
The National Citizens Alliance believes that all Canadians including Aboriginal peoples have a right to quality, sufficient, physically accessible, and affordable drinking water as a public resource, and reasonable sanitation. Water is integral to human survival, and therefore the NCA believes that water protection and water as a public resource supersede commercialization and privation of water. The NCA is committed to banning all bulk water exports, increasing drinking water transparency and accountability in all provinces, and raising the water and sanitation standards of Aboriginal peoples to that of the setter population. The NCA will work with any other party that shares its values and vision for Canadian water.
The NCA welcomes feedback on its policies. Please send policy feedback to info@nationalcitizensalliance.ca