Water Security for Canadians: Making the Federation Work for Water

Monday, December 2, 2019
11:30:00 AM CST – 1:00:00 PM CST

This webinar will explore how the federal government can provide leadership and better exercise its jurisdiction to help prevent Canada’s emerging water crisis. The speakers will outline a number of specific, achievable activities that could position Canada as a global leader in water prediction, management, and sustainability. Most of Canada’s major river and lake basins are transboundary, yet water management decisions are made locally—through provincial and Indigenous jurisdictions. Because waters cut across jurisdictional boundaries, rights and responsibilities, a more integrated approach to planning at the river basin level requires all orders of government to work together. John Pomeroy (Global Water Futures) will discuss the urgency to act now, offering an overview of water issues in Canada, including provincial and territorial water policies and the status of the Canada Water Act. Highlighting recent agreements in the Mackenzie Basin as an example of what is possible, Merrell-Ann Phare (Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources) will discuss Indigenous water rights and reconciliation between Crown and Indigenous governments. Oliver M. Brandes (POLIS Water Sustainability Project) will then discuss the jurisdictional, institutional, and law reform priorities needed. This panel will be moderated by Rosie Simms (POLIS Water Sustainability Project) and will draw on the recent concept paper “Water Security for Canadians: Solutions for Canada’s Water Sustainability and Climate-Related Water Crisis” (April 2019), which makes the case for renewal of the Canada Water Act as a vehicle to enhance federal government engagement in water policy and governance. This special session of Creating a Blue Dialogue is hosted by the POLIS Water Sustainability Project in partnership with the Canadian Water Resources Association, Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), and Global Water Futures.

More Info

The Creating a Blue Dialogue webinar series has been hosted since 2010 by the POLIS Water Sustainability Project at the Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria. The series brings together expert water practitioners and thinkers, as well as emerging water leaders, to engage with innovative ideas on water policy and governance in Canada. By creating an online community of interest, the series strengthens the national capacity to engage with and solve problems, and raises awareness about emerging Canadian water issues, best practices, and policies.

Centre for Hydrology student Sebastian Krogh will defend his Ph.D. thesis Past and Present Hydrology Near the Arctic Treeline.

Details:

• Date: October 15th, 2018
• Time: 1:00 P.M.
• Place: University of Saskatchewan – Room 2D71 Agricultural Building.

Everyone is invited to attend.

Join Dr. John Pomeroy for a free public meeting on Saskatchewan’s Water Future. Over the last century, the prairies have undergone unprecedented changes and the supply and security of water resources are predicted to become increasingly stressed in the future.

When: Wednesday, June 13th at 7 pm

Where: Gymnasium, Great Plains College – Swift Current Campus (129 2nd Avenue NE, Swift Current, SK S9H 4G3)

All are welcome to attend! For more information and to RSVP to the event, please visit the event webpage.

Freshwater Alliance is hosting a webinar with guest speaker Dr. John Pomeroy on June 28 at 12 pm PT/1 pm CST/3 pm ET.

Dr. Pomeroy will discuss how the multi-national research project, Global Water Futures (GWF), is working with hundreds of researchers to deliver risk management solutions—informed by leading-edge water science—to manage water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. In the webinar, Dr. Pomeroy will share highlights of the research to date, and opportunities for the freshwater community to collaborate with GWF researchers.

To RSVP for the event, please visit https://www.freshwateralliance.ca/global_water_futures.

Global Water Futures (GWF) is hosting the inaugural Annual Science Meeting from June 3-6, 2018 at McMaster University and Six Nations of the Grand River.

The primary purpose of the Global Water Futures inaugural Annual Science Meeting is to provide an opportunity for all GWF researchers and affiliated highly qualified personnel to gather and share their scientific findings and other relevant activities and outcomes with GWF community and users/stakeholders. Over 360 researchers, scientists, students, stakeholders, end-users and community members from across Canada and internationally are expected to attend.

For more information, please visit the GWF Inaugural Annual Science Meeting website.

The Centre for Hydrology is proud to co-present Let’s Talk Climate & Water Science, a public event where three internationally renowned climate and water scientists will speak about leading-edge studies on climate change and its impact on extreme events and changes to the water cycle. A panel discussion with questions from the audience will follow. This event is free and open to the public.

When: May 5, 2018 | Reception: 6:30 pm | Presentations: 7:00 pm

Where: Canmore Collegiate High School Theatre

For more details, including registering for free tickets: https://lets-talk-science.eventbrite.ca 

Event Poster

Dr Juan Ignacio Lopez Moreno, of the Pyrenean Ecology Institute of CSIC in Jaca, Spain, will present a CH seminar titled Climate Snow and Water Studies in the Pyrenees on Friday 20 April.

The Pyrenees is the largest mountain range in Spain and a good example of how climate and land use changes are affecting the hydrology of mountain headwaters and the water availability of neighbouring lowland areas.

The presentation will provide a summary of the research carried out in the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology to understand and quantify global change processes in mountain areas and its impacts on snowpack, glaciers and water resources.

The seminar will take place at 11am on Friday 20th April, in Room 1261 of the NHRC. It will also be streamed by WebEx.

Professor John Pomeroy will be presenting at a symposium titled Science in Society: Recent Initiatives and New Directions, organized by the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy to mark the launch of the Centre for the Study of Science and Innovation Policy (CSIP).

The event, which will be hosted by both the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan, will take place on Wednesday, 8 March 2017 from 1 pm to 4 pm. The Saskatoon venue is the Prairie Room in the Diefenbaker Building.

Full details, including the registration link, are available in the event PDF.

CH’s Dr Cherie Westbrook will be presenting a talk at this month’s meeting of the Saskatoon Nature Society.

The talk, titled Looking to the Beaver for Flood and Drought Protection, will take place in Biology lecture theatre Rm 106 (near the big dinosaurs!), at 7:30 pm on Thursday, February 16th. Both members and non-members are welcome.