Lockport, MB October 2022;
One Basin, One Governance Final Report Release and New Signage Unveiling;
The One Basin, One Governance Final Report focuses on the need of First Nations playing a stronger role in water governance. The report was constructed with the input from First Nation Communities across the Lake Winnipeg Basin, Southern Chiefs' Organization, Peguis First Nation and the Red River Basin Commission.
The message is clear, First Nations want to be part of the decision-making process when it comes to water governance. See below for this report.
New signage will be going up throughout the Red River North region. The signs will inform residents and fishers that they are on Peguis traditional lands and they ask to help keep them clean. The signs are a partnership between Peguis First Nation, Red River Operation Clean Up and the RRBC North Chapter.
Water is life
Water is sacred
Water for all: working toward an inclusive water governance model
Winnipeg is located within Treaty No. 1 Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinabe (Ojibway), Ininew (Cree), Oji-Cree, Dene, and Dakota, Birthplace of the Métis Nation and the Heart of the Métis Nation Homeland
Indigenous communities, within the Lake Winnipeg Basin area, have unique perspectives and different experiences surrounding water quality and water management.
We believe in the critical importance of partnering with First Nations and Tribal communities
to share perspectives and work on common goals.
​
Good water governance needs Indigenous values at the table!
"Peguis First Nation and Partners Move Toward a Stronger Water Governance"
News Announcement and One Basin, One Governance Report Release
Thank you for Attending! The conference has been a huge success!
We are continuing the conversation!
During the conference, a clear message emerged;
good water governance
needs Indigenous values at the table.
​
During her presentation and while speaking about partnerships for water governance,
Chief Lorraine Cobiness, Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation, stated;
"When we have these relationships,
we will see great success.
And you will not do this without us.
It will not happen without us.
We need to do this together!"
​
We need a watershed governance plan that includes us all.
SUCCESSFUL BEGINNINGS;
In January 2018, the Southern Chiefs’ Organization with the Red River Basin Commission called upon Indigenous and other Government Leaders to join them in a discussion of water rights within Manitoba, we called this event the “Spirit of Water”. The success of this day created direction to call upon all leaders of the Lake Winnipeg Basin to come together to speak for all, as
PRESENTERS & CONFERENCE VIDEOS
Presenters and Presentations of 2019 One Basin One Governance Conference
Opening Prayer - Chief Arvol Looking Horse
RRBC, Vice Chair - Gavin van der Linde
Grand Chief
Jerry Daniels
Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc.
Jerry Daniels is the Grand Chief of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization, representing 34 communities in Southern Manitoba. He is a proud member of Long Plain First Nation. More info
Grand Chief Jerry Daniels
Chief Lee Crowchild from Tsuut'ina First Nation
Xakiji Lee Crowchild
Chief
Tsuutina Nation
Xakiji Lee Crowchild is the third generation Xakiji following in the footsteps of his father, former Xakiji Gordon Crowchild and his grandfather, former Xakiji David Crowchild whom Crowchild Trail is named after.More info
Councillor Jeff Browaty - City of Winnipeg
Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations -
Hon. Eileen Clarke
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
Jeff Betgar - Manitoba Hydro
Councillor Mario Swampy - Samson Cree Nation
Rosey Radmanovich - First Nations TSAG
Elder Dave Courchene
Bob Sandford
Anthony Johnston, Katherine Finn and Maria Mora
Maria Mora
MP Terry Duguid
Dr. Colin Whitfield
Dr. Richard Grosshans - IISD
Dr Gordon Goldsborough, University of Manitoba
Chief Lorraine Cobiness - Niisaachewan Anishinaabe Nation
Christa Monette, TMBCI Water Commissioner
Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper
Norway House
Cree Nation
Tina currently is with the Southern Chiefs’ Organization in Environment Research. She is known for the television series "North of 60", and for serving as a Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Churchill. More info
Elder Daniels - Prayer
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe
Cheyenne River Reservation,South Dakota
Arvol Looking Horse was born on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. At the age of 12, he was given the responsibility of... More info
Bob Sandford
Water Security Chair - United Nations University
He is also lead author of "Canada in the Global World", a new United Nations expert report examining the capacity of Canada’s water sector to meet and help others meet the United Nations 2030 Transforming Our World water-related Sustainable Development Goals. More info
Anthony Blair Dreaver Johnston
Mistawasis Nêhiyawak
"I am from and work for Mistawasis. I aspire to be Nêhiyawak.”
Anthony is a member of and works for his Nation, Mistawasis Nêhiyawak, a Cree community north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. More info
Dr. Colin Whitfield
School of Environment and Sustainability
Colin Whitfield is an Assistant Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability and the Global Institute for Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan. More info
Denis Paquette and
Carmen Henriquez
Producers and Filmmakers
Carmen and Denis are the producers of Native Planet. Their interests are focused on themes of environmental, economic and social justice. More info
Simon Baker
Host of Native Planet
Born and raised on the Squamish Nation in North Vancouver, B.C., at the tender age of twenty-five, host Simon Baker is already an accomplished screen actor with numerous credits on Canadian TV series and American feature films. More info
ONE BASIN ONE GOVERNANCE
September 16 - 18, 2019 Winnipeg - MB
A Three Day Conference was held consisting of a Fresh Water Fish Marketing Corporation Tour,
Welcome Reception with Special Presenters,
Two full days of presentations from leaders across the Lake Winnipeg basin and a
Banquet which was honoured to celebrate the Southern Chief's Organization's 20th Anniversary!
Indigenous Water Ceremony
Our Indigenous communities, within the Lake Winnipeg Basin area, have unique perspectives and different experiences surrounding water quality and water management. As we understand, water is sacred.
The RRBC believes in the critical importance
of partnering with First Nations and Tribal communities
to share perspectives and work on common goals.
The Netley-Libau Marsh is the largest coastal wetland in North America and a critical fish, wildlife and waterfowl habitat area for Lake Winnipeg. This marsh has deteriorated due to a number of primarily anthropogenic factors (caused or influenced by humans) to the point where it is no longer a healthy, functional wetland. Healthy marshes can help filter out nutrient and toxins and improve water quality.
Related Videos & Information
She is the teen fighting to protect Canada's water — meet 13-year-old Canadian Autumn Peltier. She speaks bravely, confidently and passionately, and as a so-called water walker, Peltier pleaded with Justin Trudeau to protect Canada’s water. Now she is gearing up to speak at the United Nations for World Water Day.
Following the birth of a White Buffalo Calf in 1994, the 19th Generation Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Lakota, Dakota & Nakota Nations— Chief Arvol Looking Horse, was directed to honor the Four Directions with ceremony on Summer Solstice/June 21st.
According to Lakota prophecy, the birth of “Miracle,” a female white buffalo, signaled a time of Earth changes and the coming of The Mending of the Hoop of all Nations. The Summer Solstice is said to be a powerful time to pray for peace and harmony among all Living Beings.
Chief Looking Horse believes that this day of collective prayer will create an energy shift to heal the earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward obtaining peace. He believes that it is time all people understand Mother Earth is the Source of life, not a resource.
Native Planet
Saving Lake Winnipeg
First Nations chiefs declare climate emergency on Day 1 of AFN annual assembly
For decades, fertilizers from agricultural production, sewage and commercial phosphates have flowed into Lake Winnipeg, creating huge algae blooms that are sucking the life out of its water.
As government, scientific and business leaders sound the alarm for Lake Winnipeg, indigenous knowledge may hold the key to its survival. Learn More.
First Nations leaders from across Canada passed a resolution declaring a "global climate emergency" on Tuesday, as environmental concerns took priority on the opening day of the 40th annual general meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Fredericton on Tuesday. Learn More.
Caleb Behn an Ech-cho Dene and Dunne-Za from Treaty Eight, executive director of Keepers of the Water, speaks about ideas of Indigenous law and water governance for Canada. Proposing the idea of Dene law and understanding for water as a system of kinship from which all peoples using the legal infrastructures to employ protections to these systems the way we do peoples. Equating grandfathers of wisdom and knowledge to glaciers holding past climate data, and great lakes as elder grandmothers who require elder protections as they are vulnerable and we are losing them at an enormous rate, and protecting small rivers and tributaries as we would a child allowing them to develop into functioning adults. In sum he transposes Dene ideas of family law onto our relationships with water.
SOURCE: CBC.CA
Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 10th largest lake in the world. 2011. The Nature of Things reveals how a perfect storm of agriculture, hydro practices, sewage run-off, flooding and marsh destruction has devastated Lake Winnipeg.
Researchers from across the country and around the world gathered in Hamilton and Six Nations of the Grand River for the Global Water Futures Inaugural Annual Science Meeting, June 3 - 6, 2018. The meeting was jointly hosted by McMaster University and Six Nations and was attended by over 350 delegates -- focusing on the co-creation of Indigenous and scientific research. This meeting is believed to be the first major science gathering on a First Nation in Canada.
The video is part of a one-year collaborative Indigenous knowledge mobilization research project initiated in May 2016 titled Spirit, Safety and a Stand-off, led by Bharadwaj and funded by the Water, Economics, Policy, and Governance Network (WEPGN) at Brock University.
Where is Your Watershed (Lake Winnipeg - Manitoba)
Do you have your facts straight about your local watershed? Many Manitobans live in an area that is beautiful, diverse and an environment we should all know about.
Global Water Futures funds more water-quality research at Six Nations
SOURCE: McMaster University
SOURCE: CANADA.CA
Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential plant nutrients. When phosphorus or nitrogen levels are too high or too low, they can have harmful impacts on the food web of a lake or river. They are a measure of the health of Lake Winnipeg and its surrounding watershed. These indicators provide the status of phosphorus and nitrogen levels in Lake Winnipeg and 3 of its tributary rivers. LEARN MORE
First Nations Partnership for
Ecosystem Repair of Alouette River
SOURCE: Watercanada.net
Global Water Futures is funding a new research collaboration between McMaster researchers and traditional knowledge holders on Six Nations of the Grand River that focuses on addressing water-related issues of training, wellness and resilience and governance. LEARN MORE
The new Alouette River Ecosystem Partnership (AREP) was recently created to improve the water resource management of the Alouette River and surrounding ecosystems in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. The partnership is made up of the Katzie and Kwantlen First Nations, the City of Maple Ridge, and the non-profit environmental organization Alouette River Management Society. LEARN MORE
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
