ENVI Committee News Release
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Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development |
HOUSE OF COMMONS CHAMBRE DES COMMUNES OTTAWA, CANADA K1A 0A6 |
Comité permanent de l'environnement et du développement durable |
For immediate release
NEWS RELEASE
MPs FORM COMMON FRONT ON DEVILS LAKE
Committee Unanimously Backs Resolution Calling for Urgent Action
Ottawa, June 14, 2005 - The House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development today unanimously backed a resolution calling on the federal government to act decisively to stop a US water diversion project from imperiling Canadian ecosystems.
A planned diversion of polluted water from North Dakota’s Devils Lake into the Sheyenne River—from which it will flow to the Red River, across the border into Canada, and finally to Lake Winnipeg and Hudson’s Bay – is set to launch in July. The specific dangers of introducing foreign organisms and substances into Manitoba ecosystems are not yet known.
Canada-US water boundary issues are regulated by the Boundary Waters Treaty (1909) under the International Joint Commission. Today’s resolution calls on the federal government to exhaust “all diplomatic and/or legal options” to stop the Devils Lake diversion until it has been reviewed by the IJC.
NDP Environment Critic Nathan Cullen, who brought the issue to the committee, praised his colleagues: “We may be staring down the throat of a major threat to fragile ecosystems, a substantial commercial fishery, and Canadian sovereignty itself. It’s refreshing to see MPs from all parties choosing to work together when there’s so much at stake.“
On behalf of the committee today, Chair Alan Tonks (Liberal) also wrote to US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice: “If the State of North Dakota continues with the Devils Lake diversion, the ensuing weakening of the Boundary Waters Treaty will open the floodgates to many of these projects proceeding without the required oversight of the International Joint Commission.”
Conservative Environment Critic Bob Mills believes this issue never should have gotten to this point. “Over two years ago the Americans asked us if we wanted to refer this water diversion project to the IJC. Our government refused. Sadly, that mistake may do serious harm to our environment. It’s time to correct this.”
Bloc Québécois Environment Critic Bernard Bigras thinks that “ this project will create a dangerous precedent that may affect the boundary waters of Quebec and the United States.”
Attached: Committee resolution
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