Canadian Water Law and Policy:The Conservation of

Sustainable Abundance

Jamie BenidicksonFaculty of Law, University of Ottawa

1860s Confederation Era:Navigation and Floatability

1860s The Confederation Era:Deleterious Substances

Lime, chemical substances or drugs, poisonous matter, (liquid or solid) dead or decaying fish, or any other deleterious substance, shall not be drawn into, or allowed to pass into, be left or remain in any water in any water frequented by …fishFisheries Act, 1868

1870s Sawdust & WaterworksFrom and after the passing of this Act, no owner nor tenant of any saw-mill, nor any workman therein, nor other person or persons whosoever, shall throw or cause to be thrown, or suffer or permit to be thrown, any sawdust, edgings, slabs, bark or rubbish of any description whatsoever, into any navigable stream or river either above or below the point at which such stream or river ceases to be navigable.

An Act for the better protection of Navigable Steams and Rivers, S.C. 1873, c. 65, s. 1

Municipal Waterworks

1880s Intergovernmental Relations on the Waterways

The Rivers and Streams Act

and Disallowance

Riparian Fish FightingR. v. Roberston (1882) 6 S.C.R. 52

1890s Irrigation and Western Water Law

“The property in and the right to the use of all the water at any time in any river, stream, watercourse, lake, creek, ravine, canon, lagoon, swamp, marsh or other body of water shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be vested in the Crown…”North-West Irrigation Act, S.C. 1894, s. 4

1890s Hydro at Niagara

1900s Boundary WatersThe United States of America and … the United Kingdom of Great Britain… being equally desirous to prevent disputes regarding the use of boundary waters …between the United States and the Dominion of Canada involving the rights, obligations, or interests of either in relation to the other or to the inhabitants of the other, along their common frontier… have resolved to conclude a treaty …

1909 Boundary Waters Treaty

Sewerage Installed

Sewage Prohibited

No sewage, drainage, domestic or factory refuse, excremental or other polluting matter …which …corrupts or impairs or may corrupt or impair the quality of the water of any source of public water supply for domestic use in any city, town, incorporated village or other municipality …shall be placed in or discharged into the waters

The Public Health Act, S.O. 1906, 2 George V, c. 58, s-s. 30(6)

1910s The Conservation Era

Each generation is entitled to the interest on the natural capital, but the principal should be handed on unimpaired.

Canada's Commission on Conservation (in 1915)

1910s Not a Waterfall

“the individual and the public as well, have an inalienable and indefeasible right to pure water.”

Senator Napoleon Belcourt

2 March 1910

1920s Pulp and Paper, Power and Pollution

1920s The New Great Lake

1930s Water and Security The advisory committees …shall consider and advise the Minister as to the best methods to be adopted to secure the rehabilitation of the drought and soil drifting areas in the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and to develop and promote within those areas systems of farm practice, tree culture, water supply, land utilization and land settlement that will afford greater economic security…

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Act, S.C. 1935, R.S.C. 1985, c. P-17, s. 4

1940s Post-war Reconstruction

• St. Lawrence Seaway• Conservation

Authorities• Recreational Waters

1950s Federal- Provincial-Municipal Financing

Water pollution and sewage are “very clearly duties and responsibilities of municipal government”Ontario Premier Leslie Frost, Debates, 28 Februry 1956

1960s The Water Quality Wake-up Call

Visible impacts encourage public participation alongside scientific and professional engagement

1970s “a matter of urgent national concern”

“any aspect of water resource management that relates to restoring, maintaining or improving the quality of water”

Canada Water Act

1970s Dryden Pulp Mill

1980s Federal Water Policy

Strategies• Water Pricing

• Science Leadership• Integrated Planning

• Legislation• Public Awareness

1990s NAFTA, CEC

1990s Great Lakes Diversions (again)

2000s Health, Environment, Regulation and Governance

2000s Basic Necessities

Climate Change and Conservation