Letter to Minister Steven Guilbeault
Together with the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective, we express our disappointment in the unexpected divestment from regional freshwater-protection initiatives – including the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program, which provided critical resources for the protection of Lake Winnipeg from 2008 to 2022. Funding commitments in Budget 2022 fall short of promises made in the Liberal Party’s 2021 election platform and the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change. We share our concerns that the potential formation of a new federal water agency – still lacking clear purpose after two years of discussion – is diverting time and resources away from urgent phosphorus-reduction and Indigenous-engagement priorities within the Lake Winnipeg watershed.