Photo credit: T. Dwyer

1. Development and Implementation ofNorthern Voices, Northern Waters:NWT Water Stewardship StrategySlave River and Delta Partnership, CWN Workshop, December 2012 Photo credit: T Dwyer Photo credit: T. Dwyer

2. Northern Voices, Northern Waters • Northerners expressed concerns about their water, which they use for transportation, subsistence, spiritual, cultural and economic purposes, etc. • Collaborative efforts of Aboriginal leadership, communities, governments, regulatory boards, environmental non-government organizations and industry, resulted in a draft Strategy (2009) • Public feedback on the document was sought with the guidance of the Aboriginal Steering Committee (7 Aboriginal governments, AANDC and GNWT)

3. NWT Water Stewardship Strategy Released in May 2010 Vision: The waters of the Northwest Territories will remain clean, abundant, and productive for all time. Working together: This strategy stresses the need for water partners to work together and share ideas and knowledge to make sound decisions about responsible water use.

4. The Action Plan Released in May 2011 • ‘Keys to Success’ outlined in the Strategy are broken down into Action Items • Deliverable dates and lead agencies for each Action Item are identified

5. Keys to Success (High Level Objectives)Community-Based Monitoring • Develop community capacity to strengthen community involvement in water stewardship activities, including education, training, and research and monitoring programs. • Develop and implement collaborative ecosystem-based research and monitoring programs.

6. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) • Community concerns about the health of fish were brought forward to ENR during Fall 2010

7. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) Conference calls with communities, Aboriginal governments and organizations, territorial and federal governments, and researchers to answer the following questions (Oct-Nov 2010): • What has been done before? • What is being done now? • Who is doing what? • What do communities want to do in the future? • How can we work together?

8. Who’s involved in the SRDP? Members of: DeninuK’ue First Nation Fort Resolution & Fort Smith Métis Councils Town of Fort Smith Hamlet of Fort Resolution

9. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) Objectives Aquatic ecosystem health indicators workshop (Fort Smith, January 2011) Participants identified concerns about potential effects of upstream development (oil sands development, hydro, forestry/pulp and paper, conventional oil and gas, municipal, climate change, agriculture, historic development (old military sites, uranium mining, transportation of uranium ore) and cumulative effects) • Can we drink the water? • Can we eat the fish? • Is the ecosystem healthy?

10. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) Objectives Cost effective, community-based cumulative effects monitoring program that addresses community concerns which other northern communities could choose to implement in the future. Slave River and Delta Partnership CIMP Project • State of the Knowledge Report completed • What we know • Vulnerability Assessment and Prioritization Workshop completed • What we don’t know • What we want to know • What we want to work on first

11. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) • Canadian Water Network • CWN and GNWT Workshop (June 2012) - monitoring experts and local and Aboriginal representatives provided input on developing an Aboriginal-led community-based cumulative effects monitoring program for the NWT, using the Slave River as a pilot program • Based on the SRDP Vulnerability Assessment (Community Priority Questions) • Research teams must include experts on Hydrology, Water Quality, Fish and Benthic Invertebrates, Human Dimensions of Aquatic Ecosystem Change and Community-Based Monitoring • SRDP and science experts have reviewed EoQ’s • Full proposals to be developed after December Workshop in Yellowknife

12. Community Expectations for A Community-Based Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program • A program that focuses on community concerns, answers community questions and meets community needs • Collaborative, inclusive and participatory - meaningful community involvement at all stages in the project • Researchers will work with the SRDP to design the monitoring program • A program that is cost-effective and designed for long-term community monitoring • Clear linkages between the four theme areas • “no more science for the sake of science”

13. Meaningful Involvement • Clear indication of the role that the SRDP and communities and Aboriginal organizations will play in all parts of the research • How involved at all stages • How researchers will work with the SRDP to design the program and individual segments within it • Must include all community groups – not just one segment of the community

14. Clear strategy for communicating and reporting results • Problems in the past with communities getting information and results • SRDP and communities need to be informed throughout • SRDP operating practice: Communities get results first • Multiple forms of communication

15. Training and capacity-building • Meaningful strategy for training opportunities and capacity-building • ‘not just hiring someone to drive a boat’ • Working with local community members during project design, field work, and at other stages • Must include opportunities for all groups – not just one segment • Description/plan for outreach activities

16. Inclusion of Traditional and Local Knowledge • Improvement on the inclusion of Traditional Knowledge in a meaningful way and clear understanding to how this will be accomplished • Communities are the TK holders and scientists should work with community partners to determine how to involve TK • TK protocols • Community protocols • GNWT’s TK Policy

17. Best Practices for Incorporating TK GNWT TK Best Practices Summary outlines 11 Key Elements of Best Practice for gathering and applying TK in the north. • Understand and Acknowledge the Value of TK • Establish and Apply Appropriate Definitions of TK • Ensure the Protection of Sensitive Information • Adhere to Community-Based Protocols • Ensure Community Engagement

18. Best Practices con’t • Ensure Informed Consent • Ensure Local Ownership and Control of Information • Interpret and Present TK in the Appropriate Cultural Context • Provide Benefits for the Use of TK • Follow Formal Research Licensing Guidelines • Establish Clear Communication and Reporting Links

19. Leveraging funding and resources • Identified opportunities for additional leveraged funds and in-kind support • Equipment for community use • Value-added components

20. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) Overview of Past Research Concerns • Did not answer questions from the community • Limited if any community involvement in development or implementation of research • Community does not want to just be the boat driver • Can provide valuable information on how and where to sample • Results not communicated to community • If they were communicated, it was not done in an accessible way • Limited if any opportunities for training, capacity building and education • Improper inclusion of Local and Traditional Knowledge

21. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) Opportunities for support from GNWT and SRDP member organizations • Coordination • Community Relations • Communications and plain language • Inclusion of Local and Traditional Knowledge • Advice/comments on future funding proposals • Support for CWN/SRDP work • Logistical support/advice • Support for permits and understanding northern research requirements • Etc.

22. Other Community-Based Monitoring Initiatives Monitoring Equipment • YSI sondes, YSI hand-held meters, GPS units, waterproof digital cameras, passive samplers (DGTs and PMDS) Training/Capacity Building • YSI training (courses, videos, plain language instructions) • Fish sampling techniques Identifying Possible Funding Sources • Calendar released in January 2012

23. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) • Slave River and Delta Partnership Studies • Fish Health Study (University of Saskatchewan and DFO) • Slave River Delta Lake Sediment Core Study (WLU/Waterloo) • Beaver, muskrat, mink study (CIMP) * findings released to the community first

24. Slave River and Delta Partnership (SRDP) • Funded for furbearer (muskrat, mink and beaver) population and contaminants project in 2012 (1st priority from Vulnerability Assessment) • Harvest data over time for southern NWT communities is being gathered from GNWT databases and Hudson Bay records, etc. • Plans are in place for a community-based survey program when ice is safe for travel and again in the spring • contaminant samples, population and mortality information

25. AANDC Slave River Water Quality and Quantity Report • AANDC recently released a report on 35 years of Slave River water quality and quantity information • Results on seasonal assessment of water quality and quantity trends • Environment Canada released a report (Glozier) on water quality on the Slave, Athabasca and Peace Rivers • Conducting additional monitoring under the joint Canada-Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Program

26. Monitoring equipment thatmeasures what is happening at the time of sampling • YSI Sonde 6600 – every 2- 4 hours • Measures: Temperature, Conductivity, pH, Oxidation/Reduction Potential (ORP), Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity, Chlorophyll • Grab Water Samples – 3 to 5 times • Measures: Many water parameters • Taiga Laboratory, Yellowknife

27. Pisces @ Slave River/Delta near Fort Resolution • Weather Station measures wind direction, wind speed, air temperature and barometric pressure • Equipped with a sonde • Pisces takes samples at two different depths every two hours that are then sampled by the sonde

28. Grab Water Sample Data Dissolved and Particulate Elements/Metals • Aluminum • Antimony • Arsenic • Barium • Beryllium • Cadmium • Cesium • Chromium • Cobalt • Copper • Iron • Lead • Lithium Oil and Gas related chemicals • Manganese • Mercury • Molybdenum • Nickel • Rubidium • Selenium • Silver • Strontium • Thallium • Titanium • Uranium • Vanadium • Zinc • Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds (Hydrocarbons) Basic Parameters • Turbidity • Total Dissolved Solids • Total Suspended Solids • Specific Conductivity • pH • Alkalinity • Dissolved Organic Carbon • Total Organic Carbon • Nitrate Ions • Calcium • Chloride • Fluoride • Magnesium Nutrients • Dissolved Phosphorus • Total Phosphorus • Dissolved Nitrogen • Total Nitrogen • Ammonia • Nitrite • Chlorophyll a • Potassium • Sodium • Sulphate

29. Monitoring equipment that measures what is happening over a longer time periodPassive Samplers • Polyethylene Membrane Device (PMDs) – 1 month • Measures: Dissolved Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PACs) • University Alberta, Edmonton Diffusion Gradient in Thin Films (DGTs) – 3 days Measures: Dissolved Metals Trent University, Peterborough

30. Summer Deployment Plan • Working collaboratively with AANDC (Andrea Czarnecki & Juanetta Sanderson) and Dehcho AAROM (George Low). • 13 sondes in the water this summer during the ice free season: • 2 on the Slave • 1 each on the Hay, and Peel Rivers • 7 on the Mackenzie from Providence to Inuvik. • 2 in Trout Lake • PMD and DGT samplers will also be deployed at each YSI Sonde location.

31. Deployment Locations

32. Erin Kelly Manager, Watershed Programs & Partnerships Jennifer Fresque-Baxter Watershed Management Advisor Land & Water Division Environment & Natural Resources Government of the Northwest Territories For more information about the NWT Water Stewardship Strategy and the Action Plan, visit the ENR website. Coming soon www.nwtwaterstewardship.ca!