Summary of Environmental Law in Canada - CEC

Summary:
The International Rainy Lake Board of Control was appointed by the International Joint Commission (IJC) to oversee its orders. The Board is conducting studies to fill formation gaps needed to review the regulation of Rainy and Namakan lakes under the recently approved Board's Plan of Study after it had been circulated for public comment and revised.

Status of Board Studies; March/April 1996 Focus Newsletter, IJC:

"It's natural forests, lakes, rivers and waterfalls have a beauty and appeal beyond description."

This is how the International Joint Commission described the Rainy Lake watershed in 1934. The watershed includes an intricate network of largely rockbound lakes and connecting streams, and forms part of the southern headwaters of the vast Hudson Bay watershed. Rainy Lake, with its outlet along the international border at Fort Frances, Ontario and International Falls, Minnesota, is at the lower end of these headwaters. It is the largest lake in the watershed, which also includes Namakan and Kabetogama Lakes and a chain of smaller lakes.

The flow out of Namakan Lake at Kettle Falls, above Rainy Lake, has been controlled since 1914 by two small dams. One, known as the Canadian dam, is located entirely in Ontario (at the former Squirrel Falls) and the other, straddling the international border, is known as the International Dam. Both structures consist of controlled sluices to regulate outflows from Namakan Lake and there are no power facilities. The structures at the outlets of both Rainy and Namakan Lakes are owned and operated by Boise Cascade Corporation and Rainy River Forest Products, Inc.

In 1926 the Governments of Canada and the United States asked the International Joint Commission to investigate the regulation of levels of Rainy Lake, Namakan Lake and boundary waters above Namakan Lake for various purposes. The Commission's recommendations led to the 1938 Rainy Lake Convention that provided for emergency regulation of the level of Rainy Lake and other boundary waters in the watershed. This convention empowered the Commission to determine when high or low emergency water conditions exist in the Rainy Lake watershed and to adopt measures for operating the existing dams at Kettle Falls and at
International Falls-Fort Frances in response to these conditions.

Under the convention, the Commission issued an order for the regulation of water levels of Rainy and Namakan Lakes to prevent the occurrence of emergency conditions. The order, which has been revised several times, specifies band of upper and lower limits for water levels on each lake.

In response to these concerns, the International Joint Commission decided at its April 1995 semi-annual meeting to review its order for the emergency regulation of the level of Rainy Lake and other boundary waters in the Rainy Lake watershed. After receiving advice from its board and carefully considering all views, including those provided during and after the public hearing, the Commission has asked its board to prepare a plan of study by the end of June 1995 for reviewing the order, while at the same time exploring alternative ways to address the issues.

For further information contact Frank Bevacqua or Alan Clarke at the Commission's Washington or Ottawa offices, respectively.
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* From Email correspondence from Frank Bevacqua dated March 12, 1996. Copies to Board Members, Waters Resource Branch Inland Waters Directorate Environment Canada, Lake of the Woods Secretariat, Environment Canada, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (St. Paul), 

MULTILATERAL AGREEMENTS

Canada is not a party to any Multilateral Agreements on International Rivers and Lakes.


REGIONAL OR HEMISPHERICAL AGREEMENTS

Canada has not signed any Regional or Hemispherical Agreements relating to International Rivers or Lakes.


BILATERAL OR TRILATERAL AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE PARTIES

There are numerous treaties between Canada and the United States dealing with matters such as water level regulation, flood control, river diversions, dredging operations and water quality. The two countries share a 9,000 km border which is crossed by more than 300 lakes and rivers. These waters suffer from varying degrees of contamination. The Great Lakes, one of the most important fresh water sources in the world, has been significantly affected.

The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 sets out legal principles applicable to all freshwater rivers and lakes along the border excluding rivers that cut directly across the border. The Treaty established the International Joint Commission (IJC), a binational judicial tribunal to resolve and to prevent disputes regarding water quality and quantity along the border. The IJC has also been given authority under the 1991 Acid Rain Treaty and is the only bilateral mechanism existing between the two countries for the management of a natural resource. The IJC has allowed the adoption of numerous agreements for the development, control and use of waters.

The 1972 Canada-U.S. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was amended by protocols in 1978 and 1987. The Agreement seeks to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystems. The Agreement contains provisions for the development of programs, practices and the technology necessary to eliminate or reduce to the maximum extent practicable, the discharge of persistent, toxic pollution into the Great Lakes system. Much of the implementing legislation in both countries is done at the provincial or state level.

Transboundary rivers (i.e., rivers that cross the border, but do not form part of the border) have also been the subject of treaty action, such as:

• International Lake Memphremagog Board (1920 and 1935, Exchange of Notes);
• Convention, Protocol and Agreement to Regulate the Level of the Lake of the Woods (Canada-USA, 1925);
• Convention between the United States of America and Canada Providing for Emergency Regulation of the Level of Rainy Lake and of Other Boundary Waters in the Rainy Lake Watershed (1938);
• Agreement on the Long-Lac and Ogoki Diversions (Exchange of Notes, 1940);
• Treaty Concerning the Diversion of the Niagara River (1950);
• Treaty Relating to the Cooperative Development of the Water Resources of The Columbia River Basin (1961);
• Poplar River Cooperative Monitoring Arrangement (Canada-U.S.-Saskatchewan-Montana, 1980);
• Canada-US Skagit River Agreement (1984);
• Declaration of Intent Relating to the Niagara River Toxics Management Plan (1987);
• Canada-USA Agreement on the Souris River (1989)