Opposition MLA hosts consultation meeting for wetlands policy in Swift Current
The need for a detailed policy to protect wetlands in Saskatchewan was highlighted during a public consultation meeting in Swift Current for a private member’s bill in the provincial legislature.
Erika Ritchie, the Saskatchewan NDP MLA for Saskatoon Nutana and the official opposition critic for the Water Security Agency, introduced Bill No. 615, An Act respecting Comprehensive Wetland Conservation Policy in the provincial legislature on Nov. 29, 2023.
She has been hosting public consultation meetings about the bill at different locations around the province since early February. The consultation event in Swift Current was held in a meeting room at the First United Church, March 6.
“I’m just always so happy and encouraged when I get a room full of people together like this who are willing to share their views, their concerns and enter into a discussion around an issue that’s as hard to talk about as water,” she said afterwards.
“Water interests, water rights, water concerns and scarcity, the whole gamut. It’s a really tough topic to talk about, because people are very vested in the conversation. So to show up and be willing to delve into the issue takes a lot of courage. I’m just really happy with how everything went.”
The attendees were from Swift Current and the surrounding area, and included producers and landowners. Discussion during the course of the meeting frequently touched on the Water Security Agency’s proposed irrigation expansion at Reid Lake (Duncairn Reservoir).
She felt the discussion during the meeting reflected regional concerns about water issues, which will be different in the various parts of the province.
“So this conversation is different and unique from the conversations I’ve had in the other engagements,” she said. “It doesn’t bother me at all. I knew coming down here today that the regional issues here in the southwest are different than they are where we have unapproved drainage happening in the east side of the province more predominantly than here.”
She noted that these local concerns will provide a perspective on the issue of wetlands conservation and the impacts on a local level.
“Wetlands occur along water bodies large and small, whether it’s something like Reid Lake or along creeks and other types of water bodies,” she said. “We talked about peat bogs, that’s the type of wetland in the northern part of province. So it just looks different where you are in province.”
She felt it highlights the importance of an overarching governance structure that can address all aspects of how water is managed and the policy needs to be robust enough to do that. The Saskatchewan NDP’S concern is that the provincial government has been taking a too narrow view on agriculture water management.
“It’s a policy that’s focused narrowly on a sector, an important sector of course, but it leaves so many people out of the conversation,” she said. “And it won’t address the unique issues here in southwest Saskatchewan where the concerns are more about water for irrigation and how that affects the local scene, whether it’s the cost implications, who’s getting the money, what’s the impact on the local environment, recreational users, fish populations.”
Her private member’s bill is motivated by the absence of a wetlands conservation policy in Saskatchewan. It is the only province in Canada without such legislation. A 2018 report by the Provincial Auditor of Saskatchewan identified the need for policies around wetland retention and water quality.
According to Ritchie the scope of the Water Security Agency’s agricultural water management strategy is too narrowly defined and it does not address the provincial auditor’s recommendation on developing a wetlands retention policy.
“You need a comprehensive policy that takes into account all the needs and then if you want to do something under that umbrella that is directed at agriculture you do that, but you’ve got things in the wrong order and that’s the issue,” she said. “So my bill is doing two things. It’s providing a pathway towards the development of a policy and then it basically sets the terms of reference for how you will get to where you want to get to and here’s the scope.”
The proposed bill will create a framework for a wetland conservation policy that is evidenced based and scientifically defensible. It will follow a collaborative and inclusive approach that considers the full range of ecological functions and socio-economic uses of wetlands. It will account for regional differences within the province and it will respect the inherent rights of First Nation and Métis rights holders as well as Indigenous traditional knowledge, perspectives, and land uses.
“One of the things that’s been really gratifying for me as I’ve done this work is to just understand the beneficial functions that wetlands do provide us that we definitely take for granted,” she said.
“Whether it’s acting as a filter for our lakes and rivers or sequestering carbon and providing habitat for wildlife and fish populations, and other biodiversity, including crop pollinators and beneficial insects. They perform some really important functions on the landscape and it’s important that we have good policy to protect and preserve that.”
The proposed bill states that the government shall undertake meaningful and transparent consultation with a broad range of stakeholders during the development of a comprehensive wetlands conservation policy.
The likelihood of success for a private member’s bill by an opposition MLA in the provincial legislature is low, but Ritchie is not discouraged by that.
“I don’t come at this as though it’s a futile exercise,” she said.
“They have every opportunity to let the bill go through and it’s on them if they decide not to. We’re in a supermajority government and so we’re completely at their mercy in terms of what does or doesn’t happen in the legislature, but I’m out here doing the work. I’m out here engaging with stakeholders. I’m ensuring that I am inviting everybody and I’m listening to everybody. I’m saying that this is what we need to do in order to come up with an approach here that is going to meet the need.”