Political Theory

H18 - Water and the Canadian Experience

Date: Jun 1 | Time: 12:00pm to 01:30pm | Location: Classroom - CL 410 Room ID:15739

Chair/Président/Présidente : Loren King (Wilfrid Laurier University/Great Lakes Trust)

Contentious Politics: Water Allocation in the Bakken Formation: Andrea Olive (University of Toronto), Catherine Moez (University of Toronto)
Abstract: Water allocation is often a contentious political issue. This paper examines water allocation politics in the Bakken Formation of Saskatchewan (and North Dakota), which is a shale rock formation rich in petroleum and potash resources. In Saskatchewan’s southeast, it also underlies valuable agricultural land. Oil development by hydraulic fracturing requires immense quantities of water – up to four million gallons of water per frack, and most wells are fracked multiple times. The source of water for the oil industry is the same source of water for cities, First Nations, and industries, like potash and agriculture, in the Bakken Formation: surface and ground freshwater. Drawing on media analysis and interviews with policymakers, activists, and industry representatives in Saskatchewan, this paper argues that water allocation in the Bakken faces a potential crisis as communities and industry each claim a share of a freshwater supply that is dwindling/declining. The potash industry’s downturn since 2008, when fracturing began to rise in the Bakken, means that water allocation / water rights distribution has not yet come under severe stress. However, growing demand could bring conflicts over freshwater rights/access onto the public agenda. Responding to literature on contentious politics and the resource curse in explaining the positions and actions of Saskatchewan’s public and elites, the article contributes a detailed qualitative analysis of the short- and long-term planning processes and governance of water when faced with a potential distributional crisis.

A Human Rights Framework for Water Ethics: Beyond Exploitation Toward Empowerment: Alex Wellington (Ryerson University)
Abstract: Two distinct discourses hold sway in water ethics and water governance. In one discourse, water is part of the common heritage of humanity, a most important element in the earth’s shared natural resources. Water viewed in this way is to be available for all as needed. The common heritage discourse faces considerable logistic and conceptual challenges. Another discourse posits that water is a commodity. Water, on this competing perspective, is framed as individual private property, to be governed by considerations of efficiency. The overarching rationale for privatizing water is to productively utilize market-based incentives and mechanisms for exploitation and allocation of water resources. Critics charge that decision making processes typical of privatization arrangements neglect to ensure opportunities for participatory democracy. In addition, the resulting substantive outcomes fail to protect interests of the most marginalized and vulnerable citizenry. Ultimately, debates over the optimal policies for water governance rest upon different views about whether, and which kinds of property rights should be recognized and upheld in relation to natural resources. Through the contrast between the discourses can be laid foundations upon which to build a third way of understanding challenges and opportunities, an alternative perspective from which to generate, assess and pursue policy options for water governance. That alternative is a human rights perspective, which necessitates balancing of the human right to water with other rights relating to water. It is grounded in principles of participation and inclusion, equity and non-discrimination, accountability and transparency, as well as practices consonant with participatory democracy.

The Great Lakes Rights of Nature Coalition: Juliee de la Terre (Sacred Water Land Institute)
Abstract: Juliee de la Terre intiiated the Great Lakes Rights of Nature Coalition to acknowledge the rights of the great lakes to exist persist and flourish. Juliee has a graduate degree from UW Madison-Wisconsin and is the director of the Sacred Water Sacred Land Institute.

Weather, Water, Climate: Cross-boundary Governance for Uncertain Futures: Kathleen Fryer (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: Extreme weather events such as hail, drought, and heavy rainstorms, are only expected to increase in severity and frequency with climate change. Their impacts are expected to be felt across all areas of the state activity, from agricultural production to national defence. Kathleen Fryer will discuss these concerns in light of her work with the Alberta Climate Change Office on cross boundary governance in Canada.

Water has always shaped the long history of political life in what is now Canada, from the cliché of Canada as an untamed wilderness of lakes and rivers, to the continuing shame of settler indifference to water crises we have precipitated in First Nations communities, to speculation about a future world desperate for abundant northern waters. This session brings together researchers and advocates on these themes and concerns.