Saskatchewan RATEPAYERS AGAINST ILLEGAL DRAINAGE (RAID)

[Oscar]

RATEPAYERS AGAINST ILLEGAL DRAINAGE (RAID)

A new group, Ratepayers Against Illegal Drainage, has formed over the past year to advocate for fairness in farmland drainage law, as well as protect water quality and wetland habitat resources.

Our members come from several points in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They are ratepayers from farms , villages ,towns ,cities and resort villages. Some of our members are councillors, reeves and mayors, but any ratepayer is welcome to join us. Most of our communications are through email and in-person meetings in Yorkton.

We believe that the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (WSA) has been lacking in following their own rules and we are attempting to rectify that situation.

Illegal ditching has brought hardship and inconvenience to immediate and far downstream neighbours as well as massive extra tax expenditures born by all taxpayers of Saskatchewan.

Uncontrolled drainage has caused wetland losses and increased peak flows during floods damaging public infrastructure and private property.

It has also contributed to soil erosion and downstream water contamination.

The people who are at least partly responsible for exacerbating flood conditions by way of their illegal ditching works have not born a single cent of responsibility nor have they been made to bring their illegal works in line with regulations.

Ironically the property tax system has rewarded them for their illegal actions which continue to this day . Our goal is to influence the upcoming changes to Saskatchewan legislation and change attitudes toward illegal drainage.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in taking part in the conversation on drainage issues, sign up for our new discussion forum to get involved:

DRAINAGE ISSUE FORUM

[ http://drainageissues.createaforum.com/index.php ]

To join RAID or for More Information:

Barb
P.B. Onofreychuk
bpwme68@hotmail.com

[Oscar]

COLLIER: RE: Ratepayers Against Illegal Drainage

-----Original Message-----
From: KEN COLLIER
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2014 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: RATEPAYERS AGAINST ILLEGAL DRAINAGE

Hello all,

I'm not a water expert - not a scientist, nor a lawyer, nor a member of a First Nation, nor any other status that would signal water expertise. But as, until recently, a resident of Alberta, I have a couple of recommendations to make, based on experience surrounding gravel mining in a key water-source aquifer if nothing else.

Drainage issues almost certainly fall under broader umbrella issues of water control and regulation.

First, see if you can find a sympathetic lawyer expert in water law in your province, whichever one it might be. I began a Google search for the three prairie provinces, but had to stop due to time constraints. I know of one in Alberta, at UCalgary, so far, and may return to the search.

Second, have a look at the following news item:
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche ... -1.1388588 ]

Alberta is probably at the leading edge of de-regulating water. Recent legislative changes now lodge control of water in the hands of the same appointed, administrative person who controls gas, oil and related licensing, and probably mining and forestry, and perhaps agriculture uses of water. I have been at public meetings where water experts forecast that the Alberta approach is quite consciously a thin-edge-of-the-wedge strategy to remove oversight and regulation of water by governments, and encourage use of the market as the decisive factor. That strategy is intended to be transmitted to other provinces. It looks like the Government of Canada has already stepped back from is previous position of monitoring and controlling water under a few pieces of federal legislation, now defunct.

The over-arching result will be that when issues arise, the courts will be your next stop.

Third, there are a few, possibly several, websites that could guide searchers to the rules about water, and who has any power to do anything about issues. Though there are many, one I found useful with a bit of digging down was the Prairie Provinces Water Board site which, though mainly about enforcing inter-provincial water flow agreements, has some technical and legal stuff on it, like this relatively brief power point file: [ http://www.ppwb.ca/documents/217/index.html ]

I am aware that taking a specific issue like water drainage among landowning neighbours and broadening it to general water issues can be a frustrating (infuriating) move, but I do think that the reality is that drainage does sit within and under broader water law, regulation, hydrology science and so on that can't be ignored in the long run - maybe even the short run.

Good luck with it.

Ken Collier
Mission, BC
(604) 410-4949

[Oscar]

RMs 'ecstatic' with water law changes opposed by Idle No More

[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche ... -1.1388588 ]

By Kathy Fitzpatrick, CBC News Posted: Jan 07, 2013 7:29 AM CT| Last Updated: Jan 07, 2013 7:27 AM CT

The Idle No More movement and Saskatchewan’s rural municipalities are on opposite sides of the fence regarding protection for navigable water.

Members of Idle No More have been in the headlines recently with flash mobs and road blockades across Canada in protest of a budget bill that they say affects First Nations rights.

Idle No More concerned about water

Among their concerns is the federal Navigable Waters Protection Act, which protesters say takes away their right to consultation on construction projects that could affect water bodies.

The chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Perry Bellegarde says indigenous rights over land bordering water were never given up in the treaties.

"And so we need to be involved with the whole issue of water, and the monitoring, and the control, and the review, and the regulation and everything else," he said.

SARM declared victory

But members of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) are claiming a victory with the change to navigable water legislation.

"We’re ecstatic about that," president David Marit told delegates to SARM’s mid-term convention back in November.

"It’s a long fight that we’ve had to deal with and we finally got what we wanted."

Under the omnibus Bill C-45, the law has been renamed the Navigation Protection Act.

Small streams are no longer under federal scrutiny. In fact, in Saskatchewan, only three bodies of water remain under Transport Canada’s oversight: the South Saskatchewan River, the North Saskatchewan River and Lake Athabasca.

Less bureaucracy the result, RMs say

Marit said the change is the result of a 10-year battle waged by Saskatchewan RMs.

"We were the leading advocate across Canada on this issue and we got it," he said.

- - - SNIP - - -

However, the Saskatchewan Environmental Society takes a different view.

"It’s not like the federal government has transferred resources to the province to be able to take these tasks on," said the director of environmental policy Peter Prebble.

"The federal government has in effect gutted environmental assessment legislation, it’s gutted the Navigable Waters Protection Act, and it’s gutted the Fisheries Act."

The group Ecojustice says approval under the navigable waters law used to trigger a federal environmental assessment, but that is also gone now. And, there is much less opportunity for public comment on projects.

Inherent rights the issue, chief says

Meanwhile, for the Idle No More movement it’s less about technical details and more about their view of the general direction environmental protection is headed.

"It brings into question Creator’s Law," said Bellegarde.

"That’s our job as indigenous peoples is to respect Mother Earth because we are of the land and we are of the water. And once waterways are affected, that really affects that relationship to the Creator’s Law and our inherent rights."