An effort to modernize the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the U.S. has been paused as the Trump administration conducts a broad review of its international engagement.
Canada and the U.S. have been engaged in formal talks for the last seven years to update the decades-old water sharing agreement, originally created to mitigate downstream flood concerns in the Pacific Northwest and to generate hydroelectric power along the river system.
Last summer, an Agreement-In-Principle (AIP) 鈥� a framework of shared elements and priorities that would serve as a roadmap for a modernized treaty. The AIP included flood risk management, Canadian flexibility, power coordination and transmission, compensation, power benefit sharing and ecosystem considerations.
A key aspect of the re-negotiations was the inclusion of Columbia Basin Indigenous Nations 鈥� Ktunaxa Nation, Syilx Okanagan and Secw茅pemc 鈥� in the Canadian negotiating team. Along with U.S. tribal government counterparts, Indigenous leaders led the way on the inclusion of ecosystem values and framing the Columbia River as a one-river system as part of the treaty modernization.
The original Treaty was a water sharing agreement ratified between Canada and the United States in 1964.
It facilitated the construction of three dams in B.C. 鈥� Duncan, Mica and Keenleyside 鈥� as well as the Libby dam in Montana in the U.S.
The treaty itself has no end date but either country can unilaterally terminate the agreement from September 2024 onward, along as at least 10 years notice is given.
On March 25, energy minister Adrian Dix will be hosting a public virtual info session alongside MLA's Brittny Anderson, (Kootenay Central) and Steve Morissette (Kootenay Monashee) and Kathy Eichenberger, B.C.'s lead negotiator in the Canadian delegation.
The session will take place from 6-7 p.m. (Pacific time) on Zoom and a recording will be available afterwards. Questions can be sent in advance by Tuesday, March 18, 2025, to columbiarivertreaty@gov.bc.ca.
More to come.
