KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary

March 18 2019 Presentation to

Senate of Canada Special Committee – Arctic

Consider the significant and rapid changes to the Arctic and the impacts on original inhabitants

Project: Inuu’tuti, the Baker Lake Aquatic Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program which has the documented support of the community of Baker Lake.

The Kivalliq Inuit Association has partnered with Crown-Indigenous Relations Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), the Nunavut General Monitoring Plan (NGMP) and the Nunavut Water Board (NWB) in a Steering Committee to develop Inuu’tuti, an aquatic Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program (CEMP) for the Baker Lake Region. KIA is involved in implementing activities in the field and is an active member of the Steering Committee that guides the overall program.

This document describes the program details.

KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary

OBJECTIVES

The Inuu’tuti program focuses on Baker Lake and its Drainage Basin. Baker Lake is a large lake with a surface area of 1,877 km2 receiving drainage from the eastern and central Canadian Arctic. It is of cultural significance to the Hamlet of Baker Lake, supports many traditional land uses including hunting and fishing and is the community’s source of drinking water. The basin itself includes two Canadian Heritage Rivers (The Thelon and Kazan Rivers), two operating gold mines (Meadowbank and Meliadine) and substantial mineral deposits.

The ultimate goal of our project is to fully implement an aquatic cumulative effects monitoring program in the Baker Lake Drainage Basin and then to use this pilot project as a model to implement an aquatic Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program (CEMP) for all of Nunavut. We are specifically looking to monitor any cumulative effects of climate change, industry, isostatic rebound and population growth on the aquatic ecosystem.

Our understanding of the aquatic environment in the Baker Lake Drainage Basin and the pressures from existing mining activities and documented warming will help prepare the community and decision makers to ensure that the ongoing development within the watershed continues to be sustainable, will provide benefits to Nunavummiut and will allow then to respond to the effects of climate change in their environment.

This objective is driven by two overarching scientific questions and two overarching questions of interest to the community that have been reiterated in repeated community engagement meetings:

Scientific Questions

• Are current conditions in the Baker Lake Drainage Basin acceptable?

o If not, what are the causes?

• Is the Baker Lake watershed changing?

o If so, what are the causes?

Community Questions

• Is the water safe to drink?

• Are the fish good to eat?

This overall project has been named the “Inuu’tuti” initiative, an Inuktitut term selected by the community in 2016 that translates to “life source”. The implementation of the CEMP, as designed by the Kivalliq Inuit Association (KIA) and their consultants (HESL) in 2017 and 20181, will help train the next

1 HESL. 2018. Inuu’tuti Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program Scientific Program Design. Prepared for the Kivalliq Inuit Association KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary generation of field staff and community monitors from the community of Baker Lake. This will build internal capacity and reduce program reliance on long-term Consultant support.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Kivalliq Inuit Association has partnered with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), the Nunavut General Monitoring Plan (NGMP) and the Nunavut Water Board (NWB) to develop an aquatic Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program (CEMP) for the Baker Lake Drainage Basin. The CEMP is the key component of the Inuu’tuti Initiative, a new project for the North that is intended to grow over time as partnerships are developed and more data are generated. The Inuu’tuti Initiative is being led by a secretariat of key players made up of the KivIA, NGMP, CIRNAC and the NWB and is being implemented through partnerships between the KivIA, federal (ECCC and CIRNAC) and territorial governments (Government of Nunavut), industry (Orano Canada and Agnico Eagle Mines), the Hamlet of Baker Lake and eventually, universities and academic institutions.

The Inuu’tuti Initiative is unique in that it has included western science and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) from the early design stages, and facilitates a joint data gathering approach. Ultimately, there is an intent to expand the program across Nunavut. To date, the program has made considerable progress resulting in a developed scientific CEMP that is ready for implementation but which lacks supporting long term funding. This program has been built on:

1. A historical baseline study2 that aggregated all regional records for water quality, flow, ice cover and meteorological data in the Baker Lake Drainage Basin from ~1970-2013. The dataset represented the first fulsome baseline characterization of the drainage basin, and aggregated data from over ~52,000 records from the NWB, ECCC, the Water Survey of Canada, and the Canadian Ice Service. This data has been housed in a MS Access database for the KIA and used to determine where ongoing monitoring stations should be established, to identify and evaluate gaps in the baseline characterization and select methodologies for environmental monitoring that are comparable to historic methods and which best meet the needs of the Inuu’tuti initiative, the community, program partners and stakeholders.

2. Three years of targeted limnology studies in Baker Lake to characterize the receiver and community focus of the drainage basin and evaluate the extent and dynamics of saline intrusions reported by the community. The results were used to help respond to community concerns, select sample sites that reflect water quality throughout Baker Lake and to document a sound baseline for future comparisons.3,4

2 HESL. 2016. Baker Lake Basin Baseline Report. Baker Lake Basin Climate, Hydrometric and Water Quality Data: Compilation, Assessment of Adequacy and Data Gaps Relative to Cumulative Effects Monitoring Program Objectives, and Preliminary Screening of Potential Anthropogenic Contributors to Cumulative Effects. Prepared for the Kivalliq Inuit Association. 3HESL. 2018. Baker Lake Limnology Study. Prepared for the Kivalliq Inuit Association. This will be the third of three annual reports. 4 Hutchinson, N.J., Hadley, K.R., Nesbitt, R.A., and Manzo, L. 2018. Establishing baseline limnological conditions inBaker Lake, Nunavut. Polar Knowledge: Aqhaliat 2018, Polar Knowledge Canada, p. ##–##. KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary

3. Three years of sampling specific sites of community and scientific interest in the watershed of Baker Lake to document baseline conditions and inputs from the watershed to Baker Lake. Sampling occurs under an expansion of a Memorandum of Agreement between the KIA and CIRNAC. Results and interpretation are presented in annual reports. Monitoring stations have been selected throughout Baker Lake itself and within the three watersheds contributing to its inflow (Dubawnt, Kazan, and Thelon River watersheds). Sites have also been included in the Back and Quoich watersheds reflecting the land use patterns of Inuit and other Nunavummiut from the Hamlet of Baker Lake as identified through community consultations.

4. A three-year long IQ study called the “One Voice” project56. This program was comprised of three rounds of interviews with Elders, hunters and knowledge holders to characterize how the community evaluates their aquatic environment, establish a methodology for monitoring that environment using IQ in a semi-quantitative manner, determine common indicators between IQ and western science and locate sites of community concern. “The One Voice” method for monitoring the aquatic environment will serve as the basis for a forthcoming Inuu’tuti community-based monitoring program. Information provided from the community has thus far been used to help select valued ecosystem components (VECs) for the Inuu’tuti CEMP, water quality monitoring parameters, and sampling sites of importance to the community where monitoring will occur.

5. Extensive community consultation including an initial meeting and workshop held to establish community support in 2014 (at which point our included letter of community support was signed), and follow up meetings in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. All meetings were held in Baker Lake and were well attended by the community.

6. In the interests of further enhancing our monitoring capabilities, the KivA has more recently initiated a partnership with the University of Manitoba (UofM) to develop and include environmental DNA (eDNA) methodologies in the monitoring program. The purpose of this collaboration is to use knowledge gained using the One Voice project with the expertise of the scientists at the UofM to develop an eDNA sampling protocol with an ultimate goal of including eDNA metabarcoding as a part of routine monitoring. eDNA metabarcoding can be used to determine fish species assemblage through water samples, and will be used to efficiently and economically increase baseline data on biodiversity in the Baker Lake region, as well as indicate which areas would benefit from increased sampling by traditional means.

SUPPORT

To date, funding for the Inuu’tuti Initiative has come from competitive three-year grants (POLAR Knowledge Canada and the NGMP), direct support from the KIA and CIRNAC, and in-kind support from

5 HESL. 2018. One Voice Field Report. Prepared for the Kivalliq Inuit Association. This will be the third of three annual reports. 6 Nesbitt, R.A., Hutchinson, N.J., Klein, H.E., Parlee, B.L., Hart, J., Tulugak, J., and Manzo, L. 2018. The One Voice method: Connecting Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit with western science to monitor Northern Canada’s freshwater aquatic environment. Polar Knowledge: Aqhaliat 2018, Polar Knowledge Canada, p. ##–##. KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary the NGMP, NWB, CIRNAC, ECCC, HESL (consultants to the KIA), the Government of Nunavut- Department of Environment and other stakeholders. This funding however, only addressed program development activities and preliminary background investigations. The KIA applied to the NGMP for the initial implementation (first three years) of the full monitoring program and to provide experience to Nunavummiut youth to establish their future role in Inuu’tuti monitoring and support their own career development. The Federal Government responded that they have not sufficient funds to implement the program this year and that program funding required application to the Treasury Board that may take 3 years to secure.

PROGRAM DESIGN PRINCIPLES

The Inuu’tuti CEMP is designed from the principles of both western ecological science and IQ, ensuring that the overall program can benefit from both and is driven by the community itself. The program design was cognizant of other monitoring programs already in place in the region and works to harmonize methods applied by all stakeholders generating data. While these stakeholders have expressed interest in supporting regional aquatic CEMP monitoring, none of have been able to commit financially as of yet.

Valued Ecosystem Components (VECs) are aspects of the environment people in a particular region or community consider to be of vital importance. The Inuu’tuti CEMP includes VECs that are likely to be directly and indirectly influenced by the known stressors (stressor-based study design), as well as those which are intended to evaluate the condition of the watershed (effects-based study design). VECs selected for the Inuu’tuti CEMP are: climate and meteorology, hydrology and water quantity, surface water quality, and fish tissue chemistry. All of these have direct relevance to and interaction with, Inuit uses of the land and water.

The Baker Lake Drainage Basin is currently affected by several known stressors which may result in cumulative impacts to the watershed over the coming years. Climate change in Arctic regions, including Baker Lake has been well documented and it is occurring at an accelerated pace compared to southern latitudes. The sensitivity of polar systems to increased temperatures has implications to the physical and chemical composition of their watersheds and ways Inuit interact with their environment. Direct effects include loss of ice over, changes in runoff patterns, slumping of permafrost and associated changes in water levels and small ponds in the landscape, inputs of solids to fresh water and mobilization of contaminants. Responses to climate change will act cumulatively with other stressors such as population growth and industrial development. It is therefore important to include the influence of climate change when developing long-term watershed and drainage basin management strategies.

Other stressors include the interaction of wind, water levels and saline intrusions from Hudson Bay into Baker Lake with the community’s drinking water; regional mineral exploration and development; a rapidly growing population within the Hamlet and resultant waste disposal; and isostatic rebound influencing local surface hydrology. Baker Lake experiences one of the fastest rates of isostatic rebound in the country with rates approaching 10mm per year. Elders and other community members have KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary spoken of occasional salty taste in surface waters and noted that it usually coincides with a full moon and low inflows. The dynamics of the saline influence has been documented through a targeted three- year investigation conducted by HESL on behalf of the KIA and the community.

The study design incorporates aspects of a before/after control-impact (BACI) approach to facilitate comparisons of specific study and reference sites over both time and location in an effort to distinguish the natural variability at a site (or regional variability in the case of climate change) from other influences. Although the intent of the Inuu’tuti CEMP is not to determine the influence of any particular point sources at this time (as these are covered by their respective Water Licences from the NWB), the concept of gradients of exposure from point sources have influenced site selection in addition to a broader effects-based study design to monitor the condition of the sub watersheds. Sites selected for the Inuu’tuti CEMP incorporate concepts of both stressor and effects-based study design and include locations to monitor the aquatic environment at the project, watershed, and basin scales.

PROGRAM DESIGN DETAILS

Overall, 38 sites have been recommended for the Inuu’tuti CEMP:

• 35 of these were selected to monitor VECs directly associated with the aquatic environment: o Twenty were selected based in part on community interest and IQ; these sites were located near areas of good drinking water, at locations frequented by the community as part of traditional land use practices and near locations the community had identified as potentially contaminated. o Fifteen were selected based on scientific needs or the existence of ongoing monitoring by, for example, the Water Survey of Canada. o Three sites provide supplemental information for the interpretation of water quality (climate and meteorological indicators, and water level in Baker Lake) • Hydrometric and climate change data are gathered by the Government of Canada via ECCC, the Canadian Ice Service and through partnership agreements • Most of the data are collected following nationally standardized operating protocols and undergo internal quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) checks to ensure data meets international standards.

A figure outlining all proposed sites has been appended to the end of this proposal.

For each VEC, we have proposed a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to collect the data, QA/QC protocols to ensure their quality, and standards for merging datasets from multiple providers.

The proposed field program consists of three annual field events

• One conducted in March or April when the lakes and rivers are frozen, but daylight permits safe travel. Sites will be accessed by helicopter and snow machine. KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary

• One in the early open water season shortly after freshet. Sites will be accessed by helicopter, boat and ATV. • One in the later open water season prior to freeze-up. Sites will be accessed by helicopter, boat and ATV.

We propose a three-year implementation in this application.

Physicochemical measurements (water temperature, conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen) will be collected in the field at all stations. At lake sites, discrete measurements will also be recorded at every meter to provide a physicochemical profile of the vertical water column.

Samples for laboratory analysis of water quality will be collected from the surface (grab samples at ~ 30cm depth) at all sample locations. Samples will be collected from one meter off the bottom of lakes using a Kemmerer sampler if the depth is greater than 5 m and/or thermal or chemical stratification is present.

QA/QC samples (field blanks and duplicates) will be collected at 10% of all sites randomly selected prior to each field day. Surface eDNA samples will also be collected as this time to give data on fish species assemblage.

DNA levels and quality will also be assessed to determine the impact of water physicochemistry and season on these parameters.

Water quality samples will be analysed for a suite of key parameters broken down into seven categories: physicochemical characteristics, anions and nutrients, general chemistry, organic carbon, contaminants, total metals, and radionuclides. Our selection criteria focused on parameters which were:

• most likely to be impacted by a) industrial development, b) community growth or c) climate change, • consistently included in historical aquatic field programs assessed as part of the Baker Lake Baseline report or • were specifically identified as important to Inuit use of water in the “One Voice” project.

The fisheries program will include documentation of overall fish health using IQ, specific measurements of fish health indicators and collection of tissue samples for contaminant analyses. Six sites of community interest were selected for the fisheries program which will be conducted in either the second or third year of the proposed three-year funding period – budget line items are included in year three. To facilitate cost efficiencies, fisheries sampling has been budgeted as though it is conducted immediately following an open water field event. Fish will be collected using traditional methods used by Nunavummiut: line-and-hook angling, deployment of gill nets or a fish spear (i.e. kakivak). This is intended to tailor the program more directly to the needs of the community. All these capture methods are suitable for assessing fish tissue chemistry and local knowledge is more suitable to determine KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary effective collective methods than the evaluation or implementation of specific standardized sampling protocols.

Data on the other VECs will be downloaded annually from third party sources. Hydrological information will be collected via Water Survey of Canada hydrometric stations and downloaded as available. Meteorological data will be gathered from the existing ECCC station Baker Lake Ice cover of Baker Lake will be acquired from the Canadian Ice Service.

ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNICATION

As the proposed program represents the initial implementation, we have also included annual strategic planning. This includes at least six teleconferences per year with the Inuu’tuti Secretariat and a two day in person meeting with the existing Project Secretariat and Technical Advisory Group comprised of government, industry and community stakeholders. Ongoing communication is intended to ensure the program continues to meet the needs of all stakeholders; the monitoring program will be adjusted iteratively as needed. Meetings also build support for a treasury board application to ensure continued financial support for the program at the end of this three-year request.

We are also aware that ongoing community engagement is essential to ensure that the Hamlet of Baker Lake continues to be involved and that their concerns are reflected in the evolving program. We have therefore included a significant focus on development of a Community Based Monitoring Program based on the findings of the One Voice project. This includes a significant focus on plain language documentation in our annual reporting tasks - an annual plain language report disseminated to the community via the Baker Lake KIA office, articles distributed throughout the Kivalliq Region in the KIA newsletter and a three-day community engagement meeting in Baker Lake at the end of the three-year monitoring period. This meeting will include the preparation of plain language posters presented in both Inuktitut and English, face to face discussion with community members a PowerPoint presentation to go over all materials with the community, a radio show and a presentation to the local high school students.

KIA Lands Department Program Design Summary

Further Details

Referenced documents created to date in support of the Inuu’tuti program, including copies of the KIA newsletters, can be provided upon request. They have not been appended to this submission due to file size restrictions. We can also provide the full Inuu’tuti scientific monitoring plan to the committee upon request. It provides significantly more detail than was possible in this submission.

We seek funding for full implementation of Innu’tuti for three years and support for preparation of a submission to the Treasury Board for long term sustained funding.

The Inuu’tuti monitoring program design encompasses the Goals and objectives of the Arctic Policy Framework in the following areas:

Knowledge and understanding guides decision-making Protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity Canadian Arctic and northern ecosystems are healthy and resilient

We thank the committee for your consideration. 105°0'W 104°0'W 103°0'W 102°0'W 101°0'W 100°0'W 99°0'W 98°0'W 97°0'W 96°0'W 95°0'W 94°0'W Sampling Sites

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