Canada-U.S. Environmental Agreements

Multilateral Environmental Agreements are treaties on environmental issues signed between many nations.  Bilateral environmental agreements are signed between two nations.  Bilateral agreements tend to be tailored to deal with particular environmental conflicts that may arise between the two nations in a way that Multilateral agreements cannot be. 

In Canada’s case most environmental bilateral agreements are between Canada and the United States, since the U.S. is the only nation with which we share a border. 

The following are some of the key Canada-U.S. agreements that may be relevant to watershed advocates:

·         Canada-U.S. Migratory Birds Convention (1916) – Canada’s Migratory Birds Convention Act is intended to implement the obligations created by this treaty.  Generally the treaty is intended to protect migratory birds against hunting and the destruction of their habitat. 

·         Pacific Salmon Treaty (1985) – This agreement creates an international Pacific Salmon Commission responsible for ensuring that salmon are conserved to “achieve optimum production”, and for allocating the amount of fish to be taken between the two countries.  

·         International Boundary Waters Treaty (1909) – An agreement to protect against the pollution of waters (especially rivers and lakes) that cross the U.S. – Canada border.  It creates the International Joint Commission (IJC) to arbitrate water pollution disputes between the two countries.  The Treaty is legally binding in Canada under the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act. 

·         Canada-U.S. Agreement Concerning the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste – An agreement providing for the safe handling and management of hazardous waste across the Canada-U.S. Border.

·         Columbia River Treaty – An agreement governing the management of dams on the Columbia River with an aim to ensuring that dams do not negatively affect the flow of water in the Columbia on the U.S. side of the border.

·         Agreement between Canada and the United States on Air Quality – An agreement aimed at reducing air pollution flowing between the two countries, by setting out specific measures and targets that each country agrees to implement. 

Another agreement with an environmental focus involving Canada and the U.S. is the Agreement on Environmental Cooperation between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, also known as the environmental side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement.  Although this is technically not a bilateral agreement, because Mexico is also a party (making the agreement tri-lateral), this agreement creates the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) – a commission with members from all three countries charged coordinating environmental protection between the three jurisdictions and with investigating citizens complaints that a country’s environmental laws are not being enforced. 

Bilateral Agreements with other Countries

Although the vast majority of Canada’s bilateral environmental agreements are with the U.S., there are exceptions.  Relatively few of these will be of direct relevance to watershed management in B.C.  One notable agreement, however, is the Agreement on Environmental Cooperation between Canada and Chile, which, like the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, allows citizens to make complaints about non-enforcement of environmental statutes to a joint Canada-Chile process.

Related Guide Pages:

·         Global Context

·         Multilateral Environmental Agreements

For more information about Canada-U.S. Environmental Agreements:

·         West Coast Environmental Law’s Kyoto, Pops and Straddling Stocks.

·         Database of Canada’s International Environmental Commitments on the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade website. 

·         Transboundary Agreements Infobase on the Commission on Environmental Cooperation.