What is a Water Treaty?
The Lake Winnipeg Watershed Treaty is a collaborative initiative led by the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective and Decolonizing Water, aiming to recognize and protect the inherent rights of Lake Winnipeg, advocate for Indigenous sovereignty in the watershed and explore concepts of legal personhood for the lake.
This approach acknowledges the lake as a living entity with its own rights, similar to those held by humans and other animals. The treaty seeks to reimagine our responsibility to water, restore Indigenous land-based knowledge systems, improve water quality and address agricultural, urban and industrial outflows into the watershed. By uniting First Nations within the Lake Winnipeg basin, the treaty seeks to strengthen Indigenous sovereignty, water rights and governance.
Recognizing the rights of Lake Winnipeg is crucial for preserving the ecological balance, cultural significance and spiritual health of the region.
We invite everyone living in the Lake Winnipeg Watershed and all its supporters to join us in imagining what a Water Treaty could be.
Our collective action is essential to protect water on Indigenous lands for current and future generations.
