The GLWQA Workbook

The GLWQA Workbook has been designed to support your participation in the public meetings and online events that the International Joint Commission is holding to seek the public's views on the review of the Agreement.

It contains background information as well as questions that might help you formulate your views.

Download a PDF version of the entire workbook.
Download a PDF file of the questions.

The questions

Expectations

What are the issues in your part of the basin and in the Great Lakes ecosystem as a whole that you want to see addressed?

• Are you concerned about the quality of groundwater and surface water near where you live? If so, what concerns you?
• Do you have concerns about other components of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem? If so, what are they?
• Is government action required to address your concerns? If so, which level of government should that be-municipal, state or provincial, federal, or international?

Effectiveness

Is the Agreement effective in restoring and maintaining the waters of the Great Lakes basin ecosystem?

• Is the Agreement helping to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Great Lakes? If not, why not?
• In which situations does the Agreement succeed or fall short? Which parts of the Agreement have worked well and which have not?
• What do you think about how governments have been implementing the Agreement? Is there anything else they could or should be doing?

Scope

Does the Agreement deal with everything it should?

• Are the purpose and scope of the Agreement appropriate for 2006 and beyond? If not, how should they be expanded or limited in a revised Agreement.
• Are parts of the Agreement out of date? If so, what are they and should they be revised or deleted?
• Does the Agreement address all critical issues? If not, what is missing and what are the most important two or three of these?

Public engagement

How should the public be involved in the review and implementation of the Agreement?

• Is the public sufficiently informed about programs and progress to achieve the goals of the Agreement? What approaches have worked well and what other techniques could be used?
• Has there been sufficient engagement by the public in carrying out the Agreement's goals and actions? How could it be improved?
• Are there examples of how the public has been involved that could serve as a model in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River basin?

Last update: