The New COA

Draft Agreement

Draft Annexes

• Areas of Concern
• Harmful Pollutants
• Lakewide Management
• Monitoring and Information

Caution: These are draft documents only. They were used for public comment purposes. Final drafts will be ready in time for signing and will be posted in the near future.

Monitoring and Information
Management Annex to the
Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting
the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem

BETWEEN

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF CANADA (CANADA)

AND

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF ONTARIO (ONTARIO)

WHEREAS the Governor in Council, by Order in Council No. P.C. , dated the day of , 200 has authorized the Canada Minister(s) to execute and deliver this Annex on behalf of Her Majesty;

WHEREAS the Lieutenant Governor in Council, by Order in Council No. O.C. , dated the day of , 200 has authorized the Ontario Minister(s) to execute and deliver this Annex on behalf of ;

I Preamble

To achieve the Canada-Ontario Agreement's (COA) vision of a healthy, prosperous and sustainable Great Lakes Basin ecosystem it is necessary that governments, organizations, and basin residents have access to accurate information regarding trends in environmental quality. Monitoring helps to detect and characterize emerging issues as well as historic issues requiring additional management.

No one organization has the mandate or ability to examine the state of the Great Lakes in its entirety. However, several agencies, organizations and individuals routinely collect data, analyze them and report on parts of the ecosystem. Common understanding, vocabulary, standards and protocols are all prerequisites for reporting meaningfully on how monitoring commitments are being met, to track progress in achieving environmental objectives, and to define appropriate actions.

Coordinated and cross-referenced monitoring plans are to be implemented under the respective Annexes. Responsibility for ensuring compatibility among Annex monitoring activities, reporting and sharing of collected information will reside with the appropriate parties to each Annex.

The monitoring programs managed under COA are a subset of the fuller range of Great Lakes monitoring programs undertaken by the parties. The complete needs pertaining to information management under COA remain to be defined as new technology and systems are investigated.

II Goals

Canada and Ontario have identified two goals for the next five years that will ensure governments, organizations, and basin residents have access to accurate information regarding trends in environmental quality. They are:

1. Coordinated and efficient federal/provincial scientific monitoring; and,
2. An information management system for tracking environmental change and progress.

III Results

Canada and Ontario will ensure accurate and timely information on environmental progress by achieving:

Result 1

Responsive and comprehensive monitoring programs.

Canada and Ontario will:

• Develop and maintain an indexed inventory of on-going monitoring programs and activities and track their status;
• Circulate an indexed inventory of ongoing monitoring activities to program managers via workshops, web-sites, or through other opportunities such as State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC);
• Identify gaps in monitoring activity as well as emerging needs and determine their significance; and,
• Address significant gaps and needs.

Result 2

Scientific data and information shared among government, organizations and basin residents.

Canada and Ontario will:

• Organize a workshop within six months to assess existing designs in order to propose a compatible and coherent information management system framework for COA;
• Identify key contacts for administering the information management system;
• Develop and maintain the compatible and coherent information management system framework for COA;
• Ensure federal and provincial COA information management systems are compatible with each other; and,
• Provide public access to monitoring information through the Internet and published reports.

Canada will:

• Ensure compatibility with current federal information management systems, e.g., Environmental Management Inventory (EMI), Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (EMAN) and National Contaminants Info System (NCIS).

Ontario will:

• Ensure compatibility with current provincial information management systems, e.g., Land Information Ontario (LIO) and Water Resources Information Project (WRIP).

IV Management and Administration

This Annex will remain in effect for five years, after which time it may be considered for renegotiation and/or renewal by Canada and Ontario. Renegotiation, renewal or amendments to this Annex will include public consultation in accordance with the Canada-Ontario Agreement. Upon mutual agreement, the Parties may amend this Annex at any time.

Effective implementation and management of this Annex will ensure progress and consistency in decision making, monitoring, communications and reporting, as well as clarity in government leadership pursuant to this Annex.

To coordinate the development and delivery of Work Plans and Progress Reports, the Parties will establish a federal-provincial Monitoring and Information Management Subcommittee.

The Subcommittee will report to, and receive direction from, the COA Management Committee. The Subcommittee will be co-chaired by a director-level representative of the Government of Ontario and a director-level representative of the Government of Canada. It will be comprised of representatives of those departments and ministries of the Governments of Canada and Ontario responsible for delivery of commitments and the achievement of the Annex Goals.

Canada and Ontario will provide resources for the operation of the Monitoring and Information Management Subcommittee jointly and equally.

The committee will:

• Develop and coordinate implementation of a multi-year Work Plan within 12 months of this Annex coming into effect. The work-plan will be submitted to the COA Management Committee for review and approval. The Work Plan will describe the activities and deliverables of each contributing agency in relation to the specific results and commitments articulated within the Annex. In preparing COA Work Plans, every effort will be made to maximize the integration of activities of contributing departments and ministries in order to ensure a coordinated and cooperative approach;
• Annually, by June 1, update the multi-year Work Plan and prepared Progress Reports for review and approval by the COA Management Committee; and,
• Establish issue teams, as needed, (e.g., monitoring inventory, information technology, data dissemination) that serve the monitoring and information management needs. These issue teams will report to the Management Subcommittee.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Annex has been executed on the _______ day of _______, 2001.

Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada

_______________________ _______________________

Witness

Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Ontario

_______________________ _______________________

Witness

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