Approximately 225 people attended the community meetings that were held during the week of November 4, 2013. Meetings were held in Jaffray, Cranbrook, Golden, Nakusp (two meetings – afternoon and evening) and Castlegar.

The November community meetings began with a presentation by BC Hydro on two additional technical studies that had been undertaken as a result of feedback from First Nations, the Fish and Wildlife Technical Committee and community members. The studies analyzed an Arrow Lakes Reservoir constant mid-level pool scenario, and an ecosystem-wide scenario. The Columbia River Treaty Review team then led a review of the draft public consultation report and draft BC Recommendation and Principles. Question and answers and small group discussions ended the Province’s portion of the meeting. The Columbia River Treaty Local Governments’ Committee then made a presentation on their recommendations to governments.

Most meeting attendees wanted to see improvements under the Treaty and provided the Treaty Review team with a lot of ideas on how to achieve this. Some ideas that came up in many communities included: managing operations to better benefit ecosystems; getting a good handle on the monetary value of the benefits under the Treaty to the U.S. and to B. C.; looking at the issue as a negotiation with the U.S. for water supply rather than just for flood control or power or ecosystems; and engaging strong negotiators and other experts to support the process.

Many attendees wanted to ensure that U.S. payments reflected the impact on the Basin of providing water flows to meet U.S. interests. They were concerned about the Province getting a fair deal and that if additional payments that reflected the whole suite of benefits to the U. S. (for recreation, navigation, irrigation, municipal and industry water supply as well as flood control, power and ecosystems) were realized, that the Basin get a fair share of it.

Return of the salmon, adapting to climate change, and support for agriculture was raised during the community meetings as was a concern that Columbia Basin Trust funding more closely reflected impact of the Treaty on communities. Some attendees came to the meetings because they wanted to ensure that flooding and the impact to private property was not forgotten. A more detailed summary of the November community meetings will be available soon at blog.gov.bc.ca/columbiarivertreaty/community-sessions/