The March 22, 2013 Columbia River Treaty Review Conference in Castlegar and a community workshop in Fauquier planned for June are expected to be the last major public engagement events. The next step will be to develop a public consultation report that summarizes the entire Columbia River Treaty Review public consultation process.

 The draft report will be posted on the website for public comment during June and July 2013 to ensure that Basin residents’ perspectives are accurately captured. The final Columbia River Treaty Review public consultation report will be posted on the website by the end of August. The report will be appended to the recommendations the Treaty Review team will make to the Province in fall 2013 on the strategic decision to continue, amend or terminate the Columbia River Treaty.

The Treaty Review team will continue to solicit input from residents and community organizations on whether the Treaty should be continued, amended or terminated. It is important to note that only after a decision is made on the future of the Treaty on both sides of the border will there be further dialogue on what this may mean with respect to potential changes to future reservoir operations. Until mid August 2013, Basin residents can send emails with their comments and suggestions on the future of the Columbia River Treaty to columbiarivertreaty@gov.bc.ca. Letters can be mailed to:  

Columbia River Treaty Review
Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas
PO Box 9314 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria BC V8W 9N1

Basin residents can also contact Treaty Review team members directly. Please see the Treaty Review team’s contact information at the end of the newsletter.