Presenting webinar series on the Canada Water Agency: Role of Quebec and raising awareness

Description

Building on a commitment in his 2019 electoral platform and reiterated in the 2020 Speech from the Throne,  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed his government to creating a Canadian Water Agency:

“With the support of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, create a new Canada Water Agency to work together with the provinces, territories, Indigenous communities, local authorities, scientists and others to find the best ways to keep our water safe, clean and well-managed.” – Excerpt from  mandate letter to Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson, December 2019

“ The Government will create a new Canada Water Agency to keep our water safe, clean, and well-managed. » Speech from the Throne, September 2020

Montréal-based national organization Aqua Forum, with support from the Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, convened a working group of topwater experts and organizations in Québec, in order to consider the CWA and host public webinars with a view to:

• highlighting the proposed role and functions planned for this new Agency;
• explore the position of some Quebec and international organizations; and
• discuss the role the Canadian Water Agency could play in raising Canadians’ awareness of major water issues

These webinars provide a unique opportunity to inform, inspire, and influence the roles and functions that the proposed Canada Water Agency will have in the future. Both will take place on October 13th.

 

Webinar # 1 (10:30 am to 12:00 pm EST): The Canada Water Agency and the Province of Québec

The purpose of this webinar is to take stock of the vision and progress made to date on the creation of the Canadian Water Agency and to learn about the recommendations put forward by various Québec and international organizations regarding water governance.

 

	10:30 am: Introduction by Dominique Monchamp (MC), Senior advisor of the De Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and Aqua Forum.
	10:35 am: The Federal Government’s Commitment to Creating the Canada Water Agency by Francis Scarpaleggia, Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment.
	10:50 am: The importance of Innovative Water Governance in 2020 by Jean Cinq-Mars, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Collaborative (Québec Commissioner for Sustainable Development, 2009-2016).
	11:00 am: Recommendations by the International joint Commission by Pierre-Yves Caux, Ph. D. Director of Science and Engineering for the Canadian Section, International Joint Commission (IJC).
	11:10 am: The Importance of Talking About Water by Christiane Pelchat, President and Chief Executive Officer of Réseau Environnement.
	11:20 am Q&A / Discussion

 

Please Register Here!

 

Webinar Part 2 (1:30-3:00 pm EST): The Canada Water Agency’s Role in Raising Awareness of Water Issues Among Canadians

This webinar aims to highlight the awareness campaigns on water issues carried out by various organizations in Québec, while presenting lessons learned and key elements in the success of public awareness campaigns.

	13:30 am: Introduction by Dominique Monchamp (MC), senior advisor of the De Gaspe Beaubien Foundation and Aqua Forum.
	1:35 pm: The Greatest Water Issues Unknown to Canadians by Sonja Behmel, CEO and Cofounder of Watershed Monitoring; President and Cofounder of WaterShed Monitoring Europe; Scientific Coordinator at Agiro; Adjunct Professor at Laval University
	1h50: Inspiring Water Awareness initiatives
	St-Lawrence River Challenge – Défi Saint-Laurent by Jean-Éric Turcotte, Executive Director of Stratégies Saint-Laurent et executive director of Fonds d’action Saint-Laurent.
	Educational center on water – Le Centre d’interprétation de l’eau by Denise Cloutier, Executive Director of the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau (C.I.EAU).
	Saving drinking water program – Économie d’eau potable – by Mathieu Laneuville, Deputy Director General at Réseau Environnement.
	I adopt a stream – by Nathalie Piedboeuf, Executive Director of the Education and Water Monitoring Action Group (EWAG).
	Think blue-Pensez-bleu – by Celine Schaldembrand, Communications Coordinator of the Regroupement des organismes de bassins versants du Québec (ROBVQ)
	My River and me- Mon fleuve et moi by Benoit Mercille, Executive Director of the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation
	Instigator of the “Les Blancs-bec débarquent” initiative Frédéric Poitras, committed citizen
	The Commitment of Saukiing Anishinaabekiing Reality Ambassadors to Water Protection, André-Yanne, Executive Director of the Climate Reality Project Canada
	2:20 pm: The key elements to the success of a good awareness campaign, from a marketing point of view by François de Gaspé Beaubien, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zoom
	2:40 pm: Q & A / Discussion

Please Register Here!

 

Working group

The working group convened by the de Gaspé Beaubien foundation and Aqua Forum includes the following experts:

• Antoine Verville, Executive Director of l« Regroupement des organismes de bassins versants du Québec » (ROBVQ)
• Denise Cloutier, Executive Director of the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau (C.I.EAU) chair of COBAMIL and board member of ROBVQ
• Dominique Monchamp, senior advisor of the De Gaspe Beaubien Foundation and Aqua Forum
• Jean Cinq-Mars, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Collaborative (former Quebec Commissioner for Sustainable Development, 2009-2016)
• Jean Paquin, Vice President technology, Sanexen
• Jean-Éric Turcotte, Executive Director of Stratégies Saint-Laurent
• Stéphanie Allard, urban planner and biologist, Partner of ÉCOgestion-solutions (secrétary)

Documents

• Letter sent to the Minister
• Synthesis of similar work in the field (French)

 

Biography

Dominique Monchamp, Senior advisor of the De Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and Aqua Forum.

With over 30 years of high-level experience in program management and organization, Dominique Monchamp has been part of the de Gaspé Beaubien family foundation for almost 20 years. Wholeheartedly dedicated to the growth of the Foundation, she plays a key role in implementing the family’s philanthropic and other projects.

Recruited by Nan-B and Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien II in 1999, Dominique has been the Director of Operations for the family’s personal and philanthropic projects. 

From 2009 to 2017, she served as the Executive Director of the de Gaspé de Beaubien Foundation and since 2017 she has been the Senior Advisor to both the De Gaspé Beaubien Foundation and the organization it founded to address freshwater in Canada: Aqua Forum.

Before joining the ranks of the de Gaspé Beaubien family, Dominique served as Program Director at several non-profit organizations, including the Montreal YWCA and Université du Québec in Montréal. She was also a consultant in tourism management for GESCONA, a tourism and travel company for businesses.

Working exclusively for the de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, Mme. Monchamp is actively involved in all ongoing programs, specifically the AquaHacking program dedicated to engaging young entrepreneurs to devise tech solutions to water problems.

Francis Scarpaleggia, Member of Parliament for Lac-Saint-Louis and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment.

Francis Scarpaleggia was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004. Since 2011 he has served as Chair of the National Liberal Caucus. He is currently a member of the House of Commons environment committee.

Francis has made the protection of Canada’s freshwater a personal priority. He has sponsored a motion in Parliament to establish a national water strategy, introduced a bill to ban bulk-water exports, and more recently tabled a bill on Canada’s drinking-water guidelines. He also initiated an in-depth study by the House of Commons environment committee into the impact of the oil sands on Canada’s water resources. He is currently the sponsor of a private member’s motion asking the House of Commons environment committee to study federal policies and laws relating to freshwater.

Francis holds an undergraduate degree in economics front McGill University. He also possesses a master’s degree in economics from Columbia University and an MBA from Concordia University.‎

Jean Cinq-Mars, Jean Cinq-Mars, Co-Chair of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Collaborative (Québec Commissioner for Sustainable Development, 2009-2016)

Mr. Jean Cinq-Mars served as Québec’s Sustainable Development Commissioner from 2009 through 2016.  Prior to this position, he was the president of ERSD Consulting, an environment, natural resources, and sustainable development consulting firm. He is the past chair of Canada’s National Forest Strategy Coalition (2004-2006). Prior to becoming a consultant, Mr. Cinq-Mars has occupied the positions of President of Wildlife Habitat Canada, Head of Division for Pollution Prevention and Control at the Environment Directorate of the OECD in Paris as well as Environment Canada’s Director of the Canadian Wildlife Service and Director of Environment Protection for Québec.

He is a director of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE), a member of the advisory panel for Canada’s federal Commissioner for the Environment and Sustainable Development, fellow of the Royal Geographic Society of Canada. Since completing his mandate as Quebec’s Sustainable Development Commissioner, Mr. Cinq-Mars has returned to consulting with Canadian and international organizations. Mr. Cinq-Mars holds degrees in biology and public administration.

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Pierre-Yves Caux, Ph. D. Director of Science and Engineering for the Canadian Section, International Joint Commission (IJC)

Dr. Pierre-Yves Caux currently manages a group of water resource scientists at the International Joint Commission (IJC).  He is the Director of science and engineering for the IJC Canadian Section.  The work involves the resolution and prevention of conflict in transboundary basins between the U.S. and Canada through the collaborative management and research of water levels and flows and water quality.  He obtained a Ph.D. in ecotoxicology at the University of Ottawa in 1988.  He went on to do a Post Doc at the St-Lawrence Centre in Montreal where he led the pesticide program for Environment Canada. He then joined the department’s Water Quality Branch in 1990 and then later the Pesticide Division.  He managed the Water Quality Guidelines Division and improved on approaches to the development of water quality criteria and objectives.  In two other divisions, he managed science/policy staff and researchers in environmental technology development.

In his career, Dr. Caux has chaired several water and toxics related committees. Currently, he is IJC liaison for the Lake Champlain Richelieu River Study, an investigation on potential solutions to mitigate flooding.  Recently he co-led an IJC study on excessive nutrients in the Champlain and Memphremagog watersheds. He enjoys managing and coaching staff, collaborating with partners, leading programs, and providing advice on water resource management.

Christiane Pelchat, Christiane Pelchat, President and Chief Executive Officer of Réseau Environnement

A lawyer by training, Christiane Pelchat has extensive leadership experience. One of the youngest women elected as MLA in the Québec National Assembly, she was also chair of the Québec Council on the Status of Women, General Delegate of Québec in Mexico, and consultant on women’s rights in Haiti and West Africa. Since 2019, she has been  the CEO of Réseau Environnement, the most important group of environmental experts in Québec. 

 

Sonja Behmel, CEO and Cofounder of Watershed Monitoring; President and Cofounder of WaterShed Monitoring Europe; Scientific Coordinator at Agiro; Adjunct Professor at Laval University

Geographer specialized in limnology, Sonja Behmel holds a Ph.D. in spatial planning and regional development. Strong with many years of experience in the field of water management in Canada and Europe, she is actively involved in the R&D and the training of the new generation of scientists and has authored numerous technical reports and scholarly articles. For more than 10 years now, Ms. Behmel also distinguishes herself as a scientific coordinator for Agiro and volunteering in various organizations dedicated to protecting water resources, here in Canada as well as internationally. Throughout the years, she received several awards for the quality of her work as a scientist and as an entrepreneur.

In 2013, she founded, together with academic and business partners, Watershed Monitoring, a company intending to provide stakeholders involved in integrated watershed management with innovative technological solutions to address water quality data storing and analyzing challenges while offering optimization and coaching services to facilitate knowledge acquisition and meet the needs in water resource management, urban planning, and research. With that in mind, WaterShed Monitoring developed and marketed Enki®, one-stop access for water-related data, in accordance with the “Smart communities” and “Learning communities” principles.

Jean-Éric Turcotte, Executive Director of Stratégies Saint-Laurent et executive director of Fonds d’action Saint-Laurent

Jean-Éric is trained in communications (Arts and media technologies), physical geography (Université Laval – Centre d’Études nordiques) and environment.

Jean-Éric has been General Manager of Stratégies Saint-Laurent since June 2011. He had worked as project coordinator for SSL between 2008 and 2011. Since August 2018, he also holds the position of Executive Director of Fonds d’action St-Laurent, a Foundation that supports initiatives for the conservation, restoration, and enhancement of the St. Lawrence River. He also held the position of Executive Director at Nature Québec between 2005 and 2008 and other positions of responsibility with various NGOs since 1998. He also taught geography at the college level for nearly 10 years.

Denise Cloutier, Executive Director of the Centre d’interprétation de l’eau (C.I.EAU)

Denise Cloutier has been Executive Director of the Water Interpretation Center (C.I.EAU) since 2017, after being a member of the Board for seven years. With her team, she raises awareness among audiences of all ages about the importance of the protection and responsible use of water through scientific activities and the permanent exhibition “Le Chemin de l’eau de la rivière à la rivière” in the Water Museum located in Laval.

Since 2009, she has been dedicated to improving integrated water management, particularly with her company Arrimage.Com. Elected as a municipal counsellor for almost 20 years, she completed a bachelor’s degree in international marketing / management at HEC, then a master’s degree in environment at the University of Sherbrooke on water governance.

Strongly involved in the field of water and concerned about the protection of rivers, she founded the COBAMIL (Watershed Council of the Thousand Islands River), which she has chaired since 2010. She also sits on the Strategic Council of the Regional Concertation Table of the Upper St. Lawrence and Greater Montreal since its founding, to which she participated, and on the boards of directors of the Coalition of Watershed Organizations of Quebec (ROBVQ), of the Coalition for a responsible and sustainable navigation and of the Lac Laurel Association in the Laurentians.

Mathieu Laneuville, Deputy Director General at Réseau Environnement

Mr. Mathieu Laneuville is Deputy Director General at Réseau Environnement, the largest association of environmental specialists in the province of Quebec, Canada. He has ten years of progressively responsible experience in government, leading innovative solutions for sustainable development. He is recognized for his collaborative problem-solving with local and global specialists and policy-makers to deliver concrete results, such as the reduction of the water produced per person in Quebec by one third. Mr. Laneuville communicates regularly to diverse audiences and has prepared over a hundred conferences, publications, and interviews in Quebec and internationally. His leadership has been recognized by several organizations including the American Water Works Association, Polytechnique Montreal, and the National Assembly of Quebec. Mr. Laneuville holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and he received the best master’s thesis award from École de technologie supérieure, where he is now a lecturer at graduate level.

Nathalie Piedboeuf, Executive Director of the Education and Water Monitoring Action Group (EWAG)

Nathalie Piedboeuf holds a Bachelor’s Degree in wildlife management and a Master’s degree in biology. For more than 30 years, she has worked in the fields of ecology and environmental education.

Executive Director of the Water Education and Ecomonitoring Group since 1998, she has set up a nature science education program and a nature interpretation center in the greater Quebec City area. Initiator of the I Adopt a Water Course program, she is actively involved in the development and management of citizen science and ecological water monitoring programs at the provincial and national level as well as the network of regional coordinators. She also participated in the development of training on educational strategies in ERA and the establishment of a leadership workshop in Quebec.

Involved in various education and water-related committees, Nathalie believes in the importance of awareness, education and the involvement of citizens and the power of young people to protect this precious resource that is Water.

Céline Schaldembrand, Communications Coordinator of the Regroupement des organismes de bassins versants du Québec (ROBVQ)

Linguist by training, Céline Schaldembrand arrived in Quebec in 2008, where she reoriented her career and undertook a graduate degree specializing in public relations at Laval University.

Since then, she has worked mostly in the field of water management. First, five years with Stratégies Saint-Laurent as communications coordinator and then as communications director, where she notably participated in the creation of the Semaine du Saint-Laurent (St. Lawrence week) and that of the Saint-Laurent Action Fund. She also acted as ad hoc editor of an issue of the Canadian Naturaliste dedicated to the St. Lawrence River.

Céline also worked for two years at the Saint-Lawrence economic development council (Sodes) where she coordinated and implemented a campaign to promote the maritime industry intended for several audiences such as elected officials and municipalities, the media, and the general public. She has been acting at ROBVQ as an interim communications coordinator since January 2020.

Benoit Mercille, directeur général de la Fondation Monique-Fitz-back

Benoît Mercille has been the Executive Director of the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation since August 2011.

Benoît holds a Bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Sherbrooke, a certificate in education sciences from the University of Québec in Rimouski, and a graduate diploma in specialized organizational development from University Laval. He worked for the “Fondation de la faune du Québec” for some 20 years where he managed and developed financial assistance programs for wildlife and conservation organizations, and was responsible for developing financial partnerships and fundraising activities, as well as raising the Foundation’s profile.

Benoît’s mandate now is to develop the organizational and financial strength of the Monique-Fitz-Back Foundation and to maintain the high quality of the projects carried out by the Foundation’s team.

François de Gaspé Beaubien, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zoom Media, Chair of Aqua Forum

François de Gaspé Beaubien obtained a BA with honors from Haverford College before earning an MBA with distinction at Harvard Business School in 1989. Because of his strong academic performance, he was recruited by the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, one of the oldest and most prestigious academic honor societies in the United States.

After concluding his studies, François rose up the publishing ranks from publisher of New England Monthly magazine to eventually become President of Telemedia Publishing, Canada’s largest consumer magazine company at the time with titles ranging from TV Guide to Elle magazine. He and his team turned the organization from losses to the most profitable publishing group in Canada and he then sold that division in 2000.  He and his brother oversaw the expansion of their radio division as co-CEOs to become Canada’s largest radio broadcaster, Telemedia, which they then sold in 2002.  In 2003, François acquired Zoom Media, an indoor advertising company. Since he became CEO, the company has experienced tremendous growth (and focus), digitally entertaining and educating over 35 million fitness members every month across all of Canada, the USA, and the United Kingdom.  He is the sole owner of Zoom.

The businessman is also the co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Hivestack, a company that allows advertisers to target custom audiences digitally, based on physical world behaviors (combining the engagement of mobile devices with digital billboards). François recently sold Ayuda Media Systems, a software company utilized across 22 countries for its billboard management systems of which he was the Executive Chairman of the board (he remains a minority shareholder in the new combined company with the acquirer, Broadsign). He is very involved in the industry and serves as Chairman of the board of the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association (DPAA), a global initiative based out of NYC seeking to foster the growth of Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) media by bringing together market participants (media owners and tech suppliers) and educating marketers.