On September 25th, 2025, water leaders and experts from across North America came together for “Ensuring the Flow: Water Security in Canada and the World.” This daylong conference was hosted by Massey College in partnership with the Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW).
Through three expert panels, the event focused on exploring how to build Canada’s water resilience in an age of extremes, Canada and U.S. water security, and Canada’s global leadership in shaping a sustainable water future. John Vaillant, author of the New York Times bestselling Fire Weather: The Making of a Best, gave the keynote address, which linked the emerging challenge of catastrophic wildfire with the broader water security dialogue.
Amongst many others, expert speakers included the Honourable Jay Macdonald (Minister of Environment for the Northwest Territories), Merrell-Ann Phare (Canadian Commissioner of the International Joint Commission and FLOW member), Mark Fisher (President, Canada Water Agency), Baxter Hunt (U.S. Consul General), and Dr. James Orbinski (Nobel Laureate).
Oliver M. Brandes (Project Lead, POLIS Water Sustainability Project) sat on the first panel, where he spoke about watershed security — not just water security — as a critical social and ecological imperative that links to issues of sustainable water management, community resilience, and governance. Watershed security is focused on a whole-system approach that asks how to sustainably manage and govern water in its entirety — from water sources to the ocean and the surrounding landscape.
“Water is part of the natural system as it flows through all our institutions, all our landscapes, all our lives,” said Oliver. “If we start thinking about our watersheds as living systems, we can start thinking about watershed security in a much more serious way … We have a role to play and that’s where governance, law, and policy come in.”
Alongside Dr. Syed Moin (groundwater expert), Sharmalene Mendis-Millard (Director, Partners for Action), and the Honourable Jay MacDonald (Minister of Environment for the Northwest Territories), Oliver spoke about the need for collaboration across sectors, provinces, territories, Indigenous nations and leadership, academia, and industry if we want to effect meaningful change. Speaking directly to the Canada Water Agency, Oliver recognized the pivotal moment we are in — “a make-or-break moment” — and that now is the time for meaningful action.
Oliver also highlighted POLIS’ current work on wildfire resilience, as a complement to its ongoing work on watershed security. Leading into the lunchtime keynote on wildfire, Oliver touched on the interconnectedness of wildfire as an impact of climate change related to water.
He ended by emphasizing the link between the need for urgent action and taking a strategic approach to water. “Governments can’t make it rain,” he said. “But they sure as hell can help communities prepare for the trouble ahead and make sure everyone is doing their part.”
This sense of urgency was reinforced in the other panels and in the keynote address, where John Vaillant delivered a powerful and emotional presentation highlighting the trauma and disasters caused by wildfire.
Throughout the day, speakers and audience members brought attention to the need for urgent action with the awareness that climate can not, and will not, wait.
“However bleak, there is always hope,” said moderator Emily Lorra Hines (Director, FLOW). “Hope lies in the courage, work, and passion of the global water community. It is this hope, action, and persistence that promise a better future for all.”
On the heels of the conference, The Hill Times published an opinion piece on water security as national security by Oliver M. Brandes and Merrell-Ann Phare.
In the coming months, FLOW and Massey College will publish a summary document of the conference, including a series of actions.
Additional Resources
Op-ed: Water security a matter of national security (The Hill Times, Oct. 22, 2025)
Event: Ensuring the Flow: Water Security for Canada and the World (Massey College & FLOW, Ottawa, Sept. 25, 2025)
Report: Water Security for Canadians: Solutions for Canada’s Emerging Water Crisis (Global Water Futures, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, FLOW, POLIS Water Sustainability Project, United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, 2019)
