Indigenous Leaders Tapped to Oversee Elk-Kootenai Coal Pollution Probe

An international commission investigating ecological threats to the transboundary Elk-Kootenai river watershed has convened an independent “Governance Body” to study the effects of Canadian coal mining operations, which are degrading water quality in British Columbia (B.C.), Montana and Idaho. Consisting of members from U.S., Canadian and First Nation governments, the group for the first time includes an equal share of Indigenous representatives.

Its formation signals a critical step in the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) directive to “conduct transparent and coordinated transboundary data and knowledge sharing” on the Elk-Kootenai watershed, where pollution along the U.S.-Canada border has galvanized state, federal and tribal governments as they call for more regulatory transparency and a higher degree of scrutiny on coal mines that have operated in B.C.’s Elk River Valley for more than a century.

It also marks a watershed moment in the 115-year history of the IJC, a multilateral commission established by the Boundary Waters Treaty in 1909. Although the IJC frequently investigates environmental crises occurring on traditional Aboriginal territory, it has only recently begun to incorporate Indigenous collaboration and engagement into its core mission. In addition to the Governance Body appointments, the IJC on Sept. 26 announced the formation of the International Elk-Kootenai Watershed Pollution Study Board, will report and make recommendations to the IJC. The study board is co-chaired by Tom Bansak, assistant director of the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station, and Oliver Brandes, of the University of Victoria. The board will be supported by technical working groups, a public advisory group, and a group of “traditional cultural knowledge holders.”

The Elk-Kootenai reference is historic because it’s the first time in the IJC’s history that a trilateral reference has been called involving an Indigenous nation; in this case, the transboundary Ktunaxa Nation, which encompasses the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT), the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, and the six Ktunaxa bands of government.

“We were glad to see, with the joint reference, that the U.S. and Canada were finally taking their commitments to Indigenous peoples, the environment, and the International Boundary Waters Treaty seriously,” said Gary Aitken, Jr., vice chairman of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho and a member of the IJC’s newly appointed Governance Body.

Aitken also praised the U.S., Canadian and First Nation governments for reaching an agreement on a set of guidelines known as terms of reference, and said he looked forward to the next step in the two-year process, which involves developing an action plan to reduce and mitigate the impacts of mining pollution in the transboundary watershed.

The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho hosted the inaugural meeting in September in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, leading a tour of the Tribe’s fish hatcheries, where biologists are working to restore burbot and Kootenai River white sturgeon — aquatic species that are particularly susceptible to the mining pollutants, including selenium. The Governance Body will have monthly virtual information-sharing sessions that began on Nov. 15 and will meet again formally in 2025.

Tribal leaders on both sides of the border say they remain cautiously optimistic about the development after pushing for a joint reference for more than a decade, often with vague support from their federal counterparts.

“For too long, federal and provincial governments have stood by while our waters suffered. We are encouraged that all eleven governments, and Canada and B.C. in particular, have agreed to change direction and come to the table,” said CSKT Vice Chairman Tom McDonald, who is also a Governance Body member. “We’re at the beginning of what will likely be a long process, one that will require sustained effort from all governments involved. We will continue to work tirelessly to restore our rivers and the fish and wildlife that depend upon them, and hope the other governments will do so as well.”

The reference process officially began with the IJC’s intervention in March, representing a breakthrough in binational talks that had stalled for years. Since 2012, tribal and First Nation governments emerged as the most persistent advocates for an independent examination of the water quality crisis, mounting a united front to insist that any solution to pollution in the international watershed must include IJC intervention, and must include tribal involvement. Last year, with support from both federal governments, it appeared the tribes were finally making headway, only for Canada to balk.

In March 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden announced the two nations had reached “an agreement in principle” to “reduce and mitigate” the Canadian mining pollution. However, two months later the tribal representatives learned via email that Global Affairs Canada (GAC) was at odds with the idea of a reference proposal. This prompted the coalition of Indigenous governments to call upon both federal governments to work through the impasse and agree on a path forward. At that meeting, which took place on Ktunaxa territory in B.C., the governments collectively committed to find a solution — through a reference to the IJC — by the end of the year.

On March 11, 2024, the two countries announced a joint reference to the IJC.

The Elk River rises in the Canadian Rockies and flows into the U.S. at Lake Koocanusa, an impoundment of the Kootenai River (spelled “Kootenay” in Canada). It then flows through the states of Montana and Idaho, and through transboundary Ktunaxa lands, including those of the CSKT and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho on its way back to the province of B.C., where it empties into the Columbia River. 

Although open-pit coal mines located in the Elk Valley of southeast B.C. have leached selenium, nitrate, and sulphate into the Elk and Kootenai rivers for decades, there are no coal mines on the Kootenai River, even as growing evidence reveals that high concentrations of mining contaminants far exceed water quality standards and are degrading the watershed’s aquatic health.

As evidence of the compounding contamination issues, the U.S. Geological Survey recently published a report revealing that selenium and nitrates in the Elk River have increased by 581% and 784%, respectively, signaling unprecedented increases of the pollutants in the watershed. The contaminant increases provide additional evidence of the regulatory failures of the mines, which for years were owned by Teck Resources; however, in July the Canadian government approved the Swiss mining company Glencore’s $6.93 billion acquisition of Teck’s coal operation, as well as its strategy to spinoff the mines transboundary mines into a company called Elk Valley Resources (EVR).

To that end, Ktunaxa Nation leaders say the joint IJC reference is just the first step in what will inevitably be a long journey to remediation.

“It is through this body that we are focusing not only on the issues that are polluting the water, but also putting western practices along with integral Ktunaxa practices to change the outcomes for the better,” said Heidi Gravelle, chief of the Tobacco Plains band of the Ktunaxa Nation. “It is through collaboration, understanding, and commitment to healthy change, that we will heal our water for future generations and all living things.”

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