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Lakes & Rivers

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With over two million lakes and rivers and 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater, Canada has an incredible abundance of aquatic natural resources. Canadians share a deep historical connection to freshwater; we rely on it for transportation, for resources, for employment, for food and for recreation -- swimming, boating, fishing or simply admiring the scenery of a natural lake or wild river.

Unfortunately, many of Canada’s freshwaters are no longer the pristine ecosystems they once were. At CWF, we are working to encourage a better balance between the needs of our society and of the ecosystems that sustain us. 
Fish Habitat Protection

Ensuring Strong Fish Habitat Protection In 2012, Parliament made changes to the Fisheries Act that weakened its ability to protect our lakes and rivers. Unclear language was incorporated into the Act that failed to define such terms as “serious harm.” The changes created confusion as to where the Act applies by restricting it to lakes and rivers that contain commercial, recreational, and aboriginal fisheries and the fish that support those fisheries. They also removed protection from temporary impacts by focusing the law on “permanent” harm.

Equally as impactful on the future health of our lakes and rivers, the federal government cut its staff capacity to review and respond to fish habitat impacts. It has also failed to re-establish partnerships with the provinces and territories to protect fish and fish habitat.

The Fisheries Protection Program under the new Fisheries Act is the federal program for protecting fish and fish habitat across Canada. The design and implementation of this new federal government program is critical to the future of fish and aquatic environments. CWF works directly with the federal government and takes a leadership role in convening experts and other conservation groups to ensure Canada’s fish and fish habitat protection is world class.

CWF is encouraged that the current government has committed to review the Fisheries Act and restore lost protections. We will be working to make sure future changes lead to increased protection for fish and freshwater environments.


Ensure the Fisheries Act and the Fisheries Protection Program provides the highest possible level of protection for fish and fish habitat through strong laws and enforcement, expert review of development projects, high quality offsets for authorized harm, and tools to address cumulative impacts.

Connecting our Rivers and Streams Canada is home to an incredible abundance of free flowing streams and rivers. Historically, however, our need for hydro-electricity, the development of our natural resources, and expansion of urban infrastructure and agriculture has fragmented a large number of rivers and streams. As a result, fish such as Atlantic Salmon have been lost from Lake Ontario and the Bay of Fundy, and sturgeon have been lost from rivers in northern Quebec, Ontario, and southern British Columbia.

Dams, culverts and levees block fish from moving between the habitats they need to complete their life cycles. In the worst scenarios, small fish trying to migrate downstream through dams and reservoirs have to swim through slow-moving waters while dodging introduced predators, then find a way to avoid being killed by turbines when getting past the dam.


Work to reconnect rivers and streams across Canada through improved fish passage or barrier removal and ensure that impacts of any new development do not threaten fish populations.

Overcoming Barriers

Healthy Lakes

Your influences can have a huge impact on shorelines. We believe daily actions by all individuals help to preserve the water in lakes and rivers. Shoreline landowners in particular can play a significant role.

Love Your Lake The conversion of natural shoreline vegetation to lawn, its armoring with rock, concrete or steel, and the removal of fallen wood and aquatic plants from the water impact wildlife and water quality. The actions of multiple landowners add up to lake wide impacts.

Often, shoreline property owners do not realize that their actions are negatively affecting the health of their shorelines and their lake. Our Love Your Lake program works with shoreline property owners and lake associations to help them take action to protect shoreline habitat, reduce nutrients and sediment from runoff, and naturalize altered shorelines.

Learn More About Love Your Lake

Protecting and Restoring our Great Lakes Canada’s great lakes (Superior, Huron, Erie, Ontario, Winnipeg, Great Slave and Great Bear) are natural wonders of the world. These massive freshwater ecosystems provide invaluable benefits to Canadians. The Ontario Great Lakes Basin is home to 90% of Ontario's population, 40% of Canada's economic activity, and supports nine million Canadians and eight of Canada's 20 largest cities. Manitoba’s great lake, Lake Winnipeg, serves as a massive filter for agricultural and urban runoff before water heads north to Hudson Bay, and supports a large commercial and recreational fishery.

All of our great lakes, particularly our southern lakes, face many severe threats. CWF works to ensure our great lakes remain great with a focus on:

Learn More About Microplastics

Aquatic Invasive Species

Preventing Aquatic Invasive Species Once introduced, aquatic invasive species are not only here to stay, but begin to spread within Canada. CWF has historically been a national voice pushing for greater efforts to prevent the introduction of new species and controlling the spread of those already here. CWF is helping lead these efforts by:

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Helping Canadians across the country (and beyond) to step outside, get familiar with wildlife and engage in the natural world. Delivering programs to inspire conservation ethic for all and offering training that connects people with wildlife and nature through experiential learning.
 WILD About Sports encourages Canadians to get outside and enjoy Canada’s waterways, coastline and oceans by providing the training, resources and opportunities for them to get involved and take action. The program uses watersports and related activities to increase Canadians’ awareness of the environment and wildlife habitat. It includes an extensive range of online resources that promote awareness, appreciation and action.

Join Wild About Sports

Healthy Waters: Teaching Conservation Through Fishing Many kids love to fish. In fact more Canadians participate in fishing than golf and hockey combined. CWF’s Healthy Waters education program makes the link between learning to fish and learning how to conserve our lakes, rivers and fish for future generations.

WILD Pedagogies WILD Pedagogies is CWF’s professional learning program for educators. This one of a kind experiential learning program blends graduate level studies in education from top professors with travel on the landscape.

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 With topics relating to conservation, wildlife and habitat, we provide a relevant online learning platform, typically for grades four to six, but of benefit to any age. WILD Webinars are informative, engaging and just the right length at 20 to 30 minutes. Our Hinterland Who’s Who iconic species series is just one example of the quality content we have to share.


 Canada is defined by its vast waterways. We are the stewards of one-fifth of the world’s fresh water and can proudly claim close to two million lakes, along with unparalled numbers of rivers, marshes, swamps, bogs, fens, sloughs and ponds. With three mighty oceans offering us more than 200,000 kilometres of coastline — the longest coastline in the world — Canada is truly a watery wonderland





October 18, 2018, CWF Blog – This year, the Canadian Wildlife Federation Aquatic Science Team conducted research on American Eel in the Ottawa River. Our research has focused on the downstream migratory routes the eels take while passing the ChaudiÃ¨re Falls...


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