text: Canada is one of the largest owners of fresh water and has for years been engaged in a legal dispute over its possession of the resource. In 1990 an American company named Sunbelt was invited by the government of British Columbia to invest in a water exporting operation. Due to setbacks, the contract never matured and Sunbelt sued the government of British Columbia for failing to meet its obligations. After years of battle the Canadian government declared in 1999 that water in its fresh state as those found in rivers and lakes contains no economic value, and is therefore outside the obligations of its trade agreement. In addition, the government cited article XI of GATT (G). This article allows for the conservation of a natural resource as long as the action taken by the government is done in a non-discriminatory manner. Sunbelt however, disagreed with the applicability of this clause and claimed that Canada’s actions are in direct violation of several international trade agreements. Particularly, Sunbelt addressed Article XI of GATT which forbids a member nation from imposing measures other than taxes, levies and other charges on the export of its good. Likewise, Sunbelt argued that the water located in British Columbia belonged to US companies just as much as it belongs to Canadian companies. This argument is based on Article 11 of NAFTA known as the investment chapter. Once water is extracted from its natural state for whatever reason that same right must be given to foreign investors. Sunbelt argues that Canadian companies had such extractions in the past and therefore opened the door for foreign investors to come in and do likewise.