NEWS RELEASE
March 6, 2008

The June 2009 Centennial Celebration of the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the Creation of the International Joint Commission of Canada and the United States to be held in Niagara Falls

March 6, 2008 Niagara Falls will be the backdrop to an historic event on Saturday, June 13, 2009 when the International Joint Commission (IJC) of Canada and the United States meets with the Niagara 10 Leaders to celebrate the centennial of the Boundary Waters Treaty which created the IJC.

“We are excited to be planning this event at Niagara Falls, which is significant as one of only two geographic regions referred in the Treaty, which covers boundary waters from the Atlantic to the Pacific’ said Herb Gray, Canadian Chair of the IJC.

The Celebration will organized by the BWT100 Committee comprised initially of the Niagara 10 Leaders representing the ten local jurisdictions bordering the international Niagara River boundary (the Cities of Buffalo, Niagara Falls New York and Niagara Falls Ontario, the Towns of Fort Erie and Niagara on the Lake, the Villages of Lewiston and Youngstown, Erie County, Niagara County and the Regional Municipality of Niagara), the IJC, the U.S. Consulate General in Toronto, the Canadian Consulate General in Buffalo, the Niagara Parks Commission, New York State Parks and the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission. The Committee welcomes further community involvement.

“Niagara Falls, in addition to it historical connection to the Treaty, is one of those places where the boundary waters bring people together,’ said Irene Brooks, U.S. Acting Chair of the IJC.

The June 13, 2009 Niagara event will be the focus of a year-long, coast-to-coast celebration along the border in all basins where the IJC has active transboundary water responsibilities. Forty percent of the Canada-U.S. boundary is water.

"We are excited to host the Centennial Celebration in our region," said Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Ted Salci, representing the Niagara 10. "The Falls are a magnificent symbol of these shared waters and our shared responsibility to protect their beauty and majesty for the next 100 years and beyond." Adds Paul Dyster, Mayor of Niagara Falls, New York, “We look forward to working with the IJC and the US and Canadian Governments to organize a meaningful celebration of this historic enduring agreement between our two countries.’

The BWT100 Committee will hold a press conference in Niagara Falls in June 2008 to announce further details of its plans.

The Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 created the independent IJC to prevent and resolve boundary waters disputes between Canada and the United States. The IJC makes decisions on applications for projects such as dams in boundary waters and regulates the operations of many of those projects. The IJC also has a permanent reference under the 1972 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to help the two national governments restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of those waters.

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