FOCUS AREA |

WATER

The rivers, lakes, coasts,
and oceans that connect us.

COMPLETED PROJECTS

Water As A Sacred And Scarce Resource Among First Nations Reserves

Sara Hylton • Alberta & Ontario • 2021

Canada holds nearly one-fifth of the world’s freshwater, yet some First Nations communities have lived under boil water advisories for years.

In First Nations communities in Alberta and Ontario, Sara Hylton used photography and multimedia storytelling to show what that reality means in daily life, centring the people living with water insecurity and their relationship with water.

Kasia Staniszewska • Yukon River Basin • 2022

As permafrost thaws and glaciers retreat, contaminants stored in northern landscapes can move in new ways.

Sampling the Yukon River and 11 of its major tributaries, Kasia Staniszewska traced where mercury comes from and how a changing climate could alter its movement through the watershed.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

Beneath The Surface: Using ROVs To Reveal The Impacts Of Quagga Mussels On The Great Lakes

Yvonne Drebert • Great Lakes • 2022

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

The Great Lakes are becoming clearer, but that clarity comes at a cost.

In All Too Clear, Yvonne Drebert used cutting-edge underwater ROVs to document how invasive quagga mussels are transforming the Great Lakes, bringing ecological changes rarely seen beneath the surface into view.

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Mercury Sources And Transport In The Yukon River Basin

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

The Stability Of Canada’s Last Intact Ice Shelf

Anna Crawford • Nunavut • 2022

When part of the Milne Ice Shelf broke away in 2020, one of the Canadian High Arctic’s rarest ecosystems disappeared with it.

On the first expedition back to Milne Fiord after the collapse, Anna Crawford documented the changes and collected new data to track the future of the remaining ice shelf and glacier.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

The Exploration Of Understudied Invertebrate Communities In The Globally Unique And At-Risk Saguenay Fjord Ecosystem

Ryan Eagleson • Québec • 2022

The Saguenay Fjord is best known for its whales, but some of its most remarkable inhabitants live far below them.

With underwater cameras and an ROV, Ryan Eagleson explored the fjord floor and its steep underwater cliffs, documenting deep-water invertebrate communities that had rarely been seen.

Brian Timmer • British Columbia • 2023

Maps and photographs from the 1970s documented kelp forests in the northern Salish Sea in remarkable detail.

Fifty years later, Brian Timmer retraced those historic surveys with the Kelp Rescue Initiative and other partners, revealing dramatic changes in kelp forests and other nearshore habitats.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

Under the Ice

Andrew Budziak • Lake of the Woods, Ontario • 2023

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Winter lakes may appear dormant, but life continues beneath the ice.

Andrew Budziak captured algae communities growing on the underside of lake ice in Lake of the Woods, producing some of the first detailed observations of a little-understood winter ecosystem at a time when seasonal ice is becoming less reliable.

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Underwater Forests In A Warming Sea: Exploring 50 Years Of Change To Critical Nearshore Habitat In The Salish Sea

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

Early Sea Ice Thickness Monitoring

Bruno Tremblay • Nunatsiavut & Eeyou Istchee • 2022

For many northern communities, knowing when ice is safe can shape decisions about travel, harvesting and daily life.

Working with northern partners, Bruno Tremblay developed a low-cost buoy that can be deployed before freeze-up, providing earlier information about ice thickness as winter ice begins to form.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Sustainable Fisheries Monitoring With Artificial Intelligence

Alexander Dungate • British Columbia • 2023

Fisheries generate vast amounts of video footage, but reviewing it by hand is slow, costly and inconsistent.

Alexander Dungate developed an AI system to automate fisheries video review and tested it with Ha’oom Fisheries, which represents five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations, and with commercial fisheries.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

ACTIVE PROJECTS

Hidden In The Grass: A Year In Atlantic Canada's Eelgrass Ecosystems

Nicolas Winkler • Atlantic Canada • 2023

Atlantic Canada’s eelgrass meadows change with the seasons, supporting marine life, storing carbon and helping stabilize coastlines.

Over the course of a year, these eelgrass meadows are being photographed above and below the water as they change with the seasons. Nicolas Winkler is also documenting the research and restoration work underway through the Community Eelgrass Restoration Initiative (CERI).

Nicole Holman • British Columbia Coast • 2025

Far below the surface off British Columbia, seamounts and hydrothermal vents support some of Canada’s most biodiverse and least accessible ecosystems.

Nicole Holman’s documentary follows Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists and Indigenous partners into the deep sea, bringing rarely seen ecosystems into view alongside the work underway to conserve them.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

Tides Of Change: Using Ecological Modelling And Photography To Investigate Climate Impacts On The Bay Of Fundy Ecosystem

Liam Brennan • Bay of Fundy • 2025

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

The Bay of Fundy is warming rapidly, changing the food web that draws migratory wildlife to its waters each summer.

A key zooplankton species sits at the centre of a food web shared by North Atlantic right whales, basking sharks and red-necked phalaropes. Liam Brennan is combining ecological modelling with conservation photography to investigate what its decline could mean for these migratory species.

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Deep-Sea Guardians: Protecting Our Planet's Last Frontier

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

The Legacy of Forestry on Freshwaters

Dalal Emily Lucia Hanna • Across Canada • 2024

Forests can regrow after logging, but what happens to nearby streams over the decades that follow is less understood.

Watersheds with different logging histories offer a way to understand what recovery looks like over time. Dalal Hanna is combining environmental DNA and water-quality data with observations collected by students and communities to track that recovery.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

Confluences: A Human and Aquatic Cartography of the Laurentian System

M'Hammed Kilito • St. Lawrence River • 2026

The St. Lawrence River runs 3,700 kilometres from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic, connecting communities whose lives are deeply intertwined with the water.

The photo essay will bring together M’Hammed Kilito’s photography and conversations with people along the river’s shores, tracing their relationships with the water and the changes they are witnessing.

  • Documented logging in Quatsino Sound linked to government mapping errors

    Identified one of British Columbia’s largest Sitka spruce trees

    Captured rare before-and-after imagery of old-growth forest loss

    Recorded the scale and pace of clear-cutting across vulnerable ecosystems

  • Images supported public awareness campaigns across British Columbia

    Work contributed to advocacy tied to the province’s 30x30 conservation commitment

    Helped strengthen support for Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs)

    Photography continues to inform conservation planning and policy discussions

EXPLORE OTHER FOCUS AREAS

WILDLIFE

HISTORY & CULTURE

HISTORY & CULTURE

LAND

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