All waters are connected. And it turns out, so are we.

Posted on by Kiersten Garside

That’s the feeling we carried home from Winnipeg, where we spent the week at IAGLR, the International Association for Great Lakes Research conference, and hosting our very first event of Ocean Week 2026!

We learned, laughed, and filled the hallways with conversations that quickly turned into plans. We also met people who felt like immediate friends. Ocean Week reminds us that a prairie creek and a wave on Lake Erie are part of the same story, and that the people caring for those waters are connected too. As Elder Lauren said, you could feel the love for taking care of and understanding the waters throughout every presentation and interaction.This was just our first stop on our Ocean Week adventures, with our Ottawa celebration and more coming this week!

Our session! Community science in action

We had the joy of co-chairing a full day on community science alongside our friends at The River Institute.

The day opened with Adam Yates from the University of Waterloo, who shared a fresh approach to helping community members understand productivity in their waters. From there, the conversation moved through academia, the non-profit world, and government, continually circling back to one common theme: community science isn’t a nice-to-have anymore, it’s essential. The questions communities are asking about their lakes and rivers are too urgent, and too local, to answer any other way. Sunshine A Moshi closed the session with important validation research from the African Great Lakes, a reminder that this work stretches far beyond our own watersheds.

So many people helped make the day unforgettable! Thank you to Adam Yates (University of Waterloo), Heather Patterson (Swim Drink Fish), Max Herzog (Cleveland Water Alliance), Pat Chow-Fraser (McMaster University), Elaine Ho-Tassone (Nordik Institute), Erin Smith and Emilie DeRochie (The River Institute), Karolina Charczynska (McMaster University), Edward Millar (University of Windsor, RAEON), Kerri Finlay (University of Regina), Luca Cargnelli (Canada Water Agency), Katelyn Brown (University of Windsor), and Happiness A Moshi (Aga Khan University), for talks that were thoughtful and genuinely inspiring.

Two members of our team presented as part of the session. Kat shared ideas that have grown out of our work with CaSTCo (Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative) in the UK, around building trust signals and a “weight of evidence” approach to community data, and brought it to life with an art project that pulled the whole room in. 

Kiersten presented on the Lake Erie Rangers project as a model for community science programs. Her talk explored how community science becomes more powerful when strong tools, data quality systems, and local knowledge are built together.

So many highlights from the conference!

The entire conference was full of inspiration, and we especially enjoyed the session co-organized by DataStream and Lake Winnipeg Foundation on linking data to action (one of our favourite themes!). The conference also featured incredible plenary speakers and a screening of I Am the River, the River Is Me, a moving documentary about the Whanganui River in New Zealand, who has been granted legal personhood.

We loved the opportunity to learn from the 800+ attendees bringing perspectives from both Western and Indigenous science. A special thanks to long-time Water Rangers’ friend, and IAGLR’s Executive Director, Jerome Marty for the wonderful week!

Walking the Assiniboine (and thinking about our water connections for Ocean Week)!

Midway through the conference, we took a break from the meeting rooms and headed outside to connect with the water we are all working to protect!

Together with fellow water professionals and researchers, we hosted a river walk along the Assiniboine River. Huge thank you to all of the organizers who helped make the event possible: Abraham Francis, Catherine Febria, Dalal Hanna, Evan Bowness, Lauren Lawson, and Kahsennaró:roks Deom.

Forty people from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities joined us on the river to learn about benthic monitoring, try out Water Rangers testkits, and most importantly, reflect on our personal connections with water. Rivers are connectors of more than land.

We also loved the opportunity to test our new E. coli testkit and 3D-printed weighted throw bucket in the field with all of you. Thank you to everyone who shared feedback, questions, and ideas throughout the walk; your input helps make these tools stronger and more accessible for communities across the Great Lakes region and beyond.

Most of all, thank you to everyone who joined us on the water. We left feeling energized, inspired, and deeply grateful.

Event partners

What a community!

Throughout the conference, one thing kept coming up in conversations again and again: the energy in the room. Everyone could feel it; it was in the air (or maybe in the water!).

There was such a strong sense of care, collaboration, and momentum throughout the week. From conversations about community science programs and species at risk to innovative new ways of collecting and sharing data, the passion people brought to this work was everywhere.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to learn from and connect with others who care deeply about our Great Lakes and shared waters. New ideas were sparked, new collaborations were formed, and we left Winnipeg feeling hopeful about what we can accomplish together!