With funding from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) officially launched the Healthy Great Lakes program in December 2016.

CELA identified a need to enhance the capacity of organizations working to influence freshwater policy in Ontario and has been working to engage a broad network of individuals and organizations in understanding, shaping, effectively implementing, and making use of laws and policies that promote freshwater health in the Great Lakes – St Lawrence River Basin.