nder The Radar is a special series and newsletter offering from Diplomatic Courier bringing you compelling, under–the–radar stories from around the world over the past month. This month across the Americas: Panama’s water supply project under fire, continued forced sterilization of Indigenous people in Canada, and Canada’s ski resorts strike back against climate change. You can sign up to receive the newsletter here.
The Panama Canal Board of Directors have officially approved the needed resources for the proposed Rio Indio Lake Project, estimated to cost $900 million and tentatively beginning in six years. This proposal is part of the more extensive Water Projects Program that intends to secure fresh water for the citizens of Panama. The Rio Indio Lake Project will create a reservoir by constructing a dam and flooding the area around Lake Gatùn. While the Board of Directors is optimistic that the project will guarantee Panama’s water supply for the next 50 years once it is completed, many locals are criticizing this plan as they will lose their homes, communities, livelihoods, and food supplies.
Part of the resources needed for the Water Projects Program include the funds to compensate locals who will be displaced as construction begins. Currently, the Board of Directors is conducting a census to determine how much compensation is needed for locals near Lake Gatùn. However, locals have protested this proposal since October 2024, and some may refuse to leave regardless of cash incentives.
Still, the Board of Directors feels that securing Panama’s water supply is essential, as the 2023–2024 drought devastated the country. Although, some Panama citizens believe that steps like this should have been taken years before the drought, especially since the government had begun conducting feasibility studies for the Rio Indio Lake Project in 2003.
Forced sterilization of Indigenous peoples persists in Canada
The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice is a Canadian organization, started in 2024, dedicated to creating an official record of forced sterilization performed on Indigenous people in Canada. The organization hosts annual meetings where survivors can meet to support one another and share their stories. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the most recent meeting in March 2025, Innuit women are still experiencing forced or coerced sterilization in Canada. These women’s stories range from having their fallopian tubes removed or tied without their knowledge to being coerced by doctors to undergo sterilization procedures.
Forced or coerced sterilization as a form of ethnic cleansing stems back to the early 1900s in Canada. The Canadian government has continued to donate money to support survivors and increase access to safe healthcare, and the senate called for the government to outlaw forced and coerced sterilization in 2022. But as survivors continue to come forward, the human rights issue is far from resolved. As of 2023, there were at least five lawsuits for forced sterilization of Indigenous peoples in over six Canadian provinces.
Organizations like The Survivor’s Circle are essential for compiling this data, which the Canadian healthcare system notably lacks. The organization also has a “healing fund” for survivors to help them access mental health services or reproductive technology while Indigenous women wait for the Senate to criminalize the practice.
New techniques will increase the length of a Canadian ski track, despite decreasing winter days
The climate crisis continually decreases the number of winter days in Canada each year. For Canadian ski resorts to endure this perpetual reduction in the number of ideal skiing days, resorts have been relying on snow farming and storage. Using these two techniques decreases resorts’ reliance on real, and artificial, snow. By implementing these techniques, the Canadian ski track Frozen Thunder will be longer than ever before this year—despite the climate crisis.
Snow farming and snow storage are techniques that have been used globally for centuries to create drinking water or even cool homes. Snow farming consists of making large piles of snow, often using artificial snow, and covering them on snow paths or tracks with layers of sawdust or wood chips to preserve them through warmer temperatures. Modern–day applications have become more successful, with one “patented snow storage system” even guaranteeing snow storage at low altitudes or warm temperatures. There are also environmentally friendly means of farming snow with bamboo fences to collect snowfall instead of using artificial snow.
Notably, ski resorts don’t store snow throughout the entirety of their resort, but rather, they find specific areas, like slopes needed for competitions or specific slopes that connect different areas of a resort. Thanks to snow stored under a layer of sawdust on the Frozen Thunder track, which is used by competitive athletes and recreational visitors alike, the track will increase its length from around two kilometers to six or seven upon opening in October.
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Should locals be displaced to secure Panama’s water supply?
Lake Gatun, Panama. Image courtesy of Garrison Gunter via Flickr.
April 7, 2025
Diplomatic Courier staff writer Stephanie Gull brings you three under–the–radar stories from the Americas: Panama’s fight against drought could mean mass displacement, forced sterilization of Indigenous people in Canada, and how Canadian ski resorts are fighting climate change.
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nder The Radar is a special series and newsletter offering from Diplomatic Courier bringing you compelling, under–the–radar stories from around the world over the past month. This month across the Americas: Panama’s water supply project under fire, continued forced sterilization of Indigenous people in Canada, and Canada’s ski resorts strike back against climate change. You can sign up to receive the newsletter here.
The Panama Canal Board of Directors have officially approved the needed resources for the proposed Rio Indio Lake Project, estimated to cost $900 million and tentatively beginning in six years. This proposal is part of the more extensive Water Projects Program that intends to secure fresh water for the citizens of Panama. The Rio Indio Lake Project will create a reservoir by constructing a dam and flooding the area around Lake Gatùn. While the Board of Directors is optimistic that the project will guarantee Panama’s water supply for the next 50 years once it is completed, many locals are criticizing this plan as they will lose their homes, communities, livelihoods, and food supplies.
Part of the resources needed for the Water Projects Program include the funds to compensate locals who will be displaced as construction begins. Currently, the Board of Directors is conducting a census to determine how much compensation is needed for locals near Lake Gatùn. However, locals have protested this proposal since October 2024, and some may refuse to leave regardless of cash incentives.
Still, the Board of Directors feels that securing Panama’s water supply is essential, as the 2023–2024 drought devastated the country. Although, some Panama citizens believe that steps like this should have been taken years before the drought, especially since the government had begun conducting feasibility studies for the Rio Indio Lake Project in 2003.
Forced sterilization of Indigenous peoples persists in Canada
The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice is a Canadian organization, started in 2024, dedicated to creating an official record of forced sterilization performed on Indigenous people in Canada. The organization hosts annual meetings where survivors can meet to support one another and share their stories. Unfortunately, as evidenced by the most recent meeting in March 2025, Innuit women are still experiencing forced or coerced sterilization in Canada. These women’s stories range from having their fallopian tubes removed or tied without their knowledge to being coerced by doctors to undergo sterilization procedures.
Forced or coerced sterilization as a form of ethnic cleansing stems back to the early 1900s in Canada. The Canadian government has continued to donate money to support survivors and increase access to safe healthcare, and the senate called for the government to outlaw forced and coerced sterilization in 2022. But as survivors continue to come forward, the human rights issue is far from resolved. As of 2023, there were at least five lawsuits for forced sterilization of Indigenous peoples in over six Canadian provinces.
Organizations like The Survivor’s Circle are essential for compiling this data, which the Canadian healthcare system notably lacks. The organization also has a “healing fund” for survivors to help them access mental health services or reproductive technology while Indigenous women wait for the Senate to criminalize the practice.
New techniques will increase the length of a Canadian ski track, despite decreasing winter days
The climate crisis continually decreases the number of winter days in Canada each year. For Canadian ski resorts to endure this perpetual reduction in the number of ideal skiing days, resorts have been relying on snow farming and storage. Using these two techniques decreases resorts’ reliance on real, and artificial, snow. By implementing these techniques, the Canadian ski track Frozen Thunder will be longer than ever before this year—despite the climate crisis.
Snow farming and snow storage are techniques that have been used globally for centuries to create drinking water or even cool homes. Snow farming consists of making large piles of snow, often using artificial snow, and covering them on snow paths or tracks with layers of sawdust or wood chips to preserve them through warmer temperatures. Modern–day applications have become more successful, with one “patented snow storage system” even guaranteeing snow storage at low altitudes or warm temperatures. There are also environmentally friendly means of farming snow with bamboo fences to collect snowfall instead of using artificial snow.
Notably, ski resorts don’t store snow throughout the entirety of their resort, but rather, they find specific areas, like slopes needed for competitions or specific slopes that connect different areas of a resort. Thanks to snow stored under a layer of sawdust on the Frozen Thunder track, which is used by competitive athletes and recreational visitors alike, the track will increase its length from around two kilometers to six or seven upon opening in October.
