Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure and honour to be introducing today for second reading, legislation to conserve and protect Canada's wildlife, in particular amendments to the Canada Wildlife Act.
Of all the responsibilities of Environment Canada one of the most important is the stewardship of wildlife.
Canadians care very deeply about wildlife. One of the most powerful values that all Canadians share is our tremendous pride in Canada's environment and magnificent natural heritage. Canadians everywhere have a strong desire to protect and restore the various ecosystems that make up our environment. No component of our natural heritage is more precious than Canada's wildlife.
The beauty of wild plants and animals, the idea of free creatures living in nature are very appealing to all of us. We value wildlife for many other reasons as well, for example, as a source of recreation, as an important social economic resource, as an integral aspect of the lives of native people, even as a potential source of medicines as yet unknown.
This government and Environment Canada take the responsibility for wildlife very seriously. We are taking action to fulfil those responsibilities on a number of fronts.
We are modernizing and strengthening federal wildlife legislation. At this very moment the government is drafting regulations which will enable it to proclaim the wild animal and plant protection and regulation of interprovincial and international trade act. These regulations are very important and will significantly strengthen Canada's ability to protect its wild plants and
animals from poaching and smuggling and are now being developed under a consultative process that includes all stakeholders which is the way this government functions.
As members will recall, on Monday we debated amendments to strengthen the Migratory Bird Conventions Act, one of the cornerstones of wildlife protection in Canada.
In addition Canada and the United States are on convergent tracks in preparation for formal negotiation of amendments to the migratory bird convention.
Let me now turn to the Canada Wildlife Act. The Canada Wildlife Act was passed in 1973. It authorized the federal government to undertake research studies on wildlife and in collaboration with the provinces carry out a vast array of conservation activities to help wildlife, including the protection of species threatened with extinction.
While the act adequately responded to our needs back then, amendments are certainly required in order to reflect our needs today. To date wildlife conservation has focused on certain species or specific groups of species.
Today, we generally agree that we need a more comprehensive approach to conservation, an ecosystem approach, which takes into consideration all roles and values of ecosystems, including all animal and plant species and their needs in terms of habitat. This is indeed the recommended approach in the document "A Wildlife Policy for Canada" approved by federal and provincial ministers responsible for wildlife in 1990.
This kind of approach is the basis for the amendments proposed to strengthen and update the Canada Wildlife Act.
For example, the current Canada Wildlife Act defines wildlife as all non-domestic animals. The updated act will expand the definition of wildlife to include all wild organisms. The new definition is consistent with wildlife policy for Canada. It will better enable a shift in research and conservation efforts toward a true ecosystem approach. It also puts the act in line with the convention on biological diversity which was ratified by Canada in 1992.
The modernized Canada Wildlife Act will provide an extended framework to help protect all species in our ecosystem. It is important to note that with provincial agreement the new act will help preserve habitat. We found out through hard experience that it is almost impossible to save a single species of plant or animal in the wild without first preserving its habitat.
Close to my own riding of Moncton we have seen this borne out. The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve has been established at Marys Point. A sister reserve in South America has been established to protect the habitat of semipalmated sandpipers among other migratory species of birds.
It is a healthy habitat that permits the survival of species. That is what the ecosystem approach is all about. You cannot talk about saving the eagle without also talking about water quality, about fish population and other habitat.
This applies to Canada's marine environment as well. Traditional wildlife protection has focused on terrestrial wildlife species and their habitats. The marine application of the present act is set out at the 12-mile territorial sea limit. Critical wildlife habitat, however, including areas important to seabirds and breeding and feeding grounds for whales extends far beyond the 12-mile limit.
The modernized Canada Wildlife Act includes provision for the establishment of marine national wildlife areas out to the limit of Canada's 200 nautical mile territory. Regulatory authorities related to activities in marine protected areas would be established.
The extension of the Canada Wildlife Act to the 200 mile limit could help us significantly in sustaining the biodiversity and other associated benefits of marine ecosystems.
No legislation can be effective if it cannot be applied and enforced effectively. Therefore the modernization of the Canada Wildlife Act will improve the administration and enforcement of the act in a number of ways. All of the administration and implementation provisions of the act are being updated, streamlined and made consistent with other federal conservation laws.
Some of the more significant of these revisions deal with enforcement. Penalties are being toughened to reflect the serious nature of crimes, such as poaching and the destruction of protected habit that threaten Canada's wildlife heritage.
Potential maximum penalties under the Canada Wildlife Act are being increased to a possible fine of $25,000 or a jail term of six months, or both. The act will provide more flexibility to the courts and enforcement officers in ways that will improve compliance and enforcement.
For example, revisions to the act will provide authority for the issuing of court orders and will enable conservation officers to issue tickets for certain offences. This will give more options in dealing with offences and punishment so that the best and most efficient means are available to respond to the violations.
At the same time where a violation is of a minor nature, such as a record keeping violation, a ticketable offence can be created. Rather than requiring a court appearance, an officer will be able to give a ticket so that the ticket can be paid directly. This will ensure fairness and relate to the severity of the offence.
Community service will become an option in the sentencing of convicted violators. This will encourage judges to assign penalties where they might otherwise be reluctant. If the community service relates to wildlife, as seems very likely, it will provide tangible conservation benefits as well.
It will become possible to use court orders to prohibit the continuation of activities harmful to protected areas. Persons who have damaged ecosystems in national wildlife areas could be forced to pay the cost of remediation. It is under the authority of the Canada Wildlife Act that many areas of key significance to Canada's wildlife are protected.
At present 45 national wildlife areas comprising 287,000 hectares have been set up under the act. Although many diverse species are found in them, most current wildlife areas have been established for their importance as habitat for migratory birds.
Furthermore, our national wildlife areas help Canadians meet many of their international wildlife management obligations. For example, our national wildlife areas help us meet our international commitments under the convention on wetlands of international importance, commonly known as the Ramsar convention.
Canada also has commitments under the circumpolar agreement on the conservation of Arctic flora and fauna component of the Arctic environmental protection strategy, the global convention on biodiversity and a number of bilateral and multilateral agreements to conserve wildlife and habitat.
All of these commitments would be difficult if not impossible to meet without our system of national wildlife areas and the Canada Wildlife Act. The revised act will help us and the international community to do a better job of preserving wildlife heritage.
It is particularly appropriate to be speaking about the Canada Wildlife Act today. I want to use this occasion to call the attention of the House to the fact that Canada has recently received formal notification that the Creston valley wildlife management area has been registered as Canada's 32nd wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention.
Canada is a leading participant in this international environmental treaty that is promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands the world over. In fact over 30 per cent of total wetland area designated under the convention is located within Canada.
Our network of important protected wetlands now spans all the provinces and territories in Canada. The Creston valley wildlife management area, the latest Canadian Ramsar site, is the first to be designated as entirely owned and managed by the province of British Columbia.
The Creston valley site covers 6,970 hectares on the floodplains of the Kootenay River. It contains fresh eutrophic lakes, ferns and lowland river delta wetlands. The Creston valley is a major feeding habitat for migrating species on the western flyway and regularly supports over 100,000 waterfowl during migrating periods.
I and this government salute British Columbia for nominating this area which is vital to a wide range of international migratory species. Environment Canada is proud to have assisted the people of British Columbia in seeking the Ramsar convention designation for the Creston valley.
Canada has committed itself to setting aside and safeguarding 12 per cent of its total land mass as protected natural space. Our national wildlife areas and the Ramsar convention sites are helping us to set aside that 12 per cent of Canada's habitat as protected areas.
What about the other 88 per cent of Canada? Birds are independent creatures. They fly where they want to fly and often the places that are most important to them fall outside our Ramsar sites, national wildlife areas, national or provincial parks.
We have to make room for wildlife in the other 88 per cent of Canada as well. We have to influence general land use management in such a way that we humans do not drive out the other species with whom we share our ecosystem.
In this regard initiatives such as a North American waterfowl management plan are extremely important. Under the plan three nations, Canada, the United States and Mexico, are working together to preserve populations of wildlife and their habitat. The North American waterfowl management plan is a leading global example of a concept of wiser use that is promoted by the Ramsar convention.
Under the plan, Canada has pioneered new and innovative ways to protect wildlife and habitat in the other 88 per cent. Under the plan concepts of wise use are finding their way into land areas and wetlands not under the direct control of governments.
Numerous organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Wildlife Habitat Canada are effectively promoting stewardship by private ownership. Partnerships have been forged with farmers and many other landowners to protect wildlife and the habitat in our vast food growing regions. It has been shown that many of the practices beneficial
to wildlife also benefit agriculture, both economically and in such areas as soil conservation.
In effect, the plan is exploring new ways to do business and provide leverage to federal funds. For example, every federal dollar invested in activities under the North American waterfowl management plan is matched by an additional $6 from other donors of which approximately half comes from American sources. This type of leverage is possible because diverse partners and interests can gather together under the umbrella of the North American waterfowl management plan and develop and agree upon common goals and objectives and put into effect their shared vision.
Shared interests can lead to shared objectives. Diverse people and organizations can get together and find, sometimes to their surprise, that they have things in common and can work toward the same goals. This type of bridge building, of people, organizations and governments working together is precisely the kind of co-operation envisaged by the wildlife policy for Canada and it is very important as we try to discover new and effective ways to take us toward the goal of sustainable development.
In addition to agricultural partnerships, partnerships are also being formed with other major land use sectors in Canada. For example in Nova Scotia and in Newfoundland, North American waterfowl management plan agreements are in place. Bowater-Mersey and Krueger-Cornerbrach Pulp and Paper, two large forestry companies, manage and protect tens of thousands of acres of wetlands while maintaining profitable forestry activities.
Clearly the North American waterfowl management plan exemplifies sustainable development in action.
Sustainable development is the key to long term economic and environmental health. By keeping wildlife populations in good health, we will be able to contribute to the social, cultural and economic well-being of Canada, as well as to the ecological and biological processes necessary to sustain life.
A Statistics Canada study on the importance of wildlife for Canadians reinforces this opinion. In 1991, Canadian residents, and 1.8 million American visitors attracted to Canada by its wildlife, spent a total of $9 billion on sport fishing and other wildlife related activities.
Canadians think that wildlife is important, and we engage in all sorts of wildlife related activities. In fact the popularity of these activities is at an all-time high. Over 90 per cent of Canadians participate in one or more wildlife related activities. We watch, photograph, feed, study and hunt wildlife. The billions we spend doing these things contribute significantly to national and provincial economies in the form of income and jobs.
Given these facts, given the importance of wildlife to Canadians, it comes as no surprise that Canadians are highly supportive of wildlife and habitat conservation. Given the fact that 83 per cent of Canadians feel that it is important to protect endangered species and declining wildlife populations, it comes as no surprise that Canadians are willing to work together and work hard to try to preserve our precious wildlife and its habitat.
Passage of these amendments to the Canada Wildlife Act will make the job a bit easier. I urge all members to support the bill.
