Merci. Thank you for the time here today.
I serve as executive director for one of the oldest councils in Canada. Terrestrial invasive plants have a major impact on the environment and economy. That's been documented worldwide. So a proactive approach on the part of the Government of Canada is critical.
When we take a look at the impact of invasive plants or species to Canada, one of the things our council recognizes is that plants are not the problem; it's the people who spread plants or invasives. It's a real issue. When we take a look at how plants or species are spread, we often talk about the pathways or vectors by which they're spread. Many of the species were in the horticulture trade at one point. Gardeners planted those at one time. So rather than focusing on the species, we'll be talking about the pathways and how to close the borders so that no further plants come in.
In Canada over 60% of all invasives are intentionally spread. We intentionally plant them or put them in our aquariums, or whatever. So if we're taking a look at how to reduce that, we know we need to look at the pathways.
We looked at feedback on your listing of nine, and we thought about where the focus could or should be. We're responding to your recommendations and your terms of reference. We strongly encourage the federal government to be active as a key partner and lead agency in working on federal lands across the country, whether it's dealing with reserve lands, lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of National Defence, or transportation corridors. These plants will spread from those federal lands outwards. So it's critical to be tight on both the borders coming into the country and along the lands managed by the federal government.
You've proposed eight or nine species to focus on. Being from the west coast, our species of concern are totally different from those in the Maritimes. We know there's some politics across the country, such as we see with giant hogweed, which has been in the press a lot, east to west coast. And through the work of our council and what others have done, we know it's much more highly established in Canada than what we thought it was three years ago.
When we look across Canada, we know that the priorities in the Maritimes will be different from the priorities in B.C., and that priorities don't exist right now in Alberta, the territories, or Yukon. Prioritizing species on a national basis requires linking into the priorities in the different regions, because they vary from one area to the next. From our council's perspective, it's difficult to set priorities on species that are already in the country, when the geography varies so greatly from place to place.
Our suggestion is that the focus on the species, which builds on the invasive alien species strategy, should be on prevention, early detection, and rapid response. The priorities need to be set locally and regionally for species once they've arrived. But closing the borders and working on how to prevent the entry of alien species is critical. The focus on prevention will certainly make a difference. Once they're in the country, if we find them and respond really quickly, we'll save the environment and save our dollars.
One of the ways to do that is to identify the most critical species that aren't in Canada, and to learn how we can stop them from becoming established. For example, there are different ways of having citizen science. Different departments could identify plants or species when they first arrive and then respond quickly. All the different federal agencies could have a role in this.
One of the visuals you have here is something that has been called for on a national basis, called a spotters network. That's having people from B.C. to Newfoundland to the Yukon all engaging citizens who are out there on the land base to look for and report on invasive species when they first arrive. If we could all have many more citizens and many more groups all working together, we'd have a much better chance of identifying what's on the landscape.
I spoke to this a little already, but the percentage of federal lands varies a little province by province. But those are often seen as seed beds or source points for the spread of invasive species to the surrounding land. So it's critical, when species don't respect administrative boundaries, that the lands managed by the federal government, including reserve lands—and we know there's debate about whose lands those really are—be areas that are targeted for management because they already will have invasive species on them. Sometimes they have species at risk on them and the invasive species are having an impact on the species at risk, but the only land agencies that have responsibility for that land are with the federal government. So we encourage that.
It's been really interesting that there is a whole range of federal agencies involved in invasive species, and invasive species cross a number of economic, environmental, and social factors. Environment Canada had a coordinating role in the past, and the need to have a stronger, more coordinated role, led by Environment Canada is something that our council calls for. One of the first points in your terms of reference was the roles of Environment Canada and Parks Canada. From our council's perspective, we see that coordinating role within Canada as being critical as a first part.
Another part we think is critical is, if Environment Canada is the lead for coordination and there's an interdepartmental or whatever process in place to have federal agencies working together on invasive species, there's a whole range of other partners across the country. It can't be done by any single agency. It needs to involve, across the country, both the provinces and the territories because they're going to be the ones that have the most specific knowledge in those areas about the data for that.
There are also now, either established or in the process of being established, invasive species councils—I think there are two plant councils at this point—all across the country. The only place where that might not exist is in Nunavut, and that conversation is still under way. The invasive species councils across Canada are generally inclusive of all the governments. They're another player that can really assist with getting that citizen science and information out.
Wrapping up, we think that the listings of plants and insects are important to Canada. They're more important in one area than the next, but they aren't focusing on the key role of prevention and early response. Most of them are well established. The giant hogweed, from the plant side, has been probably the most politically sensitive one across the country in the last three years. There have been a couple of CBC radio national programs about it. I don't know how many people we've dealt with, parents who had kids in the hospital because of giant hogweed. It is a highly political one, although it might not be the right ecological one that's of the most significant impact to Canada.
It's a balance of trying to manage politics and environmental needs. From our council's perspective, determining how to manage things within the country needs to be done in collaboration with the land managers and provincial and territorial governments. But in order to have a coordinated approach, closing the borders federally or resolving and managing them on federal lands is key. We all know that even though we may all have administrative boundaries that separate B.C. from Alberta or whatever, invasive species have not been effective at respecting those administrative boundaries. As a result, from our council's perspective we're calling continually for the need for improved collaboration. We totally believe that working together is fundamental to making a difference. Our council is in the process, as of last week, of moving from a plant council to a species council for one particular factor. The particular factor is prevention.
Whether people coming up from the States with their boats are bringing zebra mussels or bringing spartina or milfoil into Canada, it matters not. What we're looking for is people coming into Canada with clean boats free of invasive species. When we go to target prevention and checks at the border, which we're working on both with federal and provincial agencies, the focus is going to be on changing the behaviour and working together, whether it's plants or species. As a result, over the next week our council will join the family across the country on a species council.
Thank you for your time.