Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for inviting us here today to speak before you and to discuss the development of a national conservation plan for Canada.
My name is Damien Joly. I'm a wildlife epidemiologist with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada.
WCS Canada was founded in 2004 as a Canadian non-governmental organization. Our mission is the conservation of wildlife and wild lands. We do this through science. Our focus is essentially “muddy boots” biology. Our scientists get out in the field. We do the necessary research on the ground to fill key information gaps on Canada's fish, wildlife, and ecosystems. We then use this information to work with aboriginal communities, government and regulatory agencies, conservation groups, and industry to resolve key conservation issues.
WCS Canada welcomes the opportunity to present our thoughts to the standing committee. We believe there's a strong role to be played by the federal government in conservation, and here we will outline what we see as the key elements of that role. We must first, however, express our profound uncertainty regarding the outcome of this process, given the number of recent actions by the federal government that are already undermining any potential for the success of a national conservation plan.
In the past few months, this government has proposed the repeal or revision of key conservation-related federal legislation, particularly the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Fisheries Act as well as cutting federal scientists' positions and departments involved in environmental and conservation issues. These reduce the role of the federal government and seriously weaken the ability of any government or society at large to promote conservation with a robust scientific basis.
Regarding Canada's biodiversity, the natural systems that sustain us are at risk. Urbanization, agriculture, oil and gas production, mining, forestry, and then supporting infrastructure, such as roads, have resulted in a substantial human footprint across much of southern Canada. The Canadian government's own science confirms widespread deterioration in environmental values that includes losses in wetlands, grasslands, and old growth forests; decreasing river flows; declining populations of native species; increasing invasion by non-native species; and accumulation of contaminants that threaten wildlife and human health.
These are clear signals that ecological functions in terrestrial and aquatic systems are being impaired in significant ways. Meanwhile, in northern Canada, investment in natural resource development has been steadily rising over the past decade, and the Government of Canada has made it clear that this trend will continue. Much of this attention and activity are occurring in globally significant boreal and arctic ecosystems. Rather than increasing investments in monitoring and oversight of environmental values accordingly, Canadian governments have chosen the opposite strategy. Budgets for information-gathering systems focusing on biodiversity and ecosystem change have been cut back each year and government-led assessment processes are being modified to hasten decision-making on developments.