Environment Committee on Oct. 17th, 2012

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

I'm not sure if either of you will be able to answer this because you have very specific roles within the department, but what are the department's expected challenges to conservation efforts due to climate change? Is that something within your niche that you're able to answer?

[Virginia Poter]

The way in which I think about climate change is really driven by my mandate. For the Wildlife Service, we're concerned about species at risk. We have some protected areas and migratory birds. When we're thinking about climate change, we're thinking about the way in which the landscape is likely to change because of climate change, and how we can help wildlife to adapt to those changes. We look for a working landscape that allows species to move within corridors. We try to have protected areas that make sense, areas that allow the wildlife to find a path along which to move. When we're looking at important bird areas, we ask ourselves what we know about our current areas and what we think might happen in the future. That would be our take on it.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Does the Wildlife Service also consider mitigation, or is it simply adaptation at this point?

[Virginia Poter]

We're pretty much focused on adaptation.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

That's because of your directive. Okay.

It would be interesting to chat with some other folks from the department to figure out the bigger picture.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Thank you.

Mr. Sopuck.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Both of you alluded to a rural-urban dichotomy in this country. I don't think the population figures for rural Canada are as bleak as you said they were; it depends on how you define it, but I'm not going to quibble about it. I will agree with you that there's a fairly significant imbalance between populations in urban and rural areas.

How can we foster urban conservation in a manner that bridges the gap between urban and rural Canada?

[Andrew Campbell]

We're starting to see some excellent movement in that. I'll mention a few of the things we have looked at. One of them, announced about a year ago, was the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Parks Canada youth ambassadors. Those youth ambassadors have gone out with a number of other youth colleagues and looked at how we can bridge some of that gap, how we can get the youth that are in both the rural environment and the urban environment. The ways in which they communicate today are much greater than in the past. They've looked at a number of ways to find out what the people who are living more in nature can share with those who are in a more urban environment, and vice versa.

In addition, last year the Minister of the Environment had the minister's round table on Parks Canada, which had a big focus on the question of youth. Certainly, when we start to look at this, there's that feeling of conservation. If you look at the average age of Parks Canada's visitors, which is 51, you see that we need to bring the youth along. Some of the initiatives, such as the announced My Parks Pass, have been great for bringing those two groups together.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Great.

Mr. Campbell, I picked up on some of the words you used. You used the words “sustainable development” and you talked about “sustainable agriculture” in Rouge Park.

To me the terms “sustainable development” and “sustainable agriculture” imply stewardship and use, which I think urban Canadians, even though they live and consume the products of the land every single day, are perhaps somewhat separated from. Could you expand on what you're going to do in Rouge park in terms of showcasing agriculture? I find that very interesting.

[Andrew Campbell]

Rouge park right now is in the concept stage as we're out talking to Canadians about it. It will have three areas. There will be an infrastructure area and an area of sustainable agriculture. One of the key parts in this that we've been talking to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. We've been talking to the local York region federation, and the Mennonite group that's been there for generations and generations. In fact, we've been talking to all of them about how we can start to build longer tenure for the people who right now are leasing on shorter tenures. As you start to allow leases of a longer tenure, as opposed to year-over-year type leases, you can actually do some more sustainable agriculture.

We've been looking at tenure. We've been looking at the types of sustainable agricultural products. We've been looking at how the farm community can engage the seven million people living in the greater Toronto area to participate in the growing of agricultural crops.

It's been very exciting. The agricultural community has embraced this wholeheartedly. It's been great.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

I would assume you would have interpretive programs around agriculture and sustainable use.

[Andrew Campbell]

Absolutely.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

That's very exciting. You are to be commended for that, because the biggest split in this country is not cultural, nor is it linguistic. In my view it's a rural-urban split, and what you're doing there is very exciting. I would like to be kept informed as things move along.

I'd like to focus now on rivers in urban areas because they are focal points. Most of our cities are on waterways. In Regina, which isn't on a waterway, they built one. Water is very important in urban areas.

Can you talk about river, riverbank, and riparian conservation programming in urban areas?

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly I can talk about some of the examples that we have. This is one of those areas, especially in the riverkeepers concept that is out there now. Canadians have said they very much want to participate with government in protecting shorelines and species. We have examples everywhere, from the Friends of the Rouge Watershed and the Rouge that we'll be dealing with to the Friends of the Trent-Severn Waterway. There are groups that have just started, whether they be the Scouts or the Guides, that have certainly come along in areas like the Lachine Canal in Montreal. I think in a lot of these areas you actually build that culture of conservation by people becoming engaged in it.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Excellent.

My time is running short and I want to get one more point in. That's about urban angling programs. You used the right phrase “engaged”. Angling is one of the most important activities to engage people in conservation. For example, there are about five million people in this country who angle. You talked about new citizens. Many of them come from fish-eating cultures and have immediately taken up angling as an activity. Many of them live in urban areas. You only have to walk along riverbanks in urban areas to see folks having a really good time fishing.

I would strongly recommend that any urban conservation program have an urban angling component to it. Would either of you care to comment on that?

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly in a number of national parks and along the shorelines of a number of national historic sites and canals we're seeing anglers. In fact, in some of the consultations that we've done in urban areas in recent years, we're finding that is a major connection that people immediately have from an urban environment. It's one we're trying to look at to see how it plays together with people's love of nature.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Having Parks Canada become an advocate for angling would be a very welcome development. Can you comment on that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Very quickly as the time has expired.

[Andrew Campbell]

Certainly as part of our role within the Canadian Tourism Commission and working with organizations like the Tourism Industry Association of Canada we have been trying to work towards some of those goals.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Mark Warawa]

Ms. Duncan, you have seven minutes.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the witnesses. We're grateful for your testimony.

I am going to begin with very specific questions, then I'll go to broader ones.

First is best practices. Can you tell me for how long, from what year to what year, ecological integrity was the premier management principle for Parks Canada?

[Andrew Campbell]

The founding statement, and as I said the mandate that we still work on today, was developed in the 1930s by an Ottawa resident, in fact, who lived not far from here. We've had ecological integrity as an important element within our mandate for the past 80 years.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I'll ask a very specific question. It was the premier management principle. Do we still have the management principles?

[Andrew Campbell]

Yes. Under the act, ecological integrity is the first priority in decision-making within national parks, and that exists today.