Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for inviting Parks Canada to speak to you about the development of a national conservation plan.
The stakeholders who appeared before you last year generally supported the idea of developing a national conservation plan and supported the proposed overarching purpose of protect, connect, restore, and engage.
As highlighted in your report and in the government's response, protected areas are instrumental to conservation achievements in Canada. In this context, I will immediately reiterate two commitments made by Parks Canada officials last year, which are that the agency will actively support the development of the plan, and through our conservation and public engagement programs we will support achieving the desired conservation outcomes under such a plan.
The report on your study regarding the development of a national conservation plan repeatedly highlights the importance of engaging a diversity of actors and stakeholders to achieve lasting conservation gains. We are pleased to now provide input to your committee's study to identify ways in which a national conservation plan can complement and enhance current habitat conservation efforts for terrestrial ecosystems in Canada.
I will leave for you a number of copies of the booklet. It provides numerous examples of recent important conservation achievements of the agency that nicely illustrate the value of the diverse partnerships we have built and have nurtured to make these conservation achievements possible. This booklet was produced in the context of Parks Canada being awarded the World Wildlife Fund Gift to the Earth award in 2011. In the words of the fund:
A Gift to the Earth award is WWF-International's highest accolade for conservation work of outstanding global merit. It is a recognition of inspiring leadership and conservation achievement that contributes to protecting the living planet.
I would now like to take a few moments to provide more details about one of the conservation achievements highlighted in the booklet to illustrate the type and diversity of partnerships involved. This is the story of the reintroduction of the black-footed ferret in Canada.
You have most likely heard before about the story of that small predator that was thought to be extinct for several decades. The discovery of a small remnant population in the United States captured the imagination of conservationists and the American population in general. Soon a captive breeding program was set up, followed by reintroductions first in the United States, then in Mexico, and in Canada. In Canada, it is in Grasslands National Park, in southern Saskatchewan, that conditions were thought to be best for its reintroduction. Captive-bred animals were first released in 2009 and we obtained proof of successful reproduction in the wild the following year. And now the population is growing.
From a factual, biological point of view, the bottom line is that this is a great success, but there are very few examples of successful reintroductions of species in Canada.
There are other important dimensions to this story. Thousands of children hear this story yearly and are left with a message of hope for the future. Thousands of adult Canadians get involved yearly, giving money, others giving their time, and all find it gratifying and inspiring to contribute to building a better Canada for future generations.
In this story, what is relevant to your study is the instrumental role played by all members of a very large team of partners who came together to work on a common goal. Let me emphasize, as we have done over the years, that this accomplishment would never have been possible without the active involvement of many.
This is not a simple issue of sharing financial resources. Money can't buy many things. Success required that a range of partners with unique and diverse expertise come together. Some of them are the zoos. In this case, it was the Toronto zoo and the Calgary zoo, who bred the animals before their release in the wild, who studied their diet and behaviour and adapted their rearing protocols to enhance the survival of released animals, and who have used this great story to educate thousands of children and their parents.
Veterinary colleges throughout Canada shared their expertise in identifying and controlling threatening diseases and parasites.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shared their vast experience in rearing, releasing, and monitoring reintroduced populations.
Foundations and numerous individual Canadians donated money.
Canadian and foreign scientists studied various aspects of ferret biology that facilitated their reintroduction.
And individual Canadians volunteered time at various stages of the initiative. That includes, most recently, those who spend night after night in the darkness of the prairies monitoring this elusive nocturnal predator.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it illustrates the diversity of partners who got engaged even within the confines of a national park. There is no single organization that possesses that range of expertise. This is one fundamental value of partnerships that the national conservation plan can facilitate by providing an engaging framework where groups with diverse expertise will find a natural fit.
At this stage, please allow me to reiterate the importance of well-designed and well-managed protected areas in Canada's conservation agenda. Black-footed ferrets were reintroduced in a national park for good reason. National parks, like most other forms of protected areas, provide safe and sufficient habitat for wildlife populations over the long term.
This was necessary for the establishment of a self-sustaining population of black-footed ferret, as most of its natural habitat outside the park has been lost. What is true for the ferret is also true for many other species, be they large charismatic species like grizzly bears or little-known cryptic species like the Banff Springs snail, or the Bolander's quillwort, a rare aquatic plant found in Canada only in Waterton Lakes National Park.
As this committee has heard in various contexts over time, it is important for Canada to maintain systems of protected areas that represent the diversity of environments found on our lands and in our waters. We offer that Parks Canada's efforts to complete the representation of Canadian natural regions through its network of national parks are a key contribution to the national conservation effort.
I will add here that Parks Canada's work to establish new national parks always depends on strong partnerships. Close cooperation with the Province of Saskatchewan was necessary to establish Grasslands National Park, and it is still essential today to complete land acquisitions for the park.
Strong positive relationships with the ranching community are also essential, leading to ranching families willingly selling their lands to the crown to consolidate the park, and, as importantly, to adopt ranch management techniques that are sympathetic to conserving the ecological integrity of the park. To use the proposed terminology of the national conservation plan, the engagement of the ranching community supports protection, connection, and restoration efforts of the Government of Canada and its many partners.
The story of reintroducing the black-footed ferret through partnership is not an exception. The Gift to the Earth booklet, which I will leave with you, represents several other such stories. They involve new park establishment, maintaining healthy habitat, recovering species at risk, and awareness-building and environmental education initiatives.
Partners include aboriginal communities, provincial agencies, local governments, extractive industries such as the Bowater Mersey Paper Company, industries involved in the “recreo-touristic” domain, universities, research institutes, and non-governmental organizations.
Your report on the development of a national conservation plan, tabled last year, states: “To be successful, an NCP will need to involve as many Canadians as possible in its scope and mandate.”
I hope the examples I just provided give you a good indication of the range and types of partners presently involved in conservation efforts in Canada.
In closing, I will simply repeat that Parks Canada supports the idea of developing a national conservation plan that will engage those already involved and broadens it. We are committed to help in developing such a plan.
Thank you.