Environment Committee on Nov. 7th, 2013

[Neil Maxwell]

A number of protected areas have a full-time employee, but not every one.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

In other words, we really have a human resources problem here. We do not have the staff to do adequate monitoring.

[Neil Maxwell]

What we lack is scientific information. There are several ways to do monitoring. Often, it is done by groups of dedicated citizens.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

With 30 seconds, I might just say thank you for clarifying the piece on ESTR because, really and truly, I didn't understand it by reading it. So you've been very helpful. Thanks very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

I want to add my thanks to our panel, Mr. Maxwell and your team, for being with us today. With that, we're going to declare a five-minute recess while we reconvene for the officials to join us.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

I'd like to call our meeting back to order.

We want to welcome to the table as witnesses: Chris Forbes, the assistant deputy minister of the strategic policy branch and regional directors general offices; Robert McLean, executive director of wildlife program policy; and from Parks Canada, Rob Prosper.

I understand, Mr. Forbes, you will have a seven- or eight-minute opening statement, and then Mr. Prosper will follow that for two or three minutes.

Proceed, Mr. Forbes.

[Chris Forbes, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy Branch and Regional Directors General Offices, Department of the Environment]

Thank you, Chair.

We're pleased to be here today to speak to the committee on the programs raised in the commissioner's report.

I'm joined by my colleague, Bob McLean, who's the executive director of the Canadian Wildlife Service, and I also have another colleague, Tony Young, who's the director general of the sustainability directorate at Environment Canada.

We would first like to acknowledge the cooperation and engagement of the many professionals in the commissioner's office who conducted the audits. The department appreciates their work a great deal.

Several chapters of the Commissioner's report focus on Environment Canada's work related to biodiversity. The Commissioner made a number of findings and recommendations related to species at risk, migratory birds and protected areas programs. The department acknowledges those findings, partially agrees with one and fully agrees with all the other recommendations and has developed an action plan to implement the recommendations. The department is already implementing those recommendations.

It is important to note the shared responsibility in Canada for conservation and biodiversity. Indeed, the federal government is accountable for migratory birds, aquatic species, federal protected areas and other biodiversity-related responsibilities. For their part, provinces and territories manage other species, their own protected areas, renewable and non-renewable resource development and, together with municipalities, land-use planning. These activities all have an impact on biodiversity and ecosystems in Canada.

In addition to government responsibilities, stakeholders and Canadians more generally have a role in conservation. Aboriginal communities, industry, conservation organizations, landowners and managers, and resource leaseholders are important partners, given that they make decisions and take actions related to land and resource use and management, decisions and actions that can and do affect biodiversity.

Environment Canada takes its leadership role on biodiversity seriously. In fulfilling this work, we work with other departments, other levels of government, and stakeholders. This partnership approach influences both the nature and the pace of our work.

Our active engagement with partners and stakeholders is an important factor in a number of the commissioner's findings. Often it's engagement, the need to consult and cooperate with Canadians, that determines how quickly key documents, such as species at risk recovery documents or protected area management plans, can be finalized.

As part of its national leadership role for biodiversity, including for the convention on biological diversity, Environment Canada is working with other departments, provinces, territories and others to finalize Canada's proposed 2020 biodiversity goals and targets and to identify key actions and initiatives to achieve the targets. Environment Canada is also developing and applying models that help to put a value on ecosystem services, the benefits that nature provides, in order to support decision-making, and working with partners to enhance our approach.

As overall federal lead for the Species at Risk Act, Environment Canada administers many aspects of the legislation and coordinates national implementation. The act's requirements for consultation and cooperation are extensive. We ensure meaningful consultation so that the documents benefit from the best available knowledge and are well supported. Environment Canada is making progress on recovery documents for the significant number of listed species for which we are responsible, and it is our intention, as recommended by the Commissioner, to post on the registry more details with respect to our plans for recovery planning.

When the act entered into force in 2003, 233 species were listed under it as at risk. By 2005, when the first recovery documents became due, this number had grown to 345 species, creating a significant workload that contributes to the number of recovery documents that are currently overdue.

Today, there are final or proposed recovery documents for 293 species. Documents are overdue for 196 species. Of all the recovery documents Environment Canada has posted on the act's public registry, more than half been posted in the last three years. This includes recovery documents for significant species such as the boreal caribou, which was the product of extensive comments—over 19,000 received.

And we are taking action to protect species at risk such as the September 17 announcement by Minister Aglukkaq of the government's intention to issue an emergency protection order for sage-grouse in the coming months. We will complement that order with stewardship actions and by working cooperatively with private landowners.

While recovery documents for listed species are under development, actions to support their survival and recovery are often already under way. Projects related to these species are eligible for funding from our habitat stewardship program, which since 2000 has invested $127 million in over 2,100 on-the-ground conservation projects.

This investment has helped to legally protect almost 174,000 hectares of species at risk habitat in Canada. Many species that do not yet have a recovery document benefit from funding under this program. This allows us to take on-the-ground action to help protect species even before a final recovery strategy is posted.

The department continues to align the priorities for species at risk funding programs with key actions identified in recovery documents. Environment Canada has developed and is improving tools in order to better assess whether funded activities have contributed effectively to recovery priorities.

The Minister of the Environment has the responsibility for migratory birds under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. Habitat monitoring and information form an important component of the conservation of migratory birds. Environment Canada works with our partners across Canada and internationally to assess and monitor migratory bird populations and implement conservation programs.

Of note, and as was discussed in the previous session, the North American waterfowl management plan, coordinated in Canada by Environment Canada, is widely supported as an effective partnership-based model for conservation. By the spring of next year, all bird conservation region strategies will be final and publicly available. Nine are already online.

These strategies will provide guidance to industry on conservation priorities and recommended conservation actions for migratory birds, and will enable industry to develop their own best management practices. Indeed, two industry sectors have already developed drafts of such documents.

Another way in which we support biodiversity is by conserving habitat directly through our own networks of protected areas. Environment Canada is responsible for 54 national wildlife areas and 92 migratory bird sanctuaries. We are in the process of updating management plans for all the national wildlife areas. We expect this work to be completed by 2017. In addition, once plans are completed for all the wildlife areas, we will complete management plans for migratory bird sanctuaries that are located on federal land or for which we have primary responsibility.

I should note that in Nunavut, cooperatively with Inuit communities, we're in the process of setting up the last of nine area co-management committees, which will help to complete management plans for our protected areas there.

As you may know, Canada's second federal sustainable development strategy was tabled in Parliament on Monday, November 4. This new strategy further advances the government's objectives of making environmental decision-making more transparent and accountable through long-term goals, medium-term targets, and concrete actions in areas of importance to the government and to Canadians.

By providing a whole-of-government review of federal actions to achieve environmental sustainability; linking sustainable development with core federal planning and reporting processes; and providing effective measurement, monitoring and reporting systems, Canadians have the information they need to track the government's environmental progress.

Stakeholder input on the consultation draft of the strategy, including recommendations from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, has played an important role in shaping the strategy. The final strategy very explicitly addresses the input that we received.

Many of the commissioner's specific recommendations related to the draft strategy have been addressed in the final version. I'll give you just a couple of examples. The final strategy makes targets in a number of cases more specific, measurable, and time-bound where possible, which will be reflected in improved clarity and measurability when it comes to reporting; includes greater detail in the government's approach to incorporating social and economic dimensions of environmental sustainability; recognizes the contributions of more federal departments and agencies; and includes a wider range of targets—all recommendations of the commissioner.

Mr. Chair, that ends my opening remarks. I'll turn it back over to you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Thank you, Mr. Forbes.

We have a few minutes, Mr. Prosper.

[Rob Prosper, Director General, Protected Area Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today about the 2013 fall report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and specifically the chapter on ecological integrity in Canada's national parks.

I'd like to thank the Office of the Auditor General, especially Neil Maxwell and Andrew Ferguson and their team, for the report and their recommendations that will allow us to continue to improve the management of our national parks.

In beginning, I would state the following:The national parks of Canada are hereby dedicated to the people of Canada for their benefit, education and enjoyment, subject to this Act and the regulations, and the parks shall be maintained and made use of so as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.

The spirit of these words, often referred to as the dedication clause of the Canada National Parks Act, has remained unchanged since they were first written in 1930.

Unaltered, they are enshrined in legislation and have guided Parks Canada for almost a century because they stand the test of time.

That is our mandate. That whole complete sentence. The mandate that Parks Canada delivers is an integrated mandate with three core elements that must work together. Protecting ecosystems, engaging Canadians, and encouraging them to connect personally to our natural treasures all contribute to maintaining or restoring ecological integrity.

In fact, our ecological integrity work is designed not only to ensure that traditional knowledge and our best science support sound decision-making, but also to inspire Canadians and to contribute to their visitor experience.

I make these remarks to set the stage for the findings and recommendations made by the audit, as well as our responses.

Let me jump to the chase. The commissioner concludes that “Parks Canada is fulfilling its key responsibilities for maintaining or restoring ecological integrity in Canada's national parks” and has “developed a solid framework of policies, directives, and guidelines for fulfilling the Agency's key responsibilities”. These are statements of which we are understandably proud.

To understand this statement, one must understand the four key foundational elements of an ecological integrity program. Of this, the commissioner is in agreement with the need to have a solid understanding of the condition of park ecosystems; the need to identify and communicate ecological priorities for each park; the need to take restoration actions that result in tangible, measurable conservation gains; and the need to ensure that there are no significant environmental impacts of planned activities in national parks.

Not surprisingly, it is within these four elements that the legislative obligations of the agency lie.

With respect to the requirement to report on the state of parks, Parks Canada regularly tables in Parliament a report on the state of protected heritage areas that assesses the priority ecosystems in national parks.

In accordance with our legislation and in response to the recommendation from the commissioner in 2005, Parks Canada undertook an unprecedented effort to complete 93% of the required national park management plans by 2010. In the plans that this audit reviewed, they were found to “contain the required elements” and “include management objectives that specified how ecological integrity would be maintained or restored”.

As part of the obligation to maintain or restore ecological integrity, the commissioner indicated that the "Agency had carried out significant work in every area examined". In particular, the agency has undertaken the most intensive ecological restoration effort in its history.

With respect to the obligations under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the commissioner stated that "Parks Canada routinely considered the impacts of ecological integrity when approving and implementing visitor activities and capital development projects". In his audit, the commissioner highlighted the fact that "Parks Canada is recognized as a world leader in developing guidance on ecological integrity". Still, the audit leaves the impression that Parks Canada is struggling to protect Canada's park ecosystems and that we are at risk of falling further behind.

I have worked in Parks Canada for 34 years, in national parks from Newfoundland to the Northwest Territories, in the field of resource conservation. I can tell you that what we are doing now in managing for ecological integrity could not even have been imagined in 1980 or even in the late 1990s.

Consider the following. We are scientifically assessing the condition of 102 key park ecosystems. We are the only country in the G8 that is reporting on the state of ecological integrity in our national park system. We are leading the world in restoration science and putting it into practice at a scale never before seen in the agency's 100-year history. We have ecologists as well as dedicated science and technical positions at every park, supported by a national team of senior scientists. We are actively using fire to achieve ecological gains while protecting the public and have managed fires that would cover an area twice the size of Prince Edward Island. In addition to science, Parks Canada is recognized internationally as a leader in building respectful, trusting relationships with aboriginal people that includes the active use of traditional knowledge in ecological decision-making.

I would not characterize this as struggling. I would characterize this as international leadership.

We recognize that there is always more work to do. Parks Canada fully intends to build on its proud history as the world's first national parks agency and continue to meet our conservation priorities, as informed by the report's findings and its recommendations.

As we move forward with our conservation priorities across the country, visitors are interacting with scientists, aboriginal people are sharing their wisdom, and new media are linking young people to our national parks. Some of these great examples are showcased in the third volume of our action-on-the-ground program, which you received earlier. I think you all have a copy. This provides a synopsis of some of the work we have done over the last number of years.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

My apologies for rushing both of you. We wanted to give our committee members a chance to ask some questions.

We are going to proceed with Mr. Woodworth from the government side.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, gentlemen, for your attendance here today.

I want to ask some questions about the federal sustainable development strategy, on which the present government introduced legislation in 2008. The government produced the first strategy in 2010, which is just now being renewed in 2013.

My understanding is that, with those actions, the present government has put Canada on the leading edge globally of government-wide, cross-government sustainable strategies. Would you agree with that?

[Chris Forbes]

I would certainly agree that we have moved forward a lot. We have improved the reporting on sustainable development strategies throughout the federal government in a unified way that was not done prior to the federal sustainable strategy.

It's hard to compare across countries, but we're certainly one of the leading countries internationally in providing that kind of information.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you.

I understand too that the 2010-13 strategy in fact created government-wide targets for greening government operations. Is that correct?

[Chris Forbes]

Yes.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Is that the first time Canada has ever done that under any government?

[Chris Forbes]

At the federal level, yes, it is.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I understand there have been some positive results from that. For example, I understand that Industry Canada had a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 6.8%. But actually, in the 2011-12 fiscal year, it achieved decreases in greenhouse gas emissions of about 27%. Is that correct?

[Tony Young, Director General, Sustainability Directorate Strategic Policy Branch, Department of the Environment]

Yes, I would have to get back to you to verify the numbers, but there has been a lot of success in that area.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I probably should tell you the trick. I'm reading this directly out of the Auditor General's report.

I should ask you if those results will be made available to all departments, so that other departments can emulate the methods and tremendous achievements that were obtained in Industry Canada.

[Tony Young]

I should say that in federal sustainable development, probably the Department of Public Works and Government Services leads the way in green government operations. It has, in partnership with Environment Canada, a fairly extensive interdepartmental consultation and advisory process for how departments can achieve their targets.

The short answer is yes, there is a process to inform others.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Good.

The Auditor General also reports that the Treasury Board Secretariat reduced its paper consumption by approximately 20% between the 2011-12 fiscal year and the 2012-13 fiscal year. Can we have some reasonable assurance that the methods and the tremendous results achieved in that regard are going to be shared across government under the framework set up by the government in the federal sustainable development strategy?

[Tony Young]

Yes, we can. There is, as I said, an ongoing interdepartmental process for identification of best practices and objectives.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

That's very good.

I notice also that the Auditor General reports that Human Resources and Skills Development reduced the number of printers in its department by over 4,000. Those are the kinds of things that have been generated by our federal sustainable development strategy, which I hope will be spread across all departments.

I just want to ask you to expand a little bit more on the consultation process that has been described in the final 2013-2016 strategy in response to the commissioner's comments in that regard.

What sort of public consultation and transparency is there in the final strategy?

[Chris Forbes]

The draft strategy was published last February and was out for a 120-day consultation period. We sent copies to this committee and others and to national aboriginal organizations, environmental NGOs, and a wide range of provincial and territorial governments. Over the course of the consultation period, we received, I think, probably in the tens of thousands of website visits. We ended up with 54 written submissions, and that includes the commissioner's comments, which he shared with us in June.

In the final strategy, which was published earlier this week, we've laid out—and I think this was one of the comments of the commissioner—a little more clearly what changes we've made in response to what we've heard from people.

We've tried to be transparent not only in consulting but also in reporting back on what we heard.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Could you give one or two examples of that?