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.