Environment Committee on March 26th, 2015

[Pierre Latraverse]

One of the major consequences of climate change is that range limits are moving north. At present, we can clearly see that the moose is gaining territory at the expense of the woodland caribou. The moose is moving north. So is the black bear. So certain species are moving in a significant way. Diseases then follow the wildlife, also in a significant way. You just have to think about Lyme disease. The ticks that carry the disease came from the United States and have moved north.

Climate change brings with it other changes too. In the spring, the snow geese are arriving more quickly in the south of Quebec and are staying longer. That causes problems for farmers. These are examples of the effects of climate change, as we see them. That is why they concern us. However, perhaps there are other positive benefits we can attribute to some kinds of climate change. For example, we now have a spring hunting season for greater snow geese, which we did not have a few years ago.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Latraverse.

I am going to give the rest of my time to Ms. Leslie.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Merci.

I have lots of questions about habitat loss, but I'm going to start with a question for Mr. Craik and Mr. Latraverse.

I come from northern Ontario originally. As I grew up we always hunted, not because it was fun, but because we were poor, and that was the reality.

I would like to talk about protecting hunting and trapping. I am very concerned by habitat loss. I have read articles about the caribou in northern Quebec and Labrador. The George River caribou herd migrates between Labrador and Quebec.

I am not sure if you can answer this question, but I read that the hunt was cancelled because of the loss of habitat.

Mr. Latraverse and Mr. Craik, I don't know whether you're able to answer or give any comment, but if you know anything more about the habitat loss affecting the George River caribou herd, I'd love to hear what you know and what impacts you're seeing. I have read that the hunt on this particular herd may never come back, and I think that fact is attributed to habitat loss.

[Brian Craik]

Actually, most of the problem with the George River herd and the decline of the herds in northern Quebec, the barren ground caribou, are due to a 100-year cycle of those caribou.

There is on the record another collapse that was noted approximately 100 years ago. Just before the collapse of those herds, the caribou migrated to the south. I guess they were looking for habitat. Then all of a sudden there was a dieback. In the early part of this millennium they started to die back, and that has continued. Right now the Cree and the Inuit are advocating closing the sport hunting of the animals.

The place where the real problem in terms of habitat loss occurs is further south. It's the woodland caribou that are in danger, and Quebec hasn't developed a plan for preserving the woodland caribou habitat, but there are—

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Those two herds are genetically distinct. Isn't that correct?

[Brian Craik]

Well, they are genetically distinct, yes, but they're very close genetically. The barren ground herds and the woodland herds in Quebec are closer than, for example, the herds out west.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

I'm sorry, but your time is up.

We'll move now to Mr. Leef, please.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Thank you all for your testimony today.

In respect to some of the habitat—I think Ducks Unlimited can talk about this—we've made some significant advancements since 2007 on boreal forest protection. In fact, I think that at this point Canada has about 10% of its total boreal forest protected.

How important is that for species at risk, for wildlife habitat, and in particular for waterfowl management in Canada? Maybe you could speak to the impetus for the spike in the protection and growth of that protection since 2007.

This questions is for Ducks Unlimited. Thank you.

[James Brennan, Director, Government Affairs, Ducks Unlimited Canada]

Certainly the boreal region is one of our highest priority areas. It produces an estimated 17 million breeding ducks every year, so it's an area of Canada that we have devoted a lot of scientific resources to studying, and also funding, working with all levels of government to protect it.

Certainly, it's continentally important under the North American waterfowl management plan. In fact, a large proportion of the diving ducks that fly south every year, particularly greater and lesser scaup, come out of the boreal region, so it's very important for waterfowl continentally.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Thank you.

A lot of times we talk about the financial contributions, the legislative and policy direction that provincial and federal governments can take in terms of wildlife management conservation projects and conservation regimes.

The one thing that strikes me personally as a former conservation officer, a lifelong hunter, and indeed, a guide and an outfitter in Yukon Territory, is having a minister right now in the federal government in Canada who not only understands and appreciates the role that hunters and trappers play in the conservation management of our wildlife, but who has also lived the life herself as an Inuit woman.

She spoke to the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters in Toronto on March 21, where she said:

Canada is a country of hunters, fishermen, and trappers. It is these people, who have lived off the land, who have true appreciation and respect for conservation. People who hunt or fish will naturally try to protect the environment, because they want to make sure they can go hunting or fishing next year. It is they who are true environmental stewards. Any discussion on conservation must include hunters and fishers because they are the experts on this topic.

My question for each one of you is, can we actually have a conversation in this country on conservation without the inclusion of hunters? How important is it, if not only just symbolically, that we have a federal Minister of the Environment that understands this very point?

Perhaps you could move in succession, quickly, and we'll start with you, Mr. Craik.

[Brian Craik]

You must realize that aboriginal people have a hunting tradition, and it's very important to have them at the table and involved.

No, you can't have a debate on preserving the wildlife unless the hunters, trappers and fishermen are at the table.

[Gregory Weeks]

I can't agree more. I think the point that should be noted by everyone is that conservation started with the hunting and angling community. Ducks Unlimited, as I mentioned in my presentation, was started by hunters. We were the first environmentalists, I believe, aside from our first nations people.

A conversation about conservation cannot occur unless we include hunting, fishing and trapping communities.

I do agree it's important to have proper representation in the government with someone who understands the importance of including our organizations as hunters, anglers and trappers in that conversation, along with other interested parties.

[Cameron Mack]

The one comment I'd make, Mr. Leef, is there is one thing we have to be careful about. I think hunting is very important. Angling is an important component for what we've talked about here. The other thing is, though, we can't categorize everybody separately because many birders are hunters—

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Absolutely.

[Cameron Mack]

—and many people who enjoy the outdoors, campers and others, all of them obviously have a role to play in conservation as well.

Certainly, the history has been in terms of having people who see real value in the resource. Back in the 1920s and 1930s in the United States, it really was the hunters of the country and of North America who mobilized and brought together the natural resource management systems we have today with licensing, allocations, and all those sorts of things.

[Ryan Leef, Conservative, Yukon, YT]

Mr. Latraverse, perhaps you could comment on that question.

[Pierre Latraverse]

It is important to be clear about things. As the representative from Wildlife Habitat Canada has just said, it is important to bring everyone together.

However, when the time comes to pay the bill, only the hunters are buying their stamps. Birders and people not engaged in wildlife activities very rarely do so. However, the stamps that hunters buy benefits society as a whole. There really has to be a major debate about the way in which the hunters’ and anglers’ money is spent—the ones spending the money to protect wildlife areas—so that those who do not harvest wildlife understand it fully.

That bridge needs to be built. Using the assistance of the Hunting and Angling Advisory Panel and Wildlife Habitat Canada, the government must promote a message to encourage those who do not harvest wildlife to pay for it as well. It is not just up to hunters and anglers to protect wildlife habitat through the donations they make and the stamps they buy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Harold Albrecht]

Merci.

Thank you, Mr. Leef.

Mr. Casey, welcome.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to take a page directly out of Mr. Leef's book and ask each of you to comment on this.

Can we have a conversation about conservation and habitat protection without including the topic of climate change? How does climate change affect the work of your organizations and the interests you seek to advance?

Let's go around the table on that, starting with Mr. Mack.

[Cameron Mack]

Climate change is obviously something that has to be taken into account for all natural resource management strategies. Really, if you look at one of the largest threats we have in the world now, it's loss of biodiversity. The largest threats in that loss of biodiversity would be things such as climate change and invasive species and some of those other things.

In many respects, though, many organizations are developing adaptation strategies that are looking at how we set up wildlife for success through what happens in terms of climate change, to mitigate some of the impacts through proper land use planning, for example, with corridors by which animals can choose to move. It's more difficult for fish, obviously, than it is for others.

One of the most critical things for government is.... You can tell a lot about government's natural resource management commitment by looking at what it is doing around monitoring. Monitoring is one of the first things to go in budgets, because people don't really see it, but it is monitoring and the underlying science that are really going to be able to help us to manage the impacts of climate change and ensure that biodiversity is conserved.

[James Brennan]

I think the issue of climate change is inextricably intertwined with hunting, trapping, fishing, and certainly environmental policy and overall land management. We have seen more incidents of severe weather right across the country—

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

You don't need to tell me. I'm from Prince Edward Island.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[James Brennan]

Absolutely.

Certainly in the Prairies we have seen a lot more water on the land than we have seen in recent years. From a Ducks Unlimited standpoint, it is impacting our projects. We build diking systems typically to 100-year floodline conditions. We have seen one in 300-year flooding twice over the last decade. It is really having an impact on our ability; it's forcing us to rethink how we build and implement programs and projects on the land.

There are many unanswered questions about the impacts climate change is having on the boreal and what the impacts are on breeding birds in the boreal forest as well. There is frankly much more science that still needs to be done to give us a better understanding of the real impacts.

[Brian Craik]

We have to consider the warming climate. It affects the whole territory in northern Quebec. There have been many deaths caused by it, because the traditional knowledge of where it is safe to travel on the ice has meant that you have to rewrite the book. That's why the Cree Trappers' Association has put in place the portal to report on those types of changes to the habitat.

Also, on the coast there are big changes in habitat as a result of global warming and the mix of the changes of the flow regime due to hydroelectric development. I think that up in northern Quebec the two are mixed: the impact from hydroelectric development and global warming. The fact is, though, that nobody is really studying those things right now.