Environment Committee on Oct. 4th, 2016

[Wayne Stetski, NDP, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

I want to go back to the concept of indigenous protected areas for just a moment. Over the course of our trip, we heard a lot from a variety of indigenous people and in witness testimony about the shared values around conservation. I'm wondering whether you would consider actually going out to first nations across Canada with a question and asking them what they would like to see protected in their areas, and doing it both in the spirit of reconciliation and in the spirit of helping to meet these targets coming up.

[Philippe Morel]

I can start by maybe pointing out to colleagues from other departments that it's difficult to account for the contributions of indigenous people where they have treaty rights based on land and to determine how they can contribute to marine protected areas. There are some initiatives to conserve or protect maybe some migratory birds, which could be extended to some marine areas, and if there were any contributions we would certainly welcome those as part of a contribution to our objectives.

[Wayne Stetski, NDP, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

My question is about being proactive and actually approaching first nations across the country and asking them that question.

[Nadine Crookes]

I think that's a very important question, and it would be a very important process to have that conversation with indigenous communities across the country. Certainly in Parks Canada's experience, we've learned over the course of our 125-plus years of being around that our parks and protected areas work really when we work closely with indigenous communities and we have those shared objectives and they're enabled through the management of the landscape. Learning from those experiences certainly will contribute to the thinking around the pathway work and the conversations that likely will need to occur.

[Rob Prosper]

It's actually the reason we have identified that three members of our steering committee need to come from national indigenous organizations. We're going to be exploring the potential opportunities for indigenous protected areas; those are ill-defined at this point. I think it would be very beneficial for Canada to come to some consensus on what these could be. Having representation on a steering committee as well as hearing from other groups that we will no doubt be consulting with will help us to get there.

[Wayne Stetski, NDP, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

You have targets to meet for 2020. We've heard from many witnesses that looking ahead—

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

I'm sorry but you're out of time.

We're sitting here trying to understand how we can help you to reach the targets. What can we do as a committee? What barriers or constraints can we help with and recommend changes to in order to expedite this process?

We sent you a bunch of questions, some from the Conservatives, some from us, and some from the NDP. I know we got some feedback in answer to those questions. I know you changed your introductory remarks to try to address some of them, but a lot of the questions we sent you haven't been touched on. We obviously want that information from you.

In the 10 minutes remaining, is there anything you can share with us in order to get on the record something about the barriers or the constraints that we could present to the government to help expedite things? We've heard over and over not only from you but also from many others that time is of the essence. Even the ones you've mentioned adding are minute. They represent very small percentages, and we need large percentages to get to the targets. I just want to open that up to see if there's anything else that you could share with us so that we could help you.

[Philippe Morel]

I think the questions we had today were very helpful with regard to how to better engage everyone. I think part of our success has to do with not how fast but how well we will be consulting and engaging stakeholders at all levels towards our targets.

For example, when we're talking about marine protected areas, some may think that all activities including fishing by first nations will be prohibited, and that's not necessarily the case. When we declare that an area is a marine protected area, we protect it from what it needs to be protected from. To do that, we need to consult and adjust and to make sure that everyone understands why sometimes we need to have partial fisheries closures or partial access or why we designate different types of gear that can be used so that sponges and other seabed treasures we're protecting are not destroyed.

I think you are contributing to that understanding through your work here and also as members of Parliament, and that helps us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Our report is going to be making recommendations. That's what we're trying to dig out here. What are the recommendations that can be helpful to moving the government forward in achieving these targets? That's what we're trying to get.

Does anybody else want to share anything on that point?

[Rob Prosper]

I would like to reflect on something that I think Steven Nitah said in testimony, and that was on the importance of working with indigenous groups and recognizing the need for support and capacity in order for communities to participate in protected area establishment.

Finally, I think it takes time, and I don't know if there's any way of getting around the fact that to build a trusting relationship takes time. I think we all have to turn our minds to how we can build better relationships and make that time shorter.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

That's a good point.

Does Ms. Milburn-Hopwood want to say anything before we close up?

[Sue Milburn-Hopwood]

I have nothing to add other than I think the fact that this committee is actually undertaking this study has generated a lot of discussion. We're very much following the developments of this committee and the testimony at your hearings. I think that push, that buzz, and the probing questions that you're asking are very helpful in terms of moving forward, but I think we need to just get on with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Deb Schulte]

Thank you all very much for coming, and to some of you for coming back, to help us explore a little deeper. There are obviously questions here that we are looking to get some written responses to. If we could get those within a week and a bit, we would really appreciate it. If we are going to move forward and do our drafting instructions, we would like to make sure we have those included. Thank you very much again.

I just want to let the committee know we are going to go into subcommittee shortly but we will end this meeting now.

The meeting is adjourned.