Environment Committee on June 9th, 2022

[Andrew Campbell]

There are lots of excellent accomplishments going on at the Rouge, everything from the Rouge beach to restoration projects throughout. The beach underwent significant erosion this spring, in fact. We have a project going on as we speak around the restoration of the beach and the river mouth area in there.

We have been building a trail network that now is going to be linking up to many of the other trail networks.

Our work with the farming community, which, Mr. Carrie, I'm sure you will remember, was a big piece of our work there, continues to improve. We've set one of first long-term leases for people to do sustainable agriculture within the park, which was one of our goals at the inception of the park and certainly for its growth.

As we're moving towards more and more ecological measures, we are seeing more and more improvement in the ecology within the park. At the same time, it is becoming one of those places that Torontonians and GTAers are visiting in high numbers, so it's great on all the fronts.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Durham Region....

[Andrew Campbell]

I'm sorry. Durham Region is one of our favourite regions in the country.

I will talk about other pieces that you touched on. Certainly the canal and investment in the canal infrastructure continues to go on. We just had another rain event along the Trent-Severn, and we have teams out there doing dam inspections and making sure that everything continues to function as we head into the tourist season.

Your last question was about seasonal employees, students and youth employment. I'm going to say that one of the things we're most proud of is that during the pandemic, Parks Canada set a goal of having equity-seeking employees to increase our number, and we said, with our youth, that we would have 35%—

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

I'll have to stop you there, Mr. Campbell. I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Ms. Thompson.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

That was a good try.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to Parks Canada. I have to start by saying, going back to the charging stations for electric vehicles, that there is a station at Signal Hill, the most easterly point in Canada, and it is universal, so well done. It is coast to coast to coast or certainly coast to coast.

I want to begin with the $35 million provided through budget 2021. Will it be sufficient to protect Parks Canada's assets for future generations?

[Michael Nadler]

Catherine will take that one, Mr. Chair.

[Catherine Blanchard]

Thank you very much.

The $35 million that you see in the supplementary estimates is really just an interim measure to protect our workforce. We are working on a long-term capital plan, so looking at what funding we require in the short and long term and developing options.

Right now we are on a path to renewal. The $35 million is not going to do it, but we're looking at our long-term requirements.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

To circle back to a question from the previous member, Parks Canada is requesting $19.4 million for operating expenditures, grants and contributions, and $6 million for capital expenditures, for funding to maintain the agency's capacity to manage capital assets. The measures announced in budget 2021, with the value of $35 million attributed to 2022-23, would primarily support Parks Canada's workforce, of which currently 48.8% are women and 7.7% are indigenous people. The link is, obviously, seasonal employment, youth employment, and wanting to have a diverse workforce.

What kinds of employment, specifically, will the fund support? Basically, can you give any input in terms of how you're building your workforce and having it reflect Canada?

[Catherine Blanchard]

As you can imagine, with an asset base of 18,000 assets across the country and a portfolio worth $26 billion, it's a very complex portfolio in terms of the types of assets we have. As you know, we have bridges, dams, fortifications, national historic sites and visitor centres. The portfolio requires a very highly skilled and sometimes very specialized workforce. These funds are going to go to retaining our project managers, engineers, architects, archeologists and finance procurement professionals. That's how we're going to be investing the funds, in retaining that kind of diverse workforce.

As was mentioned by Andrew and others, we prioritize equity-seeking groups in terms of our staffing and our hiring. For women, we're over the workforce availability. For indigenous we are at just below the workforce availability. We have some work to do on the other groups, but it is a priority for Parks Canada in terms of our staffing.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

If I could circle back to learn to camp—I'll see if I can get this in quickly before my time is up—I think it's a fabulous program. I'm only learning about it this evening. Will Parks Canada continue to build on the virtual programming initiated, obviously, during the pandemic, and the learn to camp program? As we return to fully in-person programming, how do you see that initiative expanding?

[Michael Nadler]

It's an excellent question. In fact, that is one of the outcomes, and a positive one, from the pandemic period. We were able to adapt some aspects of learn to camp's delivery to the digital format.

We'll continue with some digital delivery, but this year's focus will absolutely be on in-person experiences across the country. We anticipate 40 overnight experiences and around 600 half-day and full-day experiences across the country. We are hoping to hit about 100,000 participants this year. So far we're on track for that target.

The digital will always be present. In fact, all of our contingency planning around possible changes in the pandemic's circumstances allow us to move back to digital delivery if we have to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Pauzé, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to pick up where the previous member left off.

According to our briefing note, Parks Canada found ways for people to connect virtually with places that were closed because of the pandemic. A learn-to-camp program was delivered virtually to 75,000 elementary school students in Quebec. As a former elementary school teacher, I am especially interested in that.

Can you tell us what the results of the program were?

Did the learn-to-camp virtual program produce any tangible benefits?

[Michael Nadler]

That's an excellent question.

As far as camping and other outdoor activities are concerned, some skills can be learned only through hands‑on experience, in the outdoors. Other skills, however, can be learned by watching videos and participating in virtual workshops.

The learn-to-camp program was well received. We have a number of outreach programs that are designed for youth, including schoolchildren.

The idea is to introduce them to nature, culture and history. We partner with a number of organizations including Canadian Geographic. The learn-to-camp program is one of our youth outreach programs.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

The program was delivered in 2020‑21. Is it too soon to talk about the tangible benefits of the program?

[Michael Nadler]

Are you referring to the skills that were learned or the number of participants?

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I'm referring to both.

[Michael Nadler]

All right.

The learn-to-camp program was above all designed to connect young people with nature. In that respect, it was a success.

This year, we want to improve the experience for young people by teaching them even more skills. Youth participation matters, but the program's target audience is families. Kids are usually the ones who convince the parents to go camping for the first time, so the program reaches families as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

We now go to Ms. Collins.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Continuing with call to action 79, I really appreciate the update on some of the actions that have been taken. What do you see as the work still needing to be done on that call to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

[Christine Loth-Bown]

We are continuing to work in co-operation with indigenous communities, particularly with respect to recognizing the residential school event and moving forward with communities on forms of commemoration for that. In this most recent budget, we received additional funding to continue that important work.

Through the heritage funding in 2018 and with additional funding in this last budget to continue that work, we have, under the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board, designated the residential school event for residential schools. To date, we are working currently with a number of different communities to commemorate other residential schools, as well working with community members and survivors on the forms of commemoration that they would like to see to acknowledge the event.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you so much.

On a different topic, for Parks Canada overall, voted expenditures have been declining in recent years. On infrastructure funding, approximately $4.2 billion over eight years comes to an end.

I'm particularly curious about accessibility needs, how the infrastructure funding is currently being used to increase accessibility, and if any of these funding gaps or declining funding will have an impact on ensuring that our parks are accessible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You have 20 seconds, please.

[Michael Nadler]

I'll answer quickly. If there are further questions, Andrew might chime in as well.

Absolutely, accessibility is a priority in all of our improvements and restorations of infrastructure across the country. In our long-term planning, in fact, Catherine mentioned that we are presently working on long-term strategies through the management of and reinvestment in our asset base, and accessibility is absolutely a priority in that work as well.