Environment Committee on Oct. 21st, 2022

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you very much for having me, Mr. Chair. Maybe you can just signal me when I get to one minute, and I'll scoot on through and do that. I want to make sure I respect the committee's time here.

I'm really pleased to be here and present Bill C-248. Members of this committee know that it was in the House of Commons and it passed first reading. I want to thank the authors of the bill, being the Library of Parliament, who helped work on it. It's a privilege to bring this legislation forward, and to be the one doing so. This has been a big environmental movement in the Windsor area and southern Ontario for a long time. We have been endeavouring to protect lands in this area for almost half a century, in particular because of our industrialization and the fact that we also have a lot of agriculture, so our natural areas have been taxed.

I want to say thanks to a number of groups, essential partners. I recognize Chief Duckworth of Caldwell First Nation; the mayor and city council of Windsor; Wildlands League; the Unifor environment committee; Wildlife Preservation Canada; Citizens Environment Alliance; Essex County Field Naturalists' Club; Green Ummah; Friends of Ojibway Prairie; Save Ojibway organizations; and all the local residents over the years who have sent in thousands of petitions, letters and so forth. It's been really special.

The proposed Ojibway national urban park here in Windsor, Ontario, is part of the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of first nations and includes the Ojibway, Odawa, and Potawatomi, with long-respecting relationships of first nations. In fact, it's the oldest European settlement. Next to it is west of Montreal, with over 300 years of francophone settlement as well. It's where the War of 1812 was fought. It's where the Underground Railroad was. It is also where the rum-runners were. There has been a lot of heritage and tradition going on in this corridor.

The proposed urban park that we have here is part of a tall grass prairie. There's only 1% left in all of Canada, and this area is very special, because it's been preserved almost by accident. There have been a number of different community organization groups that have been trying to protect this land over a number of years, and it's come about, really, because the City of Windsor has been a very good steward—as well, the Province of Ontario. There have been some federal lands—I'm going to get into that later—that are now part of a change that could be good not only for 200 of Canada's 500 endangered species that are right down there, but also for ecotourism. Right next to it, we're building the Gordie Howe bridge, Canada's largest infrastructure project that goes into the United States.

Ojibway Shores, on the waterfront there, is 33 acres. It is the last undeveloped spot along the Detroit River in the City of Windsor and in the area, and maybe in the Great Lakes. It actually has a complex of a number of different tall grass prairie species and a number of different species at risk. They connect into several of the properties that the City of Windsor actually owns, and the Province of Ontario. Ojibway Shores itself is actually owned by the port authority.

Since the introduction of this bill, I, as well as others in the community, have been trying to save this land from development. It is now actually on a memorandum of understanding with Parks Canada and Environment Canada to protect it. It's crucial, because at one point the port authority wanted to bulldoze this area down and develop it, using it basically for landfill from the Herb Gray Parkway project. That's now protected. When it was inventoried by the field naturalists, it actually ranked high as some of the most valuable property for the ecosystem in Ontario.

There are several areas that I'm going to touch on briefly that connect into this. There's Spring Garden Natural Area, which is the City of Windsor. I was on city council when we protected that. It has everything from the Dukes' skipper to the red-headed woodpecker, the gray fox, all kinds of different American chestnut trees—a whole series of ecosystems there. Because we're actually a Carolinian area, and off the water, it creates this ecosystem diversity and a hot spot for species.

There's also the Black Oak Heritage Park, which is next to Ojibway Shores. So, Ojibway Shores is right on the waterfront, and then Black Oak Heritage Park, a City of Windsor property, is right next to it. We have the port property right next to the city property, but there's no management system there that's for both together. They have savannah and woodland species, and some of the best chestnut groves that are left in Ontario.

Next to that is the Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park, where there are a number of different things—the red-bellied snake, Butler's gartersnake, the eastern foxsnake, and common park reptiles. In 1977, they found a species that they thought was extinct in Canada that was actually still there. That connects to it as well. Then we have Ojibway Park, which is next to it and has an excellent nature centre.

I think you're getting a theme here. We have these little plots of land that are owned by different people and different groups. This actually has a nature centre, walking trails, a beautiful ecosystem. It's also had some private areas given to it from the former raceway with Ojibway Tom Joy Woods. Next to that, we have the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve. There are more rare plants per hectare than anywhere else in Ontario. That's really cool in itself, if you ask me, in terms of what we have around us there.

What's really special, however, and why I think this is different from the other urban parks that are being considered, is that right across the river, in the United States, is the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, which is the only one that they have over there. Across in the United States, if you saw the area.... You'd see that on the Canadian side we have the bringer bridge being built, and then we have a swath of green, patchy territory that needs to be connected and managed. On the U.S. side, if you're fan of The Lord of the Rings, Zug Island looks like Mordor. It's not very attractive, but there's also another community that's getting revitalization, called Delray. This is exciting because Delray is like Sandwich Town, which I represent and which is one of the poorest places in Canada with child poverty.

Again, I mentioned the rich tradition that it has had in the past, with the War of 1812, the rum-runners, the Underground Railway and all of those things. Right now, however, it has some of the highest child poverty and some of the biggest challenges with the environment because it's pinned down in this border area, with the Ambassador Bridge on one side, a railroad track on the other, and the Detroit River on the other. It's an exciting renewal opportunity that we're pleased about.

On the Detroit side, they are putting a lot of money into the Humbug Marsh and a whole bunch of ecosystems. What this means is that this property is a conduit for keeping things together and for species to migrate and move.

About 12 years ago, local residents fought to keep Ojibway Shores from being bulldozed. There's a long story behind that. I won't get into that. Next to it, again, the Gordie Howe bridge is being built. That's actually going to come online in a couple of years. That's exciting. That's been a real fight. That's actually an example of doing things right.

When I first got here, nobody wanted to build another bridge. It was seen as excessive. It was seen as not needed. We're doing it right. It's a fantastic project that was actually started by Jean Chrétien with the original “Let's Get Windsor-Essex Moving” fund for $200 million. Then, later on, it was actually finalized with Stephen Harper's government. They did a terrific job of making sure it was done correctly, because there were a lot of private interests against this. Now it's unified—everybody. It's a huge win for our environment and our economy. That's right next to it.

What happened in 2017 is that, after we stopped the destruction of Ojibway Shores, the port authority changed their mind and let people on board onto the site. There are 10 criteria of Ojibway Shores to find out whether it's environmentally significant. One is good enough. They had nine out of 10. I won't list them all because we don't have time, but it got nine out of 10 because of the way the ecosystem is and because of our Carolinian background.

I've been on about this for a long time. We had a town hall in 2019 where I invited not only the residents but also Caldwell First Nation and the Wildlands League. A number of different American state and federal officials also came. We've had a really good, positive input with that.

We followed it up with another town hall meeting just recently as well. In fact, even when the Prime Minister was down in Windsor in 2020, he said to the union leaders at that time that he supported a national urban park down there, so that was good.

In 2021, I introduced Bill C-248 because there had been some discussion of some new urban parks that might come online. What we wanted was simply what's been done for every other national park to date. It has its own legislation, just like a bridge or a border crossing. That's what we're doing. We're amending the schedule in the parks act to add this area.

I only have one minute left to wrap up. I would rather have interactions with everyone. One of the good news things that happened is that introducing the bill has actually triggered the memorandum of understanding for the Ojibway Shores to be protected from the port authority. The people at Parks Canada were opposed to co-management with Caldwell First Nation at first. To their credit, they have now changed positions on co-management, which is becoming the norm with first nations. It's important.

I'll finish with one of the most wonderful things we've seen happen out of this entire endeavour—a brief history as I wrap up. Caldwell First Nation was originally supposed to get Point Pelee after the War of 1812. They were burned out of their properties, and they were then shunted around for a number of years. They finally reached a settlement. It's the first new modern settlement that's actually taken place. They view this as reconciliation and are full-time partners in this. It's a wonderful story in terms of that. Chief Mary Duckworth has been excellent with this. Hopefully you will hear from her later.

I want to say thank you to the committee members for considering this, and I'm looking forward to the questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

I'm going to make the first round a five-minute round, and the second round a four-and-two round so we can finish on time.

Mr. Lewis, you have five minutes.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair.

It's an honour and a pleasure to be here this afternoon with you all.

It's a beautiful day here in Essex and it would be a great day to take a walk in the park—a walk in a park. To the committee, it's pretty unique. This is a very unique opportunity for the folks of Essex. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We are somewhat landlocked in Windsor-Essex, in that we're surrounded by three bodies of water. I've spoken extensively with Mayor Dilkens, the mayor of Windsor; Mayor Bondy, the mayor of LaSalle; and Mr. Watson, the previous member of Parliament. We've done our due diligence. Everybody says this is a fantastic thing to do.

I know I only have five minutes and I just used up one minute.

Mr. Masse, first and foremost, congratulations, sir. I think this is going to be great for both of our communities.

With regard to our farming industry, it's gobbled up a lot of land and I'm proud of that because we need our farming industry to feed Canadians. We need the industry to pay the bills. However, there are not a lot of opportunities to get outdoors for mental health. Can you just expand a little bit as to what this will do for the residents of LaSalle and west Windsor, and quite frankly across the county?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Lewis, and thank you for your assistance on this bill as well. This has been a collaborative effort in the region.

That's an excellent point. Our area has a high degree of manufacturing. In fact, some of this area was originally forested, and when I talked to the port originally they called it “scrub brush”. It now has 200 of Canada's 500 endangered species, but it was originally forested.

Mr. Lewis, you're correct. When you look at the amount of agriculture we have, it's high-industry. Mr. Epp knows as well that, with the agriculture industry that we have with greenhouses, it takes up a lot of space and resources.

This is one of our last few opportunities to bind these elements together. The reason why I think it's different from the other proposals that are out there is that it's on the international border and we have a diversity of species. We paid a big price with environmental diseases, high rates of cancer. It's all been well identified by Health Canada. We get a lot of smog and other types of pollution from the United States, so this is our way of pushing back. Also, this is for young people to see that they can participate in their ecosystem development.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Masse.

This morning I spoke with CFIB, as well as with the tourism industry. The new Gordie Howe International Bridge is pretty exciting. We're going to get a bike path and/or a foot path across that, and I think there are some three million friends from Michigan, upstate New York, Wisconsin and Ohio, so this could be a huge tourism possibility.

Do you agree, Mr. Masse?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Absolutely. In fact, it was Minister Champagne who agreed to have the bike lane and pedestrian lane for free because it's actually going to combat...some of the distances we've had over the years with regard to COVID. This is exciting because, with Slow Roll Detroit, for example, they've had up to 5,000 cyclists meet in downtown Detroit and cycle in harmony, in union, and have fun, so they could actually cross over there.

I had Rashida Tlaib over, the Democratic congressional representative, a good friend of mine for 20 years, and we met in the house of the U.S. ambassador to Canada. We toured the Gordie Howe International Bridge together, and this is right next to it.

One of the reasons I want this to be an official national urban park, and the way we're presenting it, is that we also want to manage the park properly for the ecosystem. Point Pelee, which is close to us, has a management plan because it gets a lot of bird tourism and ecotourism, but it puts stress on the park, so we want this done properly. It's exciting to have these ecotourism opportunities, but we also want to make sure they're planned properly.

[Chris Lewis, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Masse.

I realize I have 55 seconds left. I would like you to expand a little bit on the corridors. With regard to Matchette and Malden roads, it's vital that we allow our folks to get to the new $5.1-billion battery plant, the Stellantis plant. Is there something in the bill where you'll ensure that they can get to their workplace and get home quickly?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Absolutely, and that's another reason why the bill is so important. It's because other national parks do have corridors through them, but they're managed responsibly. They're also very important for this region because when we have all these parsed apart as I've identified—I have a map, but it's not in both official languages, so I'll send it to you later—you'll see that there are some roadways there. It's going to take some good strategies and also investment. More importantly, it really is the proper way to actually manage those things.

That's a good point, Mr. Lewis. That's why we have the Town of LaSalle and the City of Windsor and others on board unanimously for this, because they know we want to do this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

We'll now go to Ms. Thompson, for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Masse, for coming forward, and thank you for the work you've done on the private member's bill.

A Liberal colleague shares a boundary, I believe, with you in Windsor. Reviewing the debate, he made a very valid point around process. I absolutely believe in the need to expand our parks within Canada. They're fabulous. I use them as often as I can, but I do believe in process. In terms of the complexity of this process, in terms of the points of engagement, and also the number of parcels of land involved, methodical steps are quite important.

To that end, why is this bill necessary when Parks Canada is already working in partnership with the City of Windsor and local first nations through a partnership committee to establish the national urban park in Windsor?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

There was an announced process, but there isn't much detail about that. It has actually not been the process that has normally taken place for national parks. National parks are usually added and appended to the bill, and they follow the rules that are there.

We don't know about those other ones. The city council and the mayor unanimously support this bill. Caldwell First Nation and Chief Mary Duckworth support this bill. Those reasons come from the genesis.... When Ojibway Shores was going to be demolished, the first thing I did was reach out to Caldwell First Nation, and I brought them to the site to see if they would be interested in actually fighting to acquire the site. They decided to go to the Leamington area, for a different reason, for a better future for housing and a whole series of things. It would be close to Point Pelee, but still within their traditional territory.

We have a lot of.... We also have the Wildlands League. Everybody is pointing toward legislation, because it's the most accountable and most transparent for the future. It's different. I don't know about other parks that are happening with regard to other urban areas. All I know is this one. I've represented the area for a while, so I know this fits really well.

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

Again, I'm just trying to break down the steps in the process.

Regarding boundaries, how do you respond to critics who say that the private member's bill doesn't go far enough? Is there a risk that we'll miss the opportunities to move into a more ambitious vision for the park? Are you open to other boundaries being defined within the park?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

First of all, I don't think.... It was the Wildlands League that said it doesn't know of a park that hasn't actually improved over the years. Maybe the only one that hasn't is the Bruce, which was done in a way that still needs to go through its own legislation. I don't know if you're familiar with that project, but it actually went the opposite way, similar to what is being proposed right now. I'm concerned with the government on its proposal. It's going to be in the courts, and it's going to take longer.

This one is open for amendments in the future. The beauty of it, and why this is almost like shelf-ready, is that you have the City of Windsor asking for its property to.... The mayor actually asked them to take the property. They actually want to upload the property and give it proper responsibility. The Province of Ontario will have a vote coming up. They have expressed interest in all of this, and there's due process even as we go forward with that.

In the future, hopefully future generations will improve the park. There are plenty of opportunities in the private sector, as well, which isn't originally in the bill. When I was vice-chair of the conservation authority, I talked to some of the businesses around there, and some of them might actually bequeath some of their properties eventually for the national park once it becomes solid. However, if you don't have it as an official national park, nobody really wants to donate something, knowing that it might be undermined later on.

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

Do you have any concerns about whether there's a constitutional authority for this bill? Can you explain?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, I don't. The Speaker has vetted the bill, and that's why it's here. I'm very confident in the process. The Speaker, Mr. Rota, and I have served for a long period of time together here. He's quite capable with these things. I'm very confident he knows his due diligence. In fact, we actually shared a floor for a while before he became Speaker.

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

Thank you.

Do I still have a minute?

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

You have about 45 seconds.

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

Are there privately held lands within the boundaries set out under the bill, and if yes, have the owners been consulted on the bill?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, there are no private lands, and that's the reason why we start there. It's the logical way to start to deal with the bill, and then later on, if private lands are offered, that's a different story. There's a great property next to it. We've talked to the Kennette family, and so has the port authority and others.

Right now, if you can believe this, next to this beautiful treasure, we have the Gordie Howe International Bridge being built, and we have asphalt and concrete-recycling capabilities in front of our gateway for our new border crossing.

Some of us want to see the Kennette property turn into more environmental ways, but that's another story for another day. Perhaps with this bill, when they see this, perhaps they're going to see a legacy. They are open to discussions and so forth, but again, it comes down to money.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Thank you.

Ms. Pauzé, you have the floor.

[Monique Pauzé, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I'm giving my time to Ms. Collins.

[The Chair, Liberal, Francis Scarpaleggia]

Go ahead, Ms. Collins.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank you so much.

Mr. Masse, as a city councillor and then as a member of Parliament, you've been very involved in trying to protect and preserve natural areas. You mentioned to Ms. Thompson that legislation is really important and potentially the only way to permanently protect this area. You've spoken about how the city once had to purchase a provincial park to prevent it from being developed.

Could you just expand on this for the committee and tell us a little bit about how that informed your understanding of the need to ensure that legislation was passed to make Ojibway a national park?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you very much, Ms. Collins. I appreciate it.

When I was on city council, we had a provincial park called Peche Island. It's in the middle of the Detroit River. It has an ecosystem. They used to say that the rum-runners were there. The remnants are there, as well as all kinds of folklore and so forth. There is actually a little bit of infrastructure on it.

That provincial park was put up for sale by the provincial government, including a woodlot on part of the shore. We had to purchase that land or it would have been lost to Americans or to developers. It was up for sale, so at that time the city council bought the provincial park for $1.3 million. The only way to pay for that, in terms of getting support to do it, was that we actually had to develop the woodlot—which had been used for camping and kids programs—to be a subdivision.

One thing that I want to see—and what I've been told and coached on with regard to the non-government organizations that are involved in the environmental movement—is what they view as the consistency and solidity of a project or a plan. The normal process to create a park is to actually amend the parks act and include it in there.

That's why we want this to be the regular process right now. It's ready. It's perfectly set to be the structure to be advanced in the future. It doesn't involve any type of barrier, aside from the legislation needing to be passed and a proper management plan.

[Laurel Collins, NDP, Victoria, BC]

Thank so much.

You also talk a lot about how you've been working with the Caldwell First Nation. How long have you been working with them on this project? Could you detail your involvement with the Caldwell First Nation and how you see this as part of reconciliation for indigenous communities?