Evidence of meeting #37 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was parks.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
William Stevenson Conservative Yellowhead, AB
I'm going to pivot back to Jasper, because I have limited time here.
In some of my questioning of Parks Canada.... Of the $15 million allocated for rent and licence fee relief, only $7.5 million has been delivered to those experiencing problems after the Jasper wildfire.
How many tenants have actually received that support, and why has only about half of it been allocated since it was distributed there?
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency
I believe what you're discussing is direct support for people to deal with soil remediation after the wildfire.
That was $15 million. Through the Red Cross—
Conservative
William Stevenson Conservative Yellowhead, AB
Well, I understand that people—businesses, specifically—have to pay rent to Parks Canada to operate there, and that there was some relief for their rent and licence fees. Only about half of that has been done, and we're two years in now.
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency
All the rent relief people applied for during that period—we weren't charging for rents during the period of the rebuild—was on a submission basis. I'm just going to say the same thing. If we're talking about soil remediation, that was based on people submitting to us.
One of the issues that have come up, certainly, is insurance. People have to look at both their insurance and their payments in order to see whether they disqualify themselves and—
Conservative
William Stevenson Conservative Yellowhead, AB
A lot of those insurance companies have a two-year rule for applying, and two years is only 60 days out.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shannon Miedema
Thank you very much, Mr. Stevenson. Your time is up.
We will now go, finally, to Mr. Grant for five minutes.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses who have come forward today. I really appreciate it.
As you know, I'm from Vancouver, the third-largest metro area in Canada. I believe it was Mr. Fanjoy who asked a question about urban national parks—something we're keenly aware of. You mentioned that six have been put forward already.
How does that work? Are there any others coming forward, or was there a limit set on which parks could be available?
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency
We continue to work with municipalities that have the support of first nations and their province. We are trying to do that on a rollout, so that there's equitable distribution across the country. We await some other places.
As you, I'm sure, are well aware—not everybody is that well aware—Stanley Park in Vancouver continues to be part of Parks Canada's family of places, although it is managed through a lease to the city and the park board. Although we do not count it on the national urban park list, one could say that we're doing well in Vancouver.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Great.
I want to talk a bit about national historic sites. There's a national historic site near my community for one of our ancient village sites. I was proud to be able to attend the designation of the Tk’emlúps Indian residential school as a national historic site.
I know that they are designated as that, but how are we protecting them? I know that they're not protected in a way that.... People can still go and develop on the midden, where we live. What sort of criteria are put in place there?
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency
I will turn to Ms. Spence to answer that question.
Nadine Spence Vice-President, Indigenous Stewardship and Cultural Heritage, Parks Canada Agency
Thank you for the question.
Parks Canada proudly protects 171 national historic sites as part of its portfolio, but there are more than 1,000 national historic sites that designate people, places and events of historic significance to Canada. With the broader family of national historic sites, as we call them, we have a cost-share program that supports both presentation and reconstruction of fabric every year. We have a public call-out, and we spend about $2 million in support of projects each year.
Liberal
Wade Grant Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Going back to the establishment of parks, you talked about local indigenous communities being a part of that.
How much work is going into bringing in indigenous knowledge and other things to ensure that the traditional historic overseeing of these beautiful pieces of land is properly a part of that?
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, Parks Canada Agency
Madam Chair, I will turn that immediately to Ms. Spence and then go back to Mr. Millar, if he has anything to add.
Vice-President, Indigenous Stewardship and Cultural Heritage, Parks Canada Agency
Andrew mentioned earlier the new policy on indigenous stewardship, which provides a framework for us to work collaboratively with Inuit, Métis and first nation communities in more than 300 relationships that we have across the country in every province and territory. It's to co-govern and also to ensure that indigenous knowledge is applied in the management of our places to the benefit of Canadians and our mandate for ecological integrity, cultural integrity and connection.
Vice-President, Protected Areas Establishment and Conservation, Parks Canada Agency
What she said.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Shannon Miedema
Thank you so much, Mr. Grant.
That wraps up our round of questioning. I give a very warm thank you to all of our witnesses today. We really appreciate your time. I know that a lot goes into preparing for being in the hot seat, so thank you very much.
We're going to suspend briefly to go in camera. Members, please don't go far, because we're going to do this quickly, and then we have about 10 minutes of work. Thank you.
[Proceedings continue in camera]