Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank members of the standing committee for inviting me to appear as a witness today. It's a pleasure to share the perspectives of CPAWS in these kinds of fora. I should say it's rather unusual for CPAWS to appear before this committee, but nevertheless, we have been involved in two projects, rather innovative projects, in recent months that I'd like to share with you, and that involvement might explain why I'm here today.
Let me start by telling you a little bit about our organization. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, CPAWS, was established just over 50 years ago with the express mission of conserving our public land and our ocean. We also work to ensure that existing protected areas around the country are well managed and meet the highest possible standards, and we work collaboratively with governments, indigenous people, industry, and local communities to find conservation solutions for particular landscapes and seascapes. Our goal is to protect at least half of Canada's public land and water. We're science based and we're solutions focused.
As some of you may know if you have worked in the charitable sector, our charity receives most of its funding from foundations and individual donors. Many of these fund us for particular projects based on their particular interests as donors, so, valuable as their support is, this means that much of our funding ends up being restricted to a particular use. Now, individual contributions that are restricted are very important for our work, but at the same time, the unrestricted donations actually allow us to be agile and to respond to conservation opportunities that might arise suddenly. Unrestricted funds are, however, not as easy to come by as restricted funds
Recently, one of our major donors came to us with a generous offer to fund an endowment. In our initial conversation I reviewed some of the areas of work that CPAWS has had some difficulty funding through traditional charitable foundation sources. Our generous donor agreed to help us with a nationwide strategic opportunities fund and with geographic projects that lie in regions that are difficult to fund, namely, in eastern Canada. In the course of our conversation, I also raised the possibility of turning the endowment into an unusual shape, a real estate asset. As you will see from the documents that have been distributed to you, in our view the business case for such a project is very strong. What's best is that it will provide CPAWS operations with a home base, but more importantly, it will provide a source of revenue for us in the long term. That source of revenue ends up being flexible, and we'll be able to use it to respond to conservation opportunities as they arise. Essentially, our plan is to turn the endowment into a building in a city to help preserve and conserve nature outside the city. This type of social investment using a profit-making enterprise to assist in a non-profit conservation enterprise seems to be resonating with people as we begin to share the concept.
I firmly believe that charities and non-profits should be encouraged to seek profit-making ventures that might assist them in their own long-term missions. However, existing regulations make doing so a little bit burdensome. This committee, I think, is well placed to make recommendations for changes to regulations and legislation that would make this “profit for non-profit” model a little bit easier to establish. In the long run I believe such sources of funding will actually decrease the demand for charitable tax receipts, saving governments much needed tax dollars.
I also want to take a moment to highlight for you another socially innovative investment strategy that fits within your study. This one is actually a park establishment project. It's called Thaidene Nene and it's found at the east arm of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. It's a park proposal that's located in traditional Dene land and is championed by the local Lutsel K’e, a Dene first nation, who see having a big protected area at the heart of their homeland as a way to conserve not only the land but also their culture, and as a way to develop a conservation economy that will help support their community in the future.
In preparation for what they hope will be an ambitious national park, the local community of Lutsel K’e, which is now faced with 70% unemployment, is seizing this opportunity to create sustained, long-term, local economic development.
Our new national park brings with it a tourism industry. They are working with Parks Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories to come up with a park management model that will allow them to continue to maintain their cultural practices on the land while providing visitors from Canada and around the world the chance to experience this magnificent northern landscape and their traditional way of life on that landscape.
A key part of the Thaidene Nene park model is based on developing an endowment fund that will support Lutsel K’e’s involvement in providing cultural interpretation services. They are actively fundraising for this fund and have already succeeded in attracting more than $7 million. In fact, they have commitments up to almost $11 million and their goal is to raise $15 million in private funds by the time the park is established. They are also seeking a one-time matching gift from the federal government to make this sustainable over the long term so the trust fund would hold $30 million by the time the park begins operating.
It is really a great model. Sustained traditional cultural expression, sustained economic development, sustained conservation over an important ecologically rich and beautiful landscape, I’d call it a win-win, but honestly that wouldn’t be doing it justice.
When we think of economic diversification in Canada, these models are innovative and forward-thinking. They make social and financial sense. I encourage this committee to see the immense possibilities that come with this style of social investment. They break open new possibilities that certainly get me excited. I hope they will nourish your discussion and study of this topic.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the committee on this matter.
I’ll be happy to take any questions when the time comes.