Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hello and good afternoon to committee members.
As mentioned, my name is Kathy Graham and I'm the director general for marine planning and conservation at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. I sincerely appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of the department.
The Government of Canada has committed to increasing the conservation of marine and coastal areas to 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. This important “30 by 30” target is articulated in the Convention on Biological Diversity's Kunming-Montreal global biodiversity framework, which was adopted during the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2022.
In 2023, at the fifth International Marine Protected Areas Congress, which Canada hosted, Canada announced important details for its marine protected area protection standard, through which we plan to prohibit several industrial activities within the boundaries of new federal marine protected areas, including exploration, development and production of oil and gas resources.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, together with Environment and Climate Change Canada and Parks Canada, is responsible for implementing the marine protected area protection standards with the support of other federal regulators such as Natural Resources Canada, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Transport Canada. This bill serves to reinforce the joint management framework with the provinces in offshore accord areas. Furthermore, this bill supports the implementation of the protection standard in new federal sites to be established in the Canada-Nova Scotia and Canada-Newfoundland-Labrador offshore accord areas by harmonizing marine protected area laws and accord acts. Amendments would provide the authority for the Governor in Council, with the provincial minister's approval, to prohibit the commencement or continuation of oil and gas activities and prohibit the issuance of a new interest in areas identified for conservation. The amendments would also enable the negotiation and removal of existing oil and gas interests with compensation in areas that are identified for conservation.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada uses two main types of marine conservation tools to protect marine ecosystems. We use the Oceans Act to establish marine protected areas and use the Fisheries Act to create fishery area closures, which can then be recognized as other effective area-based conservation measures—what we commonly refer to as OECMs—if they meet the criteria set out in the Government of Canada's marine OECM guidance. Areas recognized in this way are referred to as marine refuges. We rely on Natural Resources Canada to provide assessments of the petroleum resources in candidate areas for protection and to help us resolve any issues of concern that may arise as they relate to oil and gas.
We work closely and collaboratively with our federal, provincial and territorial colleagues and indigenous partners throughout the protected area establishment processes. We use the best available knowledge to inform our processes, including scientific, indigenous and local knowledge. We engage and consult extensively with stakeholders across a wide range of industries from the time an area is identified for conservation to when the area is established as a marine protected area or recognized as a marine refuge. We also seek to minimize socio-economic impacts while achieving conservation objectives for each of our sites.
Bill C-49 would make the application of the marine protected area protection standard more consistent across all of Canada's marine spaces.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is committed to working with provinces and territories, indigenous peoples and industry stakeholders to meet the objective of conserving 30% of Canada's marine and coastal areas by 2030. We will continue to work closely with Natural Resources Canada and the relevant provinces in all aspects of the marine protected area establishment process to ensure that the co-management regime and the provisions of the accord acts are fully respected.
I welcome any questions, Chair.