Environment committee  I would like to reflect on something that I think Steven Nitah said in testimony, and that was on the importance of working with indigenous groups and recognizing the need for support and capacity in order for communities to participate in protected area establishment. Finally, I think it takes time, and I don't know if there's any way of getting around the fact that to build a trusting relationship takes time.

Environment committee  It's actually the reason we have identified that three members of our steering committee need to come from national indigenous organizations. We're going to be exploring the potential opportunities for indigenous protected areas; those are ill-defined at this point. I think it would be very beneficial for Canada to come to some consensus on what these could be.

Environment committee  Yes. We do have marine conservation areas in the Great Lakes, and they actually count, strangely enough, towards the terrestrial target. For example, with the recent work in establishing Lake Superior national marine conservation area, it was for a short time the largest freshwater marine conservation area in the world, only to be bumped out, very closely, by a similar marine park area by the U.S. in Lake Superior.

Environment committee  At Parks Canada we have a unique perspective on the management of our sites. We have park management plans that are consulted on and then endorsed and signed by the minister. It sets the framework for what will happen in any given national park. This allows our superintendents to be active in decision-making.

Environment committee  I can start, if that's possible. As I mentioned in testimony, I think that working together is going to be absolutely key. There is no one authority responsible for protected areas or other types of areas that can contribute to biodiversity. I think we all recognize that there are going to be a number of different ways to reach this target, and we need to collectively determine which new tools in the tool box will help us and give us some flexibility to take advantage of other ways of bringing areas into protection for the sake of biodiversity that are different from the traditional ways of establishing protected areas.

Environment committee  Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear again before this committee. Our presentation will provide further details on the pathway to achieving target 1 of the 2020 Biodiversity Goals and Targets for Canada, and a status report on Parks Canada’s work to expand the national park and national marine conservation area systems.

Environment committee  Our presentation will provide further details... I think I'll just continue in English, because I hear the translation coming back at me.

Environment committee  Okay. Our presentation will provide further details on the pathway to achieving Canada target one of the 2020 biodiversity goals and targets for Canada and a status report on Parks Canada’s work to expand the national park and national marine conservation area systems. I will first summarize the key points made to the committee during your visit to Jasper National Park on the development of a pathway to Canada target one, including protecting 17% of Canada’s terrestrial areas by 2020.

Environment committee  Yes. In fact we have a comprehensive monitoring program that's undertaken in all national parks. It looks at all of the key ecosystems and establishes measures for measuring change for each of those key ecosystems in every national park. Nahanni has a monitoring program and Nááts’ihch’oh and Nahanni combined, being in the same watershed, will likely share a monitoring program for that.

Environment committee  No, they were not.

Environment committee  No. The Senior MERA Committee is an organization that has been in place since the late seventies, I believe. It's the process by which the recommendations for a boundary for a national park, when it's being established, go through. It has representation from—

Environment committee  I'll maybe fast-forward to the end of the process. The participants include senior officials from the three territories, as well as ADM levels from a number of federal government departments. The recommendation that is developed through many years of consultation is brought forward as a recommendation by the chair of the Senior MERA Committee, who works with the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, AANDC.