Environment committee  That commitment has been made, yes.

Environment committee  We are in the process.... There are some land swaps that have to occur to make that happen. We are on track. We are hoping to have that completed and that land protected by March of 2023. That's what we're targeting.

Environment committee  Yes. That's why we have the partnership table, with those partners at the table, in order to work through some of these issues. As my colleague has stated, liabilities in these types of things tend to get worked out in the negotiation time ahead of the formal establishment, so

Environment committee  In the establishment of protected areas, we start normally with the feasibility process, where everybody is invited to the table and given the opportunity to examine whether they're interested in it.

Environment committee  If everybody agrees to that, we move to the planning and the negotiations part. That's where we resolve. There could be licences or title issues, or we may need to do surveys, etc. We set the boundary in that stage. Once we have all agreed to that and we have all the proper agree

Environment committee  In my opinion, there are several advantages to that. Canada is very proud of Parks Canada. We have the numbers to prove the economic benefits for our parks. I think our urban park systems add a lot to the local economy, while protecting biodiversity, which is very important. Of

Environment committee  That's correct. We're consulting on it now.

Environment committee  Yes, of course, and we do commend all the work you have done. We share the same goal. This is a different process, and ultimately we will implement the direction of the government.

Environment committee  No. That's fine.

Environment committee  Thanks for the question. We have the authority to create national urban parks just with our existing authorities under the Parks Canada Agency Act. We can receive land. We can administer land. The option in the way in which we've been looking at the national urban parks program

Environment committee  The national urban parks program has three goals. One is for the conservation, to protect important ecological areas in Canada. There is a lot of biodiversity in southern Canada in these urban areas, so that is very important. The second one is to connect Canadians to nature and

Environment committee  The process for creating protected areas takes time. It calls for creating relationships and waiting. Although it takes time, it is worth it. At the end of the process, we have a place that will often be co‑managed, which is good for everyone.

Environment committee  We have a process that begins with all the partners around the table. We apply three steps for exploring every topic from boundaries, to governance and many other things. The first step is a feasibility study. We consult all the interested parties and determine whether they wan

Environment committee  We met with the indigenous communities at the start of the project and asked them whether they were interested in this. We now have agreements and we also support their participation in this process from a financial perspective. My colleagues may be able to speak to other relati

Environment committee  Thank you and good day. I'm pleased to be here today on behalf of Parks Canada. Let me begin by acknowledging that I'm on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people and that the lands covered by Bill C-248 are in the traditional territories of the Anis